LaToya Thomas: 2015 MSU Sports Hall Of Fame Inductee
October 23, 2015 | Women's Basketball
By Bob Carskadon
HailStateBEAT
Note: Every day this week, we will recognize a member of the 2015 Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame Class. The class was formally inducted at a banquet last night at the MSU M-Club and will be recognized during the MSU-Kentucky game Saturday in Davis Wade Stadium.
Legally, her name is LaToya Thomas. Since she finished her record-breaking career at Mississippi State in 2003, she might as well have added “Four-Time All-American” to the beginning of her name, as that's how she's been introduced to anyone and everyone around MSU for over a decade now.
Thomas was just the sixth women's basketball player ever to be named a Kodak All-American in each of her four seasons, just one of the many honors responsible for her enshrinement into the Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame. She was officially inducted last night and enters the prestigious hall with more accolades than maybe anyone to ever wear the Maroon and White.
As a freshman in 2000, Thomas was named the Associated Press SEC Newcomer of the Year. Twice in her career, the AP also named her the SEC Player of the Year. Impressively, she was named first-team All-SEC all four years of her career and she was a three-time National Player of the Year finalist.
An incredibly-talented forward, Thomas still holds the MSU career record with 2,981 points scored, a total good for No. 2 in SEC history and No. 11 in the all-time history of NCAA women's basketball. Even trying to foul her was a failed tactic for opponents as Thomas holds the SEC record with 709 made free throws in her MSU career.
Averaging 23.8 points per game for her career, Thomas became the first athlete of any sport from a Mississippi school to become the No. 1 overall pick in a professional draft when the Cleveland Rockers made her the first pick of the 2003 WNBA Draft. Thomas' WNBA career lasted eight years and even today she remains a steady player overseas.
Hers is a story of dominance, confidence and consistency. Thomas is very much a living legend in college basketball. But for all her skills and accolades, it's still that one thing which stands out so much.
“How hard is it to be a four-time All-American in any sport?” MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin mused. “Typically, those happen at programs that have had a lot of traditional success. She kind of put our program on the map. Maybe one of the best athletes in any sport we've ever had at Mississippi State.”
The attention she brought MSU and the program she was a great piece in building stand as part of her legacy on the campus she once roamed. MSU had been to the WNIT two years before Thomas' arrival, then made it to the NCAA Tournament the season before Thomas made it to Starkville. Under head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis, the program was already trending in the right direction. Thomas gave it a burst of life.
“Toya brought that next step,” Fanning-Otis said. “You're always looking at the picture, the puzzle, and she was an important piece to that. She was a presence in the post that was going to be hard to guard. Once you had that person and [All-American guard] Tan White came with her, that was quite the threat offensively with those two kids in the perimeter and post.”
The big picture of Thomas' career is the accumulation of stats, honors and prestige for both herself and the program, but the day-to-day and game-to-game stories were always anecdotes of dominance and of a player who, as Fanning-Otis put it, had ice in her veins.
It wasn't just that she was good, but that she was good when it mattered the most. Today, still, Fanning-Otis clearly remembers games in which victory was secured by Thomas, no matter how unlikely that result had previously seemed.
Once, as MSU was climbing back from a deficit against Georgia, a last-second lob down the court was really State's only hope, a veritable Hail Mary as MSU was down a bucket with virtually no time left. Thomas, of course, was going to be the intended recipient. The long pass came. Thomas snatched the ball over the outstretched arms of the UGA players surrounding her and managed to get off a shot just before the buzzer went off. Then, the whistle blew, not to wave off the shot, but to announce Thomas had been fouled.
She stepped to the line and confidently sunk the shots, giving her Bulldogs the win.
Thomas' career was marked by similar moments, as Fanning-Otis remembers a player often double and triple-teamed when she got the ball.
“She could make the pass with three people, but I tell you what, if it was just one or two, she was gonna score the majority of the time,” Fanning-Otis said.
Her success came partially as a result of her natural talent, to be sure, but much more came from a work ethic Fanning-Otis remembers to be among the best she'd ever seen. Those who were around Thomas clearly remember a desire to be great and a complete willingness to work for it.
Thomas would identify her weaknesses and force herself to face them, knowing it was the only way to conquer them. She practiced for countless hours dribbling with both hands, driving from both sides of the basket and developing a defensive game to match her offensive prowess. Not content to just practice against her teammates, Thomas would find extra time to get in the gym with the biggest and best male players she could find. More often than not, she bested them, too, just like everyone else she faced.
Thomas forced people to pay attention to what she was doing. Fellow 2015 Hall of Fame inductee Straton Karatassos remembers her impact well.
“LaToya was one that when you saw her play, she was more than just a good female athlete. She was an athlete, and a superb athlete at that,” he said. “She was tough. She would put her head down and go to the basket and whoever was in her way was usually going to end up fouling her or she was going to put the ball in the hoop.”
Thomas will be remembered for her numbers and her awards, and deservedly so, but to her coach, she'll be remembered and treasured the most for her passion, both for basketball and for her university.
“She wanted to be a great player and she loved the game. I surely have a lot of respect for anybody in any kind of sport that loves the game like Toya Thomas loved the game,” Fanning-Otis said of the Mississippi native. “She was very loyal to her school and just loved Mississippi State. She loves her own state. To make a commitment to stay here and make something special happen, I appreciate that commitment, I appreciate that loyalty and surely respect what she was able to accomplish.”
Thomas was officially inducted last night at the Hall of Fame ceremony and she will be honored on the field tomorrow night prior to MSU's football game against Kentucky. For more information on the MSU Sports Hall of Fame, visit www.msumclub.org.
