Mary Pratt had one problem when she attended Sargent College. She was only allowed to participate in one sport at a time. She made every team she ever tried out for and represented the college in basketball, softball, fistball, volleyball, lacrosse, field hockey, sailing, tennis and archery.
Following her graduation with a bachelor's degree from Sargent in 1940, she became a schoolteacher in the Quincy school system.
During the summer months, she played professional softball in the All America Girls' Softball League, pitching for teams in Kinosha, Wisconsin, and Rockford, Illinois. The money she earned enabled her to further her education at Boston University, where she earned her master's degree in Education and a CAGS.
She also played softball for the Boston Garden League and at one time was the only woman on the all-male North Quincy Associates in the Park Department League.
In lacrosse, she competed with the Boston Lacrosse Association and was a member of the United States national touring team that played international competition.
A physical education teacher at Quincy H.S., Pratt coached 10 championship softball teams in Massachusetts and spent summers working with the Quincy Recreation Department.
Besides joining the BU Athletic Hall of Fame, she was later inducted into the New England Sports Hall of Fame and the Sports Museum's "The Tradition," an annual event honoring Boston's best at TD Garden.
