Bio

Liza Janssen Petra was a nationally recognized force in basketball during her career. She helped turn the program from an 8-15 record to an 18-6 record by her final season, winning two Seven Sisters Championships in the process. Liza was named a two-time Kodak National Basketball All-American in ’93 and ’94 and earned Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), New England accolades in ‘94 and New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Player of the Year honors in '93. Liza ended her basketball career with 1,739 points including six games with 30+ points. In ‘93, she was named NCAA Division III Offensive Player of the Week, led the division in blocked shots and was named Seven Sisters Tournament MVP. In her final year, she led Division III in rebounds. As a soccer athlete, Liza had a total of 111 points that included 41 goals and 29 assists. Liza was also a three-time College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Region selection and the recipient of one of the few NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships recognizing academic and athletic excellence. Liza continues to support Wellesley as a member of the Friends of Athletics National Committee leading the communications and development efforts.

I remember the moment I first saw the soccer field. It was bright green, and flat as a pool table. It looked like what soccer was supposed to be played on, completely different from the honky-tonk fields in the desert around Albuquerque where I learned to play and where actual tumbleweeds would roll through our practices and games. I still love the field house turf, even though today’s athletes have upgraded to a better game field.

I reveled in the treatment Wellesley gave female athletes. I came from a high school that loved its sports teams—as long as the teams were made up of boys. I hold few grudges, but I will always smart from the fact that my JV soccer uniform was a hand-me-down from a boys’ team, and it still fires me up to remember the Athletic Director’s wife baking cookies for the boys’ basketball team. I savored the first-class treatment I got at Wellesley, and I still miss the attention from Pat and Sharon in the training room (although my husband says they ruined me).

But the truth of the matter is that I came to Wellesley for the academics. Title IX was just gaining traction in the late ’80s when I was in high school, and it seemed pretty clear that my athletic life would end after college. As a result, with my mom’s not-so-subtle rejections of the advances from the handful of Division I schools that came my way, I focused on going to the best academic school I could get into. And then I met Chip Case on a campus visit to Wellesley and he showed me the soccer field.

I loved Wellesley. Yes, my mom purchased the tuition insurance for the first three years, but we all know how emotional I get. At Wellesley, I got involved with everything I could—Res Staff, work-study (well, that was a requirement for my financial aid), lectures, whatever. I marched with a surge of students to brand-new president Diana Chapman Walsh’s house when the Rodney King verdict came down. I saw Larry Bird play in the old Boston Garden. I ate clam chowder near Faneuil Hall. I went to MIT to hear Jesse Jackson speak. I tried turtle soup at a fancy country club in Pennsylvania, thanks to Barbara Barnes Hauptfuhrer. I was a double major until my senior year. Above all, I was devoted to my soccer and basketball teams and discovered that the harder I tried, the better athlete I became.

When Bridget called to tell me the Committee’s decision, I was overcome. I am incredibly humbled to be considered among this first class of inspiring women. I have always been a little uncomfortable receiving individual honors when the sports I am recognized for are team sports, so I will accept this on behalf of eight different teams over four years, made up of and coached by some of the best women and people I know, and many of whom I am still lucky enough to call friends.