The history of University of Evansville athletics begins with basketball, but the Purple Aces are certainly more than a one-sport program. The basketball program gained national prominence in the 1950s under legendary coach Arad McCutchan, who led the Aces to NCAA College Division--later Division II--national championships in 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1971. Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and former NBA and ABA all-star Don Buse were two of McCutchan's most famous players. The University made the decision to move to Division I status in 1977, but tragedy struck on December 13 of that year when the airplane carrying the basketball team to a game at Middle Tennessee crashed moments after taking off from Dress Regional Airport in Evansville. All aboard died. McCutchan had retired at the end of the previous season, turning over the program to the popular Bobby Watson. He coached only four games at UE before the tragedy occured. Tremendous community support brought back the basketball program the next year, and in that relatively short time at the Division I level, the Purple Aces have made five trips to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and two to the NIT. UE Athletics 1985-2005 One of Dr. Wallace Graves' last and some would say one of his best, hires came in the spring of 1985 when Jim Crews signed on as the University' basketball coach. Previous coach Dick Walters had re-built the program after the 1977 airplane crash and led Evansville to its first NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 1982, but three subsequent mediocre seasons led to his resignation. Crews was a popular replacement because fans in southwest Indiana had watched him play for Indiana's 1976 national championship team that went undefeated, and had watched him coach under Bobby Knight at I.U. for eight seasons. Crews set the stage for future success right away by bringing in two players who were unhappy at their present colleges-Marty Simmons from Indiana and Scott Haffner from Illinois. Both became eligible in 1986-87, and Evansville immediately captured the Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship despite being picked in the pre-season poll to finish next to last. One year later, in 1988, the Aces played in the NIT for the first time, defeating Utah at Roberts Stadium in the opening round before losing to Boston College in the second round, also at Roberts. In 1989, despite having lost Simmons to graduation, Evansville won 25 games, UE's highest win total since the 29-0 season of 1965. The final victory was the most exciting. Playing on national television at Tucson, Arizona against Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 11th seeded Evansville dropped behind six seed Oregon State 21-10 in the opening nine minutes. But the Aces caught up in the second half, and won 94-90 in overtime after guard Reed Crafton made a 25-foot shot with 11 seconds remaining in OT. Crafton's shot gave Evansville the lead for good at 92-90. The victory was the first in the Division I men's tournament for UE. The Aces reached the NCAA tourney again in 1992 at Dayton, Ohio against Texas-El Paso, 1993 at Orlando, Fla. against Florida State, and 1999 at New Orleans, La. against Kansas, and played in the NIT again in 1994, hosting Tulane. Although they didn't win another post-season game under Crews, the Aces produced a 15-year streak in which they never finished below .500 against conference opponents. When the streak ended in 2002, only six other schools could still make the same claim: UCLA, Princeton, Syracuse, Xavier, Temple and Arizona. While basketball remained the most popular sport with fans, attracting average attendance of 10,000 or more for six straight seasons beginning in 1990-91, soccer was becoming even more successful nationally. A streak of nine consecutive trips to the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament began in 1984, and included Final Four appearances in 1985 (a 3-1 loss at home against UCLA in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,000) and 1990 (a 1-0 loss to Rutgers at Tampa, Fla.). UE's Rob Paterson in 1989 won the Adi Dassler Award, the soccer equivalent of football's Heisman Award. In 1998, Evansville graduate and Scotland native David Weir became the first former U.S. college player to compete for a European team in the World Cup. By 1996, when Evansville won its first Missouri Valley Conference championship, UE had produced 12 All-Americans in the past 15 years. The stature of men's soccer dropped slightly in the mid-90s, but women's soccer jumped up to take its place on the national stage. Women's soccer became UE's newest varsity sport in 1993, and quickly became competitive under the leadership of coach Mick Lyon, a former All-America on the UE men's team in the 1980s. Beginning in 1996, the Purple Aces won Missouri Valley Conference regular season and/or tournament titles for six consecutive years. Lyon's teams also qualified for three NCAA tournaments in a four-year period. The women's soccer program produced its first All-American in 2000, when defender Krista