A true mighty mite

By KARL PEARSON
Staff Writer

"I couldn't be prouder of what Traci has done," Holmes said of his guard, who played at 5-foot-3 and 103 pounds. "Where she is now is a great testimony to how hard she has worked and still works."

That penchant for hard work has the 36-year-old Hozian well along the road toward a degree as a clinical psychologist. She is studying at the American School of Professional Psychology.

"I got my undergraduate degree from Kent State in 2004," she said. "I have a masters in passing that I should be finishing up this summer. I'm also doing my predoctoral studies and working on my dissertation. Hopefully, I'll be done with that by the end of

next year.

"After I graduate, I've got a year of postdoctoral work, which will be clinical work. Then, most likely I'll go into private practice for a while. Right now, I'm also working with kids at Santa Rosa College in Sonoma County, which is about a 40-minute drive for me."

Even when she was in high school, Hozian had two real goals for her life. She is closing in on the second.

"I dreamed of playing college ball," she said. "I also knew I wanted to be a psychologist.

"I had a few full-ride offers. I regretted a bit that I didn't follow through with that and try it."

But she also found out from some of her old teammates who did pursue college basketball that it had certain pitfalls.

"I have talked to some people like Anita (Jurcenko Moore) and Trixie Wolf who went on and played college ball," Hozian said. "They said it wasn't the fun that high school basketball had been, that it was a job in college. Now I have no regrets about my decision. It was just meant to be."

Instead, Hozian credits Holmes and volleyball and JV basketball coach Jeanine Bartlett with giving her the direction she needed to set out on the path she has chosen.

"Coach Bartlett and Coach Holmes did a lot for me," she said. "The impact they had on me has meant so much in my life."

Fittingly, Hozian is being honored for her impact on Ashtabula County basketball with her selection into the Class of 2007 of the Ashtabula County Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be the only female inductee in a group of 12 persons to be honored April 1 at the ACBF's annual banquet at the Conneaut Human Resources Center.

Appropriately, it was Holmes who first informed Hozian of her selection to the Hall of Fame.

"I'm really flattered," she said. "I wasn't even aware anything like this existed until Coach Holmes called me. It took me back a bit to a time of a lot of good memories.