FORT SMITH (KFSM) - Playing college basketball is tough. Averaging a double-double is even harder. But doing that while your 15-month old son watches on from the stands is next to impossible.
That's the average day for UA-Fort Smith senior Angi Ramey but the team's only senior doesn't see it as difficult.
"I just don’t see it like everybody else does," Ramey said. "I think it’s easy because I’m doing it for him. Everything I do is for him. I’m like the Nike sign. Just do it"
There isn't much free time to be had for Ramey. Practice starts at 6 a.m.. Her son, Ke'Mon, has to be at daycare by 8 a.m. Then work starts at 10 a.m. But you can't forget about a full work load of classes crammed into Tuesdays and Thursdays.
"There’s probably not anybody on our campus that has more to do than Angi Ramey," UAFS coach Louis Whorton said.
Whorton has led the Lady Lions program for 29 seasons but he's never had a circumstance quite like this one. Something new is a rarity for a coach who has been at one place for three decades but the change is something Whorton, and his wife Pat, have done everything they can do to help with.
Pat Whorton sits just a few rows behind the bench at home games. Ke'Mon sitting in her lap for most of it.
"I was surprised when (Pat Whorton) asked to watch him to be honest," Ramey said. "Coming from someone who doesn’t have kids so when you give your child to someone who doesn’t have kids you hope they don’t get upset at my child when he starts to cry or you don’t know what he wants but I think that it’s a blessing that God put him and his wife in my life."
Ramey is set to graduate in May but whether she would receive her degree was in jeopardy just a few years ago. But Ramey was set on finishing what she started.
"She was adamant about coming back and finishing her degree," her coach said. "I told her that we’d do everything possible to help her do that."
"That was the easiest decision ever," Ramey said. "When I was at home I said I’m leaving. I can’t stay here anymore. My mom was like ‘follow your heart’. This is where I am."
Ramey averages 11 points a game and leads the Heartland Conference in rebounding at more than 12 per contest. She's also led the Lady Lions to program turnaround as UAFS will host the league's postseason tournament.
"My goal for this year was we’re not playing for ourselves anymore," Ramey said. "This is a together effort. Every time we leave the gym, when we’re in our huddle, I say together because we’re in this together."