McKendree was selected. Evansville's total athletics program continued to grow through the 80s and 90s. Jim Brownlee's baseball team made NCAA Division I tournament appearances in each decade, and in 1988, pitcher Andy Benes was the first pick in the professional baseball draft, going to San Diego. Benes also played on the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team before beginning a 14-year career in the pros. Evansville's second Olympian came in 2000 when swimmer Nikola Kalabic competed in the 100-meter freestyle at Sydney, Australia for his native Yugoslavia. While soccer led the way, the women's programs in basketball, tennis, softball and swimming also captured league titles. One of the most dramatic improvements came in women's basketball in the late 90s. Following a five-year period in which the Aces compiled a record of 18 wins and 113 losses, third-year coach Kathi Bennett led the 1999 team to a 19-11 record and UE's first NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament appearance, at Baton Rouge, La. against host Louisiana State. One year later the Aces set a school record with 21 victories and made their first trip to the Women's NIT, losing in overtime at Missouri. Women's golf, which had been discontinued in the 90s, became Evansville's 16th sport in 1996. But the '16' number lasted only until March of 1998, when football was dropped. Non-scholarship football had been played at UE since the mid 1980s, and in 1991 Evansville helped form the Pioneer Football League along with Butler, Dayton, Drake, Valparaiso, and the University of San Diego. All six schools were NCAA Division I members that wanted to play non-scholarship football. NCAA rules required Division I schools to play a majority of games against other D-I institutions, and in San Diego's case, the only choices were to join the Pioneer League or go even farther east and play schools such as Georgetown and St. John's. While the Pioneer League gave Evansville a good home, changes in the NCAA landscape led Dr. James Vinson and UE Board Of Trustees to discontinue the program. At the time, the trustees indicated that four major concerns led to their decision: (1) NCAA legislation, including scheduling requirements and the fact that the NCAA does not sponsor a national championship for Division I non-scholarship football; (2) NCAA certification and gender equity. Like many schools, UE added programs (women's soccer and women's golf, most notably) and increased emphasis in existing programs; (3) National trends, which suggest that private colleges will have to spend more to remain competitive in non-scholarship football as more state-supported institutions move from scholarship to non-scholarship football, and (4) Facilities needs on the UE campus for all varsity sports. Later that year, plans took shape to refurbish 14-year-old Arad McCutchan Stadium, bulldoze the playing surface and turn the football stadium into a soccer stadium for both the men and women. A multi-million dollar renovation turned Arad McCutchan Stadium into Black Beauty Field At Arad McCutchan Stadium, which hosted its first soccer match in August, 2000. In 2002, Charles H. Braun Stadium for baseball and James & Dorothy Cooper Stadium for softball opened directly west of McCutchan Stadium. For the first time, three of the University's major outdoor sports had new, on-campus facilities. Conference affiliation made a dramatic change during the 1990s. The mid-80s version of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference included Evansville, Butler, Xavier, Detroit, Loyola, St. Louis, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma City, and associate member Notre Dame, which competed in all sports except men's basketball. The league became even stronger in 1989 when Marquette and Dayton replaced Oral Roberts and Oklahoma City. But the unraveling began in 1991 when Marquette and St. Louis withdrew from the MCC, followed by Dayton in 1993. When it became apparent that Xavier would soon follow the other three, UE officials knew that the end had come to arguably the best conference in the nation comprised solely of private institutions. UE did have a few choices. One was to stay in the new MCC, which held on to Loyola, Detroit and Butler while trying to intice state schools such as Wright State, Cleveland State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Illinois-Chicago to fill in the ranks. Another option was to seek membership in the Ohio Valley Conference, which included southern neighbors Murray State, Austin Peay and others. The third and eventually most appealing choice came soon after University officials began examining their options. The Missouri Valley Conference office and most presidents of MVC schools began courting UE, primarily because Evansville would enhance men's basketball in the conference. Not everyone was excited about the Aces joining the Valley. The MVC men's basketball coaches took a straw vote and were unanimous in their opinion that Evansville should not be added. The coaches were not excited about competing with one more strong program for a conference championship. By