Hall of Fame
Szczesniak Ferguson, a native of Detroit and graduate of East Detroit HS, ranks among the top Wayne State softball hurlers in its history. She lettered four seasons as a softball player in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984.
Szczesniak capped off her outstanding career in 1984 by earning NCAA Division II Softball All-America First Team recognition, making her the first Tartar pitcher to garner All-America status.
She also earned four All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) First Team awards, and was named the Tartars' Most Valuable Player three straight seasons. She was honored with three consecutive NCAA-II All-Region selections.
Because Wayne State's softball records are spotty for the years before current Coach Gary Bryce took over the program in 1982, some of the school's single-season and career records are incomplete. Research indicates, though, that Szczesniak set virtually every single-season and career pitching record at Wayne State.
Among the career records she set were wins (61), won-loss percentage (74.4), strikeouts (278), and ERA (0.69). Her career ERA still stands as the Tartars' standard.
In 1983 Szczesniak set the single-season records for won-loss percentage at 77.3 and ERA at 0.63, and the following year set records for games pitched (31), wins (20), innings pitched (227-2/3), and strikeouts (108). She almost broke her own season ERA record as a senior, finishing with a 0.69 mark.
Szczesniak was the GLIAC leader in ERA in 1983 and 1984 because she never gave up a single earned run. Among her other WSU career accomplishments are three no-hitters.
She led Wayne State to its first two NCAA Division II National Championship play-off appearances in 1983 and 1984. The Tartars finished third in the 1983 NCAA-II West Regional, and placed second to Akron in the 1984 NCAA-II Central Regional.
During the 1984-85 season Szczesniak served as the Tartars' student pitching coach, and she played several seasons on Bryce's summer team that was comprised mainly of current and former Tartars.
From 1986-88 Szczesniak was head girls' softball coach at Sterling Heights High School, and she served as an assistant softball coach in 1993-94 at her prep alma mater, East Detroit.
While still an undergraduate student at Wayne State, Szczesniak began working at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Mt. Clemens, Mich., as a recreation assistant. In December 1985 Szczesniak earned her Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education.
During her career at Selfridge she held several positions, including youth sports specialist, and fitness and aquatics director. The last position she held at Selfridge until August 1994. Szczesniak received a Master of Arts in Sports Administration from Wayne State in 1991.
As a U.S. Government employee, Szczesniak earned the Department of the Treasury's Patriotic Service Award in 1991.
In 1994 Szczesniak married George Ferguson, and decided to take a career advancement opportunity with the Federal Government by becoming recreation director with the Marsing Job Corp in Nampa, Idaho, where the couple now resides.
