This is the 10th of 12 articles highlighting the CSU Pueblo Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024 Inductees and today's 10th article features former Pack women's basketball, softball and volleybal player Francis P. Price (1967-69)
Frances P. Price grew up with three brothers in the Bessemer area of Pueblo and said in a November 2010 Chieftain article that she and fellow Class of 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Ruth Shelton "were always tomboys."
These two "tomboys" were instrumental in starting college athletics at then-Southern Colorado State College in the late 1960s.
In the Chieftain article, Price said she "came back and went to SCSC when Ruth told me there were girls out at the college, 'who say they could beat us. "Ruth and I played them two-on-two, and we beat them."
Price graduated from Pueblo Central High, where she and Shelton were top girl athletes with no place to play as prepsters. She initially attended Tennessee State in Nashville before returning to Pueblo to play the pickup game with Shelton.
"I became the point guard on one of Jessie Banks' first teams at SCSC," Price said in the Chieftain article about the women's basketball team coached by the CSU Pueblo Athletics Hall of Famer.
During Price and Shelton's tenure at SCSC, no records are available since women were not competing in collegiate-sponsored games until the 1970s. However, the Banks-coached team was successful in the regional AAU competition.
In addition to Banks, Price listed in the Chieftain article the names of Central High faculty members who helped her – Pat Allsup, Sonja Melton, Ed Lesar, Dan Rosales, and principal Sollie Raso. "'Intestinal fortitude,' that's what Mr. Raso preached, and I thought about that a lot when times were hard," Price said
After graduating from SCSC, Price joined her brother Robert in Las Vegas, where she compiled a 302-72 record at Rancho High. Her teams won the first Nevada girls' state title. Price was a seven-time Southern Nevada coach of the year.
At Rancho High for 16 years, she was also an assistant volleyball and softball coach. Price also coached Bonanza High School in Las Vegas.
Between the Rancho and Bonanza stops, Price coached for two seasons (1985-1987, 23-30 record) at Texas A&I (now Texas A&M Kingsville). She returned to Las Vegas to work in school administration and with at-risk students. She was inducted into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame in 2007.
In the Chieftain article, Judy Cameron, a retired principal of Bonanza High, wrote in her letter supporting Price's nomination – "(Price) was truly a pioneer for women's athletics in our state. Her state championship team was a wonderful role model on the court and off."
Price was inducted into the Greater Pueblo Sports Association Hall of Fame in 2010. Shelton joined her in that hall two years later.
"This will be my third Hall of Fame induction," said Price from her home in Las Vegas. "This one will be more meaningful with many family and friends at the banquet along with Ruth. We went to grade school (Bessemer), junior high (Keating), high school, and college together. Being inducted together will tie everything together."
