Wooster Women Past and Present Celebrate 50 Years of Athletics

College of Wooster alums from five different decades, current student-athletes, coaches, and administrators all gathered inside the Scot Center on Feb. 15, to celebrate "50 Years of Women's Varsity Athletics at Wooster."

The day was filled with activities, starting with tours of the Scot Center, as many alumnae came in from different parts of the country, including Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Vermont, who had not seen the state-of-the-art recreational facility, which opened in January 2012.

In fact for some, like Peg Osborne '65, this was the first time they had returned to campus since graduating. "I returned … feeling that I had been a pioneer at Wooster. I hadn't felt that before," said Osborne, who helped establish the field hockey program as one of the last players (goalkeeper) before it became an official varsity sport.

The feature event was current assistant athletic director/head field hockey coach Brenda Meese '75s presentation "Women and Sport at Wooster: The Legacies of Kathleen Lowrie, Maria Sexton, and Nan Nichols." That was followed by the dedication of a trophy case for women's athletics in the upper hallway of the P.E.C., and an alumni basketball game also took place, ending on a buzzer beater by Beth Besancon Sidle '07. The day closed with a memorial for the legendary Nichols, who passed away in June 2012.

Among the approximate 100 attendees were W Association Hall-of-Fame inductees Ann Cleary '79 (basketball, tennis), Marjorie Forbush '76 (field hockey, lacrosse), Anne Baird Frick '74 (volleyball, basketball, lacrosse), Jane Hardy '67 (field hockey, basketball, volleyball), Kerri Horst '02 Kostohryz (softball, track, basketball), Ginny Hunt (coach), Jane Jacobs '70 (field hockey, lacrosse, basketball), Lisa Diment '87 Panepento (basketball, track), Paige Russell '70 (field hockey, basketball, lacrosse), Donna Beck Seegar-Sedmak '71 (basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, field hockey), and Patricia Vittum '74 (basketball, tennis, field hockey).

Today's student-athletes and staff all owe a special debt of gratitude to Hunt, who now lives in Bozeman, Mont. When she came to Wooster in 1962, there were no varsity athletics for women, but through her effort and vision along with the late Nichols and Sexton, field hockey, basketball, and volleyball were established as varsity sports just a few years later.

Hunt also served as the very first coach for the field hockey and volleyball programs, a fact not lost on current head coach Sarah Davis, who got to meet her.

"It was an absolute thrill and extremely humbling to meet Ginny Hunt," said Davis. "Even in our abbreviated meeting, I can see why so many former athletes came back. I wanted to go hop on the court and play for her. It was a great honor to meet someone who did so much for Wooster volleyball, but all of women's athletics at Wooster."

Overall, the feeling of the day was one of achievement of the progress made, camaraderie, and excitement for the generations of women's student-athletes at Wooster to come.