A purple and gold bloodline may have produced a great future LSU athlete in 16-month-old C.J. Harris. The toddler is the son of former women’s basketball guard Marie Ferdinand-Harris and former baseball center fielder Cedrick Harris, arguably two of the best athletes in LSU history. They met in the weight room at LSU during the late 1990s, when Ferdinand-Harris was a Kodak All-American guard under Sue Gunter and Harris won two College World Series titles as a member of Skip Bertman’s squad. “She had a lot of qualities that were really appealing,” Harris said of his wife. “She liked sports and was really serious about education and had good family values. We were just really good friends.” The two remained friends because Ferdinand-Harris had a boyfriend at the time. But both say the friendship served as a foundation for their future romantic relationship. “I used to see him all the time around campus,” Ferdinand-Harris said. “He was just the sweetest guy. [Baseball players] were the big men on campus at the time, but he was just so well-mannered and soft-spoken.” Individual athletic ability took them in different directions after departing LSU. Harris entered the Major League Baseball draft and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, while Ferdinand-Harris signed with the WNBA Utah Starz and eventually followed in the franchise’s move to San Antonio. But a 2003 stint with a National Women’s Basketball League team in Tennessee made her think of Harris, who was reared in neighboring Arkansas. She called one of his former teammates to track down Harris, who was playing baseball in New Jersey. “I remember calling him up, and he had this excitement in his voice,” she said. “I said, ‘You don’t even know who this is.’ And he said, ‘Oh yes I do. This is Marie.’ We talked every day after that. He wrote me letter after letter … the sweetest letters.” Harris, who was hampered by injuries during his MLB career, relocated to San Antonio and became a scout for the Texas Rangers. Harris proposed in 2005 in Ferdinand-Harris’ hometown of Miami. Their family expanded when C.J. was born on June 11, 2006, and the two married in Miami on Oct. 8, 2006. Assistant women’s basketball coach Bob Starkey flew down for the wedding. He considers Ferdinand-Harris one of his “all-time favorite” Lady Tigers. “Marie was one of the top four or five players in the country at the time,” Starkey said. “We had a lot more games on TV at the time because the television people loved her. She really helped the future of the program.” Senior center and fellow Miami native Sylvia Fowles attended the same high school as Ferdinand-Harris. “I watched her play on television all the time,” Fowles said. “She was known for her thinking ability on the court and decisions that she made as a team leader.” Starkey was present at the 2007 LSU Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where Ferdinand-Harris became the second-ever women’s basketball player inducted. “I can remember coming in as a freshman and walking into the Hall of Fame room in the administration building and looking at Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey and Pete Maravich’s jersey,” Ferdinand-Harris said. “I can remember myself saying, ‘I want to be a Hall of Famer one day.'” Because of her pregnancy and childbirth, the three-time WNBA All-Star sat out the 2006 season and focused her attention on C.J. Before sitting out, Ferdinand averaged 13 points and three rebounds per game during her five years with the franchise. Ferdinand-Harris returned to the San Antonio Silver Stars this past season and averaged 4.8 points per game. “I just had to keep her patient,” Harris said of his wife’s year away from the court. “She’s a competitor, and she wanted to go out and compete as quickly as possible, but you can’t go against what your body is telling you.” But sports and an active toddler aren’t all that keep the couple busy. Ferdinand-Harris recently fulfilled her childhood dream when she opened a bakery in Miami. The bakery is named “Sakat Fet,” which is Creole for “what’s happening.” In the WNBA off-season, she works with her family and sells pastries, breads and cakes. “The pastries and the cake are my weaknesses,” she said. “But I’m glad I have the self discipline not to eat them all. I don’t want to go back to the WNBA and have them look at me and ask, ‘What did you do this off season?'” Ferdinand-Harris envisions playing for about five to six more years before retiring and pursuing business opportunities full time. But before hanging up the sneakers, she wants to win a WNBA title. The 2007 Silver Stars squad moved one step closer to that goal, making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history as her biggest fan C.J., watched avidly from the stands. “He just has a blast,” Ferdinand-Harris said. “The fans take turns holding him, and he just goes around the arena. Sometimes I look at Cedrick in the crowd, and I’m like, “Where is C.J.?'” Harris said he enjoys taking C.J. to his mother’s games and watching his reaction. “He has all the toys … basketballs, footballs, and baseballs,” Harris said. “He knows how to put a basketball through the hoop. He likes the action of Marie’s games. He dances to the music, likes the lights, and his little heart beats fast.” Although C.J. has not yet chosen his preferred sport, both parents agree no Southeastern Conference rival will steal their son from LSU. “We bleed purple and gold,” Ferdinand-Harris said. “He will definitely be a Tiger. We have to keep the tradition.”
—-Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]