ROCHESTER, Mich. – Set to take place at halftime of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies' Sunday, February 5 date with the Green Bay Phoenix, Helen Shereda-Smith will become the first woman in school history to have her banner raised in the O'rena rafters.

A multi-sport star at the high school level for the Free Soil Pirates from 1972-76, beginning her prep career just a couple of months after the federal government's passage of Title IX, Shereda graduated as the leading scorer in Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) history with 1,651 points.

Helping the Pirates to a 60-7 record during her four years and standing just over 6-foot, Shereda continued her career collegiately at Oakland University from 1976-80, whose athletic teams were then known as the Pioneers, and became quite possibly the best player to ever suit up for the school.

A four-time All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) selection capable of knocking down 15-footers with either hand and handling the basketball like a guard, she was recognized as the Conference's Player of the Year and garnered Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division I All-American status in each of her final three years on-campus.

Also playing softball and volleyball at Oakland, earning three All-GLIAC nods in the former as a pitcher and first baseman, Shereda is still the Golden Grizzlies' all-time leading rebounder with 1,524 and her 2,338 points are second ever.

Playing in an era that predated the implementation of the 3-point line and a time when the women's game used the same size basketball as the men, she departed Rochester with a career scoring average of 23.1 points. Remarkably, she reached double-digit points in all 101 collegiate games she played and her 764 points as a senior in 1979-80 is a single-season record that remains standing 43 years later.

Even with this lengthy list of accomplishments that few can rival, Shereda's humble nature was evident during our January 30 phone call and she took a few minutes to share how her program-changing connection with Oakland University came to be and what Sunday's banner-raising means to her.

"It's quite an honor, I never expected it," she began.

"I wanted to play ball somewhere and I wanted to play right away – this is how it all started. I went to a basketball camp between my junior and senior years of high school and I had been attending the girls' state finals, which were only a couple of years old at that point.

"I saw Rose Swidzinski, who coached Farmington Our Lady of Mercy and then she became the head coach at OU. Well, I went to a basketball camp she and her assistant coach, Marcy Jodway, who became our assistant coach at Oakland, were running in Kingston Hills, Michigan and that's how I heard about OU and I wanted to go some place where it didn't cost me a lot of money, I wanted to go some place where my parents could see me play and get a good education at the same time.

"For a kid from a Class D school with 18 in her class and 200 in the town, that's quite an accomplishment, I'd say. It was just fun time for me, I wanted to play ball and it means a lot to have that done.

"I know a lot of people are saying, 'It's 42 years later of 43 years later,' but that doesn't really matter to me. I didn't play for the accolades, I played because I wanted to play ball."

Part of the 2^nd Annual Hollie L. Lepley Hall of Honor Class of 1985, Shereda was also inducted into the Mason County Sports Hall of Fame (MCSHOF) in 2006, which, coincidentally, was their second class, too.

Never finishing worse than .500 overall and posting a winning record in GLIAC play in each of her four seasons, Shereda also played for the United States U19 National Team and was able to make some trips to foreign soil to play top international competition.

These overseas journeys ended up creating some of her favorite memories that have stood with her over the decades.

"Probably when we played the Taiwanese National Team when I was a sophomore and we also traveled to Mexico City, we had the opportunity to face the Russian Olympic Team," she shared.

"I was the biggest one on the team then and I was 6-foot and 145 pounds. They had a center, Uljana Semjonova, who was 7-foot-2 and probably weighed close to 300, I don't know, but it was an experience I'll never forget."

Shereda was picked eighth overall by the New Jersey Gems in the 1980 Women's Basketball League Draft, but elected to put an end to her playing career and began her teaching tenure.

She met her husband, Greg Smith, during her senior year at Oakland and the couple married in 1981. Together, they have three children, Christine, 39, Matt, 37, and Michael, 34, and three grandchildren.

After stints living in Colorado and Iowa, Shereda and her family returned to Michigan in 1996 by moving to Grand Rapids and have been here ever since. She and her siblings still own property up in Free Soil, as well.

Shereda retired from teaching in 2018 after 19 years in Grand Rapids Public Schools.

Held the day after the 34^th Annual Hollie L. Lepley Hall of Honor Induction Ceremony, the Golden Grizzlies' Sunday battle with Green Bay will tip at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ (subscription required). An interview with Shereda and sideline reporter Sydney Cariel will air following the first quarter media timeout.