the summer of 1993, it was clear that most in the MVC hierarchy wanted Evansville, and the feeling became mutual. The MVC was the most competitive league on a national scale among UE's options, and included longtime region rivals Indiana State and Southern Illinois. Also, men's basketball had always been the MVC's foundation, just as it was at Evansville. The one major negative was cost. Competing in the MVC would require additional funding in many sports if UE expected to compete with higher budget state schools such as Illinois State and Wichita State. Additional travel expenses would also be impossible to avoid, especially compared to a 'bus league' such as the OVC. On November 4, 1993, Evansville was voted into the MVC as the 11th member, joining Bradley, Creighton, Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri, Tulsa and Wichita State. Evansville officially began competing in the new league in the fall of 1994. Evansville needed only four years to win conference team championships in men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's soccer, and its first softball title came in 2000. An era had passed by the time Byers retired as director of athletics in May of 1998. The only AD in Evansville's Division I history to that point, Byers helped transform a department that in 1977 put virtually all of its resources into one sport into a department that now included 15 sports-eight of which were for women. Soccer had earned national prominence, and basketball and other sports were holding their own regionally against much tougher competition than UE ever faced in Division II. Ironically, the major casualty during the Byers' era was football, the sport he coached for 11 years before becoming AD. But even with that disappointment lingering over Byers' retirement, the positives far outnumbered the negatives in the 21 years following that terrible December night in 1977. THE JENNINGS ERA UE's athletics program was greatly affected by the timing of the transition from the Vinson administration to that of Dr. Stephen Jennings. Byers' successor, Laura Tietjen, stayed on as director of athletics for two years, from June, 1998 to August, 2000. Her resignation came soon after Vinson announced that he would retire the following spring, and Vinson decided to appoint an interim AD so that the new president could choose the full-time director of athletics. His choice was UE Vice President of Fiscal Affairs and Administration Bob Gallman, who continued to maintain his primary responsibility as the University's chief financial officer. The plan was for Gallman to serve no more than one year. Two downward trends during the late 90s and early 21st century altered that plan, however. One was a decline in UE's enrollment. The other was a decline in UE's men's basketball attendance, from an average of more than 10,000 in 1996 to less than 6,000 in 2002. Those two strains on the budget forced Jennings and the trustees in late 2001 to take the most serious look ever at the future of athletics at UE. This inspection of athletics by a special committee of trustees appointed by Dr. Jennings effectively shut down the search for a new director of athletics. UE officials knew that few if any good candidates would apply for a Division I AD position that within a matter of months might undergo substantial change. The result was that Gallman was forced to remain in his dual role, and the athletics department had no full-time director during the most critical months of its history. The winter of 2001-02 was traumatic at best. The confirmation that a special committee to study athletics had been assembled became public on January 23, with a story in the Evansville Courier that quoted Dr. Jennings as saying, "Why not Division II? Or Division III? If there was a Division IV, we'd look at that, too."
Daily newspaper articles and television stories surrounding the trustees' study helped the Division I effort. Community reaction in favor of Division I was extremely strong, according to Jennings, who managed to keep a sense of humor throughout the ordeal. "Yesterday, someone flashed the 'We're Number 1' sign at me," he said at a meeting discussing the department's future. "But they didn't use their index finger."
There also came an overwhelming vote of confidence from UE's academic community. With budgets already squeezed by the enrollment decline, faculty and staff were concerned that more money could be siphoned from undergraduate education in order to prop up athletics. But Jennings and the committee made it clear that additional funds from outside the University would be necessary to keep Division I athletics. At an open meeting in February, 2002 with the trustees' committee, faculty and staff spoke up almost unanimously in favor of retaining Division I athletics.
With the local fans, business community, campus community and alumni solidly behind Division I, Dr. Jennings announced on March 14, 2002 that the committee studying athletics had unanimously voted to remain at the Division I level as part of its long-range plan to build enrollment and increase the school's exposure nationally.
