ECU Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
- Class:
- 1978
Debbie Freeman was a three-sport athlete (volleyball, basketball, track and field) who earned a total of 11 letters at East Carolina, the most by a female student-athlete upon her graduation. Freeman was also two-time ECU Fountain Co-Student-Athlete of the Year taking home honors in 1976 and 1978.
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As a member of the women’s basketball team, Freeman earned the Lady Pirates’ Most Valuable Player Award twice (1976 and 1977), was a three-time NCAIAW Division I All-State selection, 1978 NCAIAW All-Tournament Team honoree and became the second player in program history with 1,000 career points. In all, she scored 1,570 points (currently sixth all-time) and grabbed 955 rebounds (currently third all-time) – both initial school records when she graduated from East Carolina. As a sophomore, she averaged 13.2 rebounds per game which is a single-season record that still stands today.
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Freeman ranks among the Pirates’ Top 10 in four single-game, four single-season and four career statistical columns with seven of those as school records at the time she left East Carolina. Her 36 points against Randolph Macon (Feb. 21, 1976) stood second at the time, while 26 rebounds against UNC Greensboro (Jan. 18, 1977) is still a program single-game record.
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A three-year letterwinner in track & field, Freeman was the NCAIAW field events MVP in 1978 as well as the 1978 NCAIAW champion in the shot put and discus, while taking second in the javelin.
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Freeman was also a four-year starter on the volleyball team where she was named team MVP in 1977 and was selected to the all-state squad. Her collegiate career at ECU began in 1974 where she was the first African American female student-athlete on campus.
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