It may have taken 56 years, but one omission was recently corrected on the 1,000-point scores list that hangs in the Academy gym. At a student-run assembly on May 16th, Rita Brown DeGoosh was added to the list. She graduated in 1962, which made her the second person at the school to ever reach that milestone. She was also given a game ball during the ceremony.

Mickey Mousley was the first person to hit 1,000 points, back in 1961. Rita, who had her maiden name printed on the banner, told the Valley News, “I did [know she scored 1,000 points]. Mickey was up there. We were from the same town, but they didn’t recognize women. You just didn’t [get recognized] back then.”

The error came to light when Bridget Dugan-Sullivan, Thetford Academy’s assistant director of development and communications, posted on Facebook about a Thetford alumni basketball game. Rita’s daughter, Christy Pierson, commented that her mom should play since she had scored 1,000 points and had never been recognized. Bridget told the Valley News, “I was shocked and kind of upset that she had done this, and it had not been recognized for all these years. Who knows how many others [haven’t been recognized]?”

Because girls’ athletics were not taken as seriously back then as they are today, Rita thinks it’s possible that others may also have missed the recognition they deserved. She says, “I just wonder, there have got to be others who didn’t get recognized. I’m sure there are.”