Spring of 2002 looked much brighter than the preceding winter months. Softball became the fifth UE team sport to win an outright Missouri Valley Conference championship, and the sixth to compete in an NCAA Division I championship. Bill McGillis, formerly senior associate director of athletics at the University of New Mexico, was hired in April as director of athletics, ending Gallman's tenure at 21 months. Just eight days after McGillis came on board, he hired Hampton University basketball coach Steve Merfeld to replace Jim Crews, who ended a 17-year career at Evansville in March when he took the head coaching position at Army. In the next nine months, McGillis hired seven more new head coaches-Dave Schrage (baseball), Jim Hamilton (men's golf), Ron Raab (women's soccer), Rickey Perkins (men's and women's swimming & diving), Tomas Johansson (men's tennis), Mike Swan (volleyball) and Dave Golan (men's soccer).
The biggest success stories during the first decade of the 21st century were baseball, women's basketball and women's soccer. Schrage led the 2006 baseball team to MVC regular season and tournament titles, and to the NCAA regional final. One month later, he was wooed away from UE by Notre Dame to become the head coach of the Fighting Irish. Tricia Cullop led the 2007-08 women's basketball team to an MVC regular season co-championship and a game at Kansas in the WNIT. She left in the spring of 2008 to become head coach at the University of Toledo, but her successor, Misty Murphy, led the 2008-09 squad to the MVC Tournament championship despite a ninth place finish during the regular season. Murphy became the second head coach to lead UE to the NCAA Tournament in his or her first year. Just four months earlier, Krista McKendree became the first. The rookie head coach of the Purple Aces' women's soccer team guided the 2008 squad to regular season and tournament titles, and to the program's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.
McGillis left UE in the spring of 2007 to become senior associate director of athletics at the University of South Florida. His final task was to hire a new men's basketball coach following the resignation of Merfeld, whose teams produced a record of 54-91 from 2002-07. The choice was a popular one in the community--former Aces' standout Marty Simmons, who had spent the previous five years as head coach at Division II Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. McGillis was replaced in June of 2007 by John Stanley, a president at Old National Bank in Evansville who had recently served in volunteer capacities as head of the Purple Aces Club booster organization and as an assistant women's tennis coach for the Aces. Like McGillis, Stanley in his first two years hired a number of new head coaches, including McKendree, Murphy, baseball coach Wes Carroll, softball coach Mark Redburn, and tennis coach Christine Bader, who, when hired in June of 2008 at the age of 21, was the youngest head coach in UE's Division I history.
Over the last five years, the department has taken even more steps towards the top. The men's basketball team has made great strides, advancing to postseason play in five of the last seven years. In 2015, they capped off their best season in over 20 years, winning 24 games and the CIT Championship. Two years prior, the team made another run through the CIT, making its way to the semifinals behind Colt Ryan. On March 26, 2013, Ryan scored 39 points in leading the Aces to a win at Canisius. In doing so, he became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the program.
Baseball has also made great strides. Behind a great all-around team effort, the Purple Aces took the top spot in the MVC in 2014, winning the regular season championship. Starter Kyle Freeland established himself as one of the top pitchers in the nation and was taken 8th overall by the Colorado Rockies in the MLB Draft. Just a season later, the Aces once again sported one of the top players in the country. Senior outfield Kevin Kaczmarski was named the MVC Player of the Year behind a season that saw him lead the NCAA in batting average (.465) and triples (9). He was also second in the country in on-base percentage. Kaczmarski was taken in the 9th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the New York Mets.
Always one of the top programs in the league, the women's soccer team came through with a regular season conference championship in 2012. Behind MVC Goalkeeper of the Year Simone Busby and MVC Freshman of the Year Abby Springer, the team went 4-1-1 in the Valley to be the top seed. Busby had another stellar season in 2014, earning another Goalkeeper of the Year award as the Aces advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament. On the men's side, momentum is rolling as one of the favorite sons of the program - Marshall Ray - was named the head coach in late 2014. His on-field tenure will officially begin when the season starts in August of 2015. In a collective effort to raise the profile of the program, new athletics director Mark Spencer worked with both teams to create "UEFC". It gave the teams an identity as well as a collective group for Aces fans to be a part of.
