A Madison County native, Paula Fuller is honored for her accomplishments as a basketball player and administrator.

A 6-foot forward, she was a four-year starter and two-time, Jackson Sun All-West State basketball player at West High School in the Denmark community, graduating in 1979.

She started her college career at Jackson State Community College, where she was all-conference, all-region and honorable mention All-America. Fuller finished her playing days at Memphis State, earning All-Metro Conference honors as a senior when the Lady Tigers won the Metro title and made it to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Fuller, 63, is the daughter of Bobby and Dorothy Fuller. She has two sons, Bobbye and Damonn Fuller. Damonn is head boys basketball coach at South Side High.

Paula grew up on a farm in the Mercer community surrounded by relatives of all ages. Her grandmother had a large front yard, and the cousins wore out the grass playing basketball on a make-shift court.

“My uncles used scrap lumber to make backboards, and they nailed them to trees,” Fuller said. “So we had two goals and played full court. We had iron goals, but I don’t remember having nets on the goals. We played so much, I’m sure the nets wore out and weren’t replaced.”

From childhood on, Fuller played basketball with and against her cousins and uncles, male and female. She learned to be quick and tough against family competition and developed a passion for the game.

She attended Blairs Elementary, an all-black school in the Blairs Chapel community, before integration moved her to previously all-white Mercer Elementary in the fourth grade. It was there that Fuller got to play on her first indoor wooden basketball court.

“During PE, they had us playing basketball,” she said. “I grabbed the ball and took off down the court, just like I always did playing the boys in my grandmother’s front yard. The teacher yelled, ‘No, no, no. Girls play half court.’ Well, I was embarrassed and couldn’t understand why we didn’t play like the boys and college and the NBA on TV. But those were the rules for girls back then.”

Fuller played 6-player, half-court basketball throughout high school. There were three forwards and three guards on each side of a center line, which they weren’t allowed to cross. Only forwards could shoot the ball. Fuller’s class was the last to use those rules in Tennessee. They were changed to full-court play for girls in the spring of 1979.

Fuller played for Coach T. Willie Tyson at West Junior High School and for Coach Sam Greer at West High, where she helped her team win four straight district titles. Her sophomore season the Lady Tigers advanced to the 1977 Class A state tournament, losing to Pickett County, 44-43, in the first round. Fuller scored 15 points. Pickett County went on to win the first of its four consecutive Class A state championships.

Fuller was the District 15-A MVP her senior year, averaging 28 points and earning second-team Sports Writers All-State honors. Her dream since childhood was to play college ball at Memphis State, but she chose to postpone that opportunity.

“Coach Mary Lou Johns had players like Linda Street at Memphis State, and she told me I probably wouldn’t get much playing time as a freshman,” Fuller said. “I didn’t want to sit the bench, so I stayed home and played for Coach Marvin Williams at Jackson State Community College. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Fuller teamed with Bolivar’s Diane Jones, Fayette-Ware’s Helen Malone and Covington’s Debra Grandberry to make history at JSCC. The Lady Generals won the junior college state championship two years and placed third in the national tournament with a 23-1 record as sophomores in 1981. Fuller averaged 10 points and nine rebounds. Fuller, Jones and Grandberry signed with Memphis State.

“It was a dream come true,” Fuller said. “And it was so exciting. We had about 85 in my class at West and good fans at Jackson State, but when I got to Memphis State there were so many people. We had big crowds, and I got to travel to cities and countries I would have never gone to otherwise. It was just a great experience.”

Fuller averaged 8.4 points, four rebounds and two blocks a game while shooting 83 percent from the free-throw line and 45 percent from the field. She had a career high 21 points and 11 rebounds against Tulane.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing in 1984 and worked for Nielsen Media Research 14 years and Federal Express before returning to Jackson State as a recruiter of students 26 years ago. She oversees JSCC’s recruiting office today.

“There aren’t very many things I would change in my life,” Fuller said. “I’ve been super, super blessed.”

The 39th Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet will be held at the Carl Perkins Civic Center, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 10.

For tickets and reservations for the Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame event, call Beth Sedberry (731) 616-8558.

(PHOTO: Paula Fuller)