Tawana Patterson

Tawana Patterson
Sex	F
Birth date	1970

Tawana was a foul-mouthed, trash-talking tall black girl who had been named "Michigan Miss Basketball" by the Detroit newspapers in late 1987, when she was playing for St. Dismas (a metro Detroit high school) against Bradford High and Shae Kirkendahl.

When Shae first walked into basketball practice at Ball State University, she was surprised to see Tawana, who said, "Big girl, you dat chick dat stole de state trophy from us two years straight, ain't ya?" and went on to tell Shae "If you can get da ball and get it ta me like ya did dat red-headed bitch, we goan kick some ass!"

For two seasons the two of them dominated the Ball State women's basketball team, although they never became particularly friendly. Then, after their sophomore year, Tawana was sitting on the porch of her home in Detroit when there was a drive-by shooting a block away. A stray bullet severed her spine.

Confined to a wheelchair, she eventually had to ask her former teammates to stop visiting, because it hurt her too much to think about basketball.