Below is a list of UE's NCAA Division I Tournament appearances and Division I conference championships.
DIVISION I NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES 1977-2009
Baseball 1988, 2000, 2006, 2014
Men’s Basketball 1982, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999
Women’s Basketball 1988, 1999, 2009
Men’s Soccer 1982, 1984, 1985 (Final Four), 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (Final Four), 1991, 1992, 1996
Women’s Soccer 1998, 1999, 2001, 2008
Softball 2002
Women’s Swimming & Diving--Kim Dodson 2000 and 2001
CONFERENCE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIPS 1977-2009
Baseball 1988, 1991, 2006
Men’s Basketball 1982, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999
Women’s Basketball 2008
Men’s Soccer 1990, 1991
Women’s Soccer 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, 2012
Softball 2000
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS 1977-2009
Baseball 1988, 1990, 2006
Men’s Basketball 1982, 1992, 1993
Women’s Basketball 1999, 2009
Men’s Golf 1986
Men’s Soccer 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996
Women’s Soccer 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2008
Softball 1984, 1985, 2002
Men’s Swimming & Diving 1984, 1985, 1987
Women’s Swimming & Diving 1987
Men’s Tennis 1987, 1988
Women’s Tennis 1986, 1987
Below is more information about those who shaped athletics at the University of Evansville.
John Harmon
John Harmon was a star athlete who competed in football, basketball, baseball and track before coming to Evansville College in 1923 as director of athletics and coach of all sports. He turned out to be an excellent coach, too, leading Evansville's basketball team to a record of 59-50 from 1923-30. Prior to Harmon's arrival, Evansville had won only seven games in the progam's previous four years of existence.
But John Harmon was much more than a jock. He left Evansville College to earn the first doctoral degree in Health and Physical Education ever issued by Indiana University. In 1932 he joined the staff at Boston University and eventually created a doctoral program at BU that supplied athletic directors to hundreds of colleges and universities.
Today, the Dr. John M. Harmon Memorial Installation Banquet is held each winter on the University of Evansville campus to induct members into the UE Athletics Hall of Fame.
"Dad loved Evansville, and I'm told that he often lugged me as a baby to football and basketball practice," says his son, Dr. Millard Harmon. "He obviously was fond of athletics, but academics and religion meant a lot to him, also. And he really cared about the boys he coached. They didn't use the term back then, but I think dad was an excellent role model."
Bill Slyker
You have to admit that William V. Slyker's parents had a sense of humor. Bill was born in 1899 on February 14, so they gave him the middle name of Valentine. Rumor is that he tried to keep that romatic fact a secret from his teammates and coaches in high school and college.
Slyker played in the 1921 Rose Bowl for Ohio State, went to law school and became a licensed attorney. But his love for athletics guided him into coaching, and eventually into the position of director of athletics at Evansville College in 1930. His football teams usually finished with losing records, but Slyker was responsible for bringing Aces' athletics to a new level against tougher competition. Success came more quickly in basketball. Slyker's predecessor, John Harmon, began a winning tradition and Slyker maintained the success. In 13 years as basketball coach, his teams
compiled a 123-96 record.
Slyker lived only seven more years after leaving Evansville, passing away at the age of 50 in 1949. But his name lives on. His friends and former players established the William V. Slyker Award in 1954. It has been presented each spring since then to the Aces' most outstanding male athlete.
Arad McCutchan
Always looking ahead, Arad McCutchan decided to major in both math and physical education at Evansville College so he could increase his chances of getting a teaching job following graduation. With his education complete and a splendid basketball career behind him, Arad had done all he could to get just the right job. However, the offers did not exactly pour in. Despite his resume, the Depression sent young Mr. McCutchan packing.
