NATCHEZ — Trinity head basketball coach Fay Minor, one of 12 children of Lorraine and Rudolph “Rudy” Minor, said neighbors used to tease her for having enough siblings to make a football team, but it wasn’t football that occupied Minor as a child. It was basketball.

“My mother used to yell, ‘Stop dribbling that ball in the house,’” Minor said.

Minor said a household with five brothers and twin sister, Kay Minor, made for a competitive childhood. As she grew up, playing for Morgantown Middle School until she could play on the South Natchez High School varsity team in 10th grade, she said she always aspired for basketball to play a central role in her life.

“I always thought I could play at a higher level, and every day was basketball for me,” Fay Minor said. “I have a twin sister and she played with me during my junior high and high school years.”

Minor said Alcorn State started to recruit her during her junior year at South Natchez, and she signed in the summer before her senior season.

Minor said she had more than one option on paper. Then future Brave said Louisiana Tech also offered her a scholarship, but Minor and Kay were a “package deal.”

“I really wanted to go to Louisiana Tech,” Minor said. “My dad said (to Alcorn State), ‘Whatever you have, it has to be two.’”

Minor went to Alcorn on a basketball scholarship, while her twin went on a track and field scholarship. The two roomed together throughout their time at Alcorn State. She was a two-time member of the All SWAC First Team.

Minor said professional basketball for women wasn’t as attainable during her time at Alcorn State. Most women who wanted to continue their playing careers had to sign with a team overseas, since the WNBA wasn’t formed until 1996.

Minor was 32 years old when she tried out for the WNBA in 1998. She traveled to Marietta, Ga., to compete in a camp before she was offered a role on the Detroit Shock — now the Dallas Wings — practice squad.

“They had to whip me into shape, both camps were grueling to me,” Minor said. “We had to play 15 games on one day, and you got an hour rest, and then you were back at it.”

The Natchez native said the Shock’s player-coach Nancy Lieberman encouraged her to try out for a spot on the active roster, but the timing wasn’t right.

“I had a great job in Natchez, and my son was 12 years old,” Minor said. “I felt like I had achieved all of my accomplishments. When I came back home, everybody said I was crazy.”

She said full-time players were compensated enough to make a living just playing basketball, but the salary for a scout team player was frugal.

“We were women and they didn’t want to pay us a lot of money,” Minor said. “There were women making good money … but not if you weren’t big.”

As a parting gift, Minor’s teammates signed a jacket for her, which she admits she hadn’t kept in great condition until a few years ago.

Moths have eaten away at a section on the left shoulder, but the former pro baller saved it from the closet about eight years later and eventually decided to frame it. The jacket is currently on display at Historic Natchez Foundation in the local teams exhibit.

Minor said the newly formed WNBA was looking for young faces and teams were trying to sign young talent, which would make contributing an uphill climb for a 32-year-old point guard.

“The majority of the league was 18 to 22,” Fay Minor said. “They were young and they could travel around and eat She didn’t stray far from basketball. Minor ran the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club in Natchez until 2011 when she accepted a position at Trinity Episcopal as a basketball coach.

“When I first got there, they had a pretty good program in place and girls’ sports wasn’t a big focus,” she said. “In all areas, female sports are stepping up (at Trinity) … in the years to come, it will get better and better.”