Pat Ingram To Receive Women Of Achievement Honor
May 3, 2013
Pat Ingram - 2013 OSU Women of Achievement Photo Gallery
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Legendary faculty member, track and field coach and athletics administrator Pat Ingram, a part of the fabric of the OSU campus since 1969, has been selected by the Oregon State Women's Center as one of three recipients of its 2013 OSU Women of Achievement Award. The ceremony, which is free and open to the public, takes place on Friday, May 10 in the campus' Memorial Union Lounge beginning at 3 p.m.
The Women Center's Women of Achievement Awards, which have been given out every year since 1986, "honor the commitment to and contributions of women whose work has touched the lives of students and colleagues ... [and] those who have shown to be dedicated to improving the lives of other women, but whose work may sometimes go unnoticed, unrecognized or unrewarded." Ingram will be honored along with Candy Pierson-Charlton and Julia Jones. Student award winners are Julie Stewart, Maria Nguyen, Britton Goodale, Elba Moise.
Ingram's recognition stems from her contributions as a faculty member, beginning in 1969 and her four seasons as track and field coach from 1970-73, in addition to serving as the first Director of the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Department at Oregon State from 1973-75 and as the Supervisor of Health and Physical Education Student Teachers from 1975-88.
Among many accomplishments, her 1971, 1972 and 1973 track and field teams advanced to nationals. She also laid the foundation for the Women's Athletic Department at OSU in the early to mid-1970's and was instrumental in bringing the 1975 National Women's Collegiate Track and Field Championships to Oregon State, when she served as meet director for the only such collegiate track and field national championships that have been held in Corvallis. Additionally, this award celebrates Ingram's efforts to return women's track and field to Oregon State; helping to raise funds for the new Whyte Track and Field Center; establishing, in her name, only the second women's athletic scholarship (2007); and her work on the Beavers' 2007 and 2012 Title IX Reunion dinners.
This May is the 40th anniversary of Ingram's third consecutive national track and field team. Under her tutelage from 1970-73, each of her squads earned conference titles, two placed second at the regional championships and her teams from 1971-73 finished tied for 10th, 16th and 16th at nationals. Her student-athletes amassed 11 conference event titles and eight regional event titles to go along with 13 women who earned All-America honors and two who went on to represent the United States in track and field competition. Ingram and her teams accomplished all this before scholarships for women existed, at a time when they had to raise their individual traveling expenses and when access to Bell Field was only permitted if the men were not in need of the facility.
This fall is also the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Department (WIA) at Oregon State. Ingram was serving as the director of the Women's Recreation Association, the counterpart to the men's athletic department, when the passage of Title IX legislation occurred in June 1972, at which time University President Robert MacVicar instituted the name change and appointed Ingram as its first director to begin in the fall of 1973. She laid the foundation for the future growth of women's athletic competition at Oregon State all while maintaining a full teaching load.
Although her coaching career had concluded, Ingram's work continued to help demonstrate what Oregon State women could achieve in athletic endeavors. She remained on the national women's collegiate track and field board and in 1974, at the inaugural meet at Patrick Wayne Valley Field, she coordinated the school's first coed meet in the `international style' on competition. That spring, Mary Budke won the national collegiate title in golf; with both Budke and current women's head golf coach Risë Alexander finishing third in the team standings. In 1975, with Mary Stockdale and Patty Schram joining Budke and Alexander, golf returned to nationals and earned ninth place in the team competition.
In the spring of 1974, Ingram also snagged the invitation for OSU to host the 1975 National Women's Collegiate Track and Field Championships. She served as meet director for the event which featured more than 500 competitors from 200 schools, breaking all attendance records in the championship's seven-year history. Fans at the sold-out event were treated to numerous record-setting performances and witnessed Oregon State's own Joni Huntley capture national titles in both the high jump and long jump in leading the Beavers to finish in a tie for seventh.
After that summer, Ingram ended her reign as WIA Director and became Supervisor of Student Teachers, a position which she held until her faculty retirement in 1988.
As a testament to her tireless efforts, the latter half of the 1970's saw Oregon State women's teams thrive on a national stage. Softball amassed five consecutive World Series appearances from 1977-1981; the two-mile relay squad won the national title in 1979; and gymnastics emerged as a national power - placing fourth in 1980 and earning its first individual title in 1981.
Rowing won two national boat titles and placed second overall in the 1980 championships, which also included non-collegiate crews, before the women's and men's departments merged over 1981-82 in conjunction with the NCAA initiating women's sports championships.
Shirley (Lagestee) Huyett, a three-time track and field All-American and one of Ingram's former athletes, will introduce her at the ceremony. At nationals in 1972 and 1973, she finished fourth and tied for sixth in the high jump. In 1973 she also teamed with Jeri Nored, Margaret George Armentrout and Connie Larsen to place sixth in the 440-yard relay. Huyett became the first OSU woman to compete at the Olympic Track and Field Trials when she did so in the high jump in 1972. At Oregon State, she also competed in basketball, softball, field hockey and soccer and remains the school's most decorated female student-athlete, earning 13 varsity letters. Lastly, Huyett's stellar basketball coaching career led to her 2009 induction into Southern Oregon University's Sports Hall of Fame.
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