"I had lived in Evansville all my life and wanted to stay, but I had to go to Alabama and teach high school for two years for a salary of $80 a month," he recalled in a 1991 magazine story. "Twenty-five years later, I went back there and taught a two-day basketball clinic and made $500!"
McCutchan's value skyrocketed because of what he accomplished during that 25-year period. Described as a 'hard-nosed nice guy,' he coached Evansville to five NCAA College Division national championships over the span of three decades. His record of 514-314 covered 31 years, from 1947 through 1977.
"He was a fierce competitor, but you never saw him screaming at anyone and you never heard a cuss word come out of his mouth," said Don Buse, an All-America at Evansville and a member of the 1971 national championship team. "He won all those games and all those championships, but without all the noise that so many coaches make today. He was a class guy."
He was also the first College Division coach inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame, in 1981. Only John Wooden, who won 10 Division I titles at UCLA, won more national titles in college basketball.
By the way, McCutchan's double major of mathematics and physical education eventually paid off. In addition to coaching basketball at his alma mater, he also spent 25 years teaching math.
Jerry Sloan
As successful as Jerry Sloan has been coaching in the NBA, his friends will tell you that he is happiest when riding his tractor through his farm near McLeansboro, Ill. Sloan's rural roots helped guide him to Evansville College in the early 1960s. After two months on the too-big, too-much-limelight University of Illinois campus, Sloan returned home to southeastern Illinois and worked in an oil field for three months. Then he finally got up the courage to leave home and play for Arad McCutchan at Evansville.
"I can't say it was homey, but it was nice," Sloan told the Indianapolis Star's David Benner in a 1990 interview. "And Coach McCutchan was really a unique guy with me. I just had a great feeling when I was around him and he made me feel comfortable around other people."
"Jerry had an intense desire to win," said McCutchan, who housed Sloan with a family instead of in a campus dorm in order to help him overcome his shyness and homesickness. "There are a great number of people, when you start analyzing how fast is he, how well can he shoot, how high can he jump, who can probably out-do him. But I don't think anybody tried any harder than Jerry."
Sloan was never better than the third highest scorer for the Aces, but his defense, passing and rebounding made him an All-America in 1964 and '65, both national championship years at Evansville. He and Dale Wise are still the only two players in Aces' history to total more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
A relentless defensive player in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls, Sloan made the All-Star Team twice and the NBA All-Defensive Team six times. A knee injury ended his career at about the same time McCutchan was preparing to retire. Sloan became the obvious choice to succeed the legendary McCutchan and become the Purple Aces' first Division I coach. He took the job in January of 1977 and five days later stunned Evansville fans by resigning and returning to Chicago to become an assistant coach for the Bulls. Sloan's successor, Bobby Watson, coached just four games before he was killed along with the Evansville team December 13, 1977 in the airplane crash near Dress Regional Airport.
Sloan eventually became the Bulls' head coach in 1979 before getting fired two seasons later. In 1988 he returned to the head coaching ranks, in Utah. He is the only current NBA coach to hold the same job that long, and was the 1998 NBA Coach of the Year. He has taken the Jazz to the NBA Finals three times.
A replica of Sloan's 1965 Evansville jersey hangs high in the rafters at Roberts Stadium. He is one of four Aces to have his jersey retired, along with McCutchan, Larry Humes and Don Buse.
"I was scared and shy when I came here, and the people of Evansville made me feel at home," Sloan said in 1997 when his jersey was retired at Roberts Stadium. "I can always come back to Evansville and feel like I belong."
Ida Stieler
Ida Stieler was ahead of her time. In the 21st century, coaches of women's college teams
are concentrating on just one sport, making good money, and gaining increased recognition from the media.
In the mid-20th century, people such as Ida Stieler did it all, for less pay, in almost total obscurity. For 37 years, from 1935 to 1972, Stieler directed the women's sports programs and women's physical education program at Evansville College. For 30 of those years, she was the only woman in the physical education department, teaching all phys. ed. courses for women and supervising women's intramurals. No varsity teams existed for women until 1969.
