Once a Cougar, always a Cougar

Jenni Ruff left Washington State in 1996 with a pocket full of basketball records and didn’t return for a decade.

But like many Cougars, she was never gone.

Now Jenni Ruff Adams, mother of three and a software salesperson, has nothing but fond memories, rekindled every time she cleans up the children’s playroom that is part guest bedroom in the house she and former Cougars wide receiver Kearney Adams built in Gilbert, Ariz.

Not surprisingly, the great room has a sports theme. With a huge mural of Martin Stadium. With a painting of Bohler Gym. With Cougars pillows and blankets.

Only recently did the Adams family make a trip to Pullman, where mom was a Cougars star and dad is remembered for touchdown receptions, including one from freshman Ryan Leaf in the 1995 Apple Cup.

“It was definitely nice to go back,” she said.

Adams cherished a stop for burgers at Coug Country almost as much as the memories.

“I don’t remember a lot about specific games, it’s more the feeling I get,” she said. “I think of the whole aura, the whole feeling, Pullman gives off. When I used to get stressed out I’d go to Bohler, shoot, think about things for hours. I think I need to get back there more often.”

She was an honorable mention All-American in 1996, when she led the Pac-10 in scoring at 23.6 points a game, ninth nationally and a school record. That left her with 1,526 career points, second on the all-time list. Her 41 points against California is another school record.

“I think I had seven or eight records,” she said, adding with a laugh, “one of them is turnovers. The ball was obviously in my hands a lot.”

To be fair, she’s high on the assists lists, too.

She parlayed that into a two-year career in the ABL and was offered a chance in the WNBA when the ABL folded, but contractual issues scuttled that.

“When I stopped playing basketball I had to decide what job I wanted to do, what real job,” Adams said. “I couldn’t imagine sitting in front of a desk all day, and of course I wanted to make money. Sales seemed like a good route. My basketball skills, not having sales experience, was good. They want competitive people.”

She admits being competitive when she shoots hoops with her 8-year-old Kearney III, or Trey as he’s called.

“I tell him, ‘Make sure you don’t get frustrated, you’re not going to beat me in horse; maybe when you’re 12 or 13, if you practice really hard,’ ” she said. “I’m still a little cocky when it comes to playing.”

She also won’t let Trey, who is playing tackle football with his dad as coach but is more into golf, give up or pout.

“I can’t raise a poor sport or a quitter,” she said. “My patience is not good with that.”

The other children aren’t old enough to compete with their mother. Quincy James just turned 4, and Kayla J, 2.

Adams did some work for the Phoenix Mercury WNBA television broadcasts and a little with Arizona State, but work and family ended that, along with staying closely connected to basketball.

“Everything used to be about sports,” she said. “When I went into business, everything getting filled in, my brain is more business. I don’t watch basketball nearly as much as I used to.”

Part of her family is close since her mom and stepfather, Sally and Gary Haslett, have moved to Tucson. She takes her family to Washington at least once a year to visit her dad, Terry, and stepmother, Amanda, who have moved from Mossyrock to Onalaska.

“It’s nice to be cold,” Adams said.

Especially with warm memories.