Born September 2, 1906 in Evanston, Illinois, Stieler moved with her family at an early age to Evansville and graduated in 1923 from Central High School, where she played basketball. Stieler was a field hockey player at Battle Creek (Mich.) College, and began her long tenure at Evansville College as an associate professor of physical education in 1935. By the time she retired in 1972, Stieler had groomed many of the area's female high school coaches, including Mary Dannettelle, Karen Dawson, Linda Youngblood and Louise Owen. She was also a role model for Lois Patton, who joined Stieler on the physical education staff in 1966.
"Ida was tall, and I think some of the students were scared of her at first because of her height," recalls Patton. "But she was a very caring person and always went the extra mile for her students and athletes. She was really remarkable, teaching 20 hours at a time when we were on quarters and not semesters, plus running all of the intramural programs. She was constantly upbeat, and always enjoyed what she was doing."
Stieler's career goal was to coach at the college level, and finally in 1969, the University approved the formation of four varsity teams for women at UE: volleyball, tennis, softball and basketball. Stieler coached tennis and volleyball, while Patton took basketball and softball.
"She was 63 years old before she got the chance to do what she really wanted to do," Patton says. "But at least she got the chance."
Bob Hudson
Picture a big old bulldog with a twinkle in his eye. That's how one of his many friends remembers Bob Hudson. From 1955 until he died in the 1977 plane crash, Hudson was business manager for athletics.
He did much more than pay bills. Hudson was a marketing, publicity and promotions whiz before anyone used those job titles in college athletics. He knew more people in Evansville than the mayor. He was a ticket manager and fund raiser. Hudson's day in the office started at 6 a.m. "I can get more done between six and eight than I can the rest of the day," he explained.
For 20 years, Hudson directed the NCAA College Division national finals at Roberts Stadium. After his death, it literally took years to update records because Hudson kept files in his head, not in his desk.
Three months after his death, Don White wrote in the Evansville Sunday Courier & Press, "Doesn't it look like the late Bob Hudson left behind the biggest pair of shoes ever? At last count, there were three men, an athletic director, director of athletic development, and athletic business manager, assigned to the duties which were Hudson's alone through a couple decades."
Lois Patton
Ida Stieler paved the road so that women at the University of Evansville could compete in varsity athletics. Lois Patton made sure the road stayed open.
A professor in health and physical education for 32 years beginning in 1966, Patton also directed the women's sports program at UE from 1970 to 1982. Her leadership brought women's athletics at UE from the intramural to varsity level. Funding increased, opportunities increased, and Patton coached everything. For eight years she never coached fewer than two sports. In 1973-74, she was head coach of all four women's sports: basketball, softball, tennis and volleyball. By the time she retired from coaching in 1981, six women's sports were established at the varsity level.
Patton was more than a women's sports advocate, however. In 1978, she became head of the University of Evansville department of physical education. It's a rarity now, and was almost unheard of then, for a woman to chair a university's physical education department. Among Patton's initiatives was convincing the administration to add athletic training to the curriculum. Today, students at UE can major in athletic training, sports medicine or exercise science, in large part because of Patton.
"Lois had, and always will have, the utmost integrity," says Linda Wambach Crick, who played for and then coached under Patton at UE in the 1970s before going on to become an assistant director of athletics at UE. "One day in my senior year of high school, Becky Jones took me to campus and got me into a pickup basketball game. I had pretty much committed to attending UE, but the rule was that you couldn't play if you weren't affiliated with the university, so Lois looked at Becky like, "Get your little friend out of here.'
"She kicks me out the first time I ever see her, and then I end up playing for her for four years. But that was Lois. She always followed the rules, always did things the right way even if it wasn't in her best personal interest."
Patton was inducted into the University of Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994, and retired in 1998. She hasn't slowed down, though. Patton has found time in retirement to hike part of the Appalachian Trail, and her talent with a camera keeps her involved in Aces' sports as a photographer for the UE athletics department.
