College of Health and Human Performance (now College of Public Health and Human Sciences) faculty member, CPHHS professor emeritus, track and field coach, and athletics administrator Pat Ingram, a part of the campus fabric since 1969, will be inducted into the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming weekend, Oct. 23-24.
Ingram’s recognition stems from her contributions as a faculty member from 1969-88; her four seasons as track and field coach (1970-73); her stint as the first Director of the OSU Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Department (1973-75), and as the Supervisor of Health and Physical Education Student Teachers (1975-88).
“I am very much honored,” Ingram said. “But there were many other people who were part of the system and many people who came forward.
“I am not a pioneer, it was a group effort,” and the athletes and other administrators who were advocates for women’s athletics at the time should share in the recognition, she added.
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 1970’s and was instrumental in bringing the 1975 National Women’s Collegiate Track and Field Championships to Oregon State. She was meet director for the only collegiate track and field national championships ever staged in Corvallis.
She worked to return women’s track and field to OSU by raising funds for the Whyte Track and Field Center. She also established the second women’s athletic scholarship (2007); has was selected by the Oregon State Women’s Center as a recipient of its 2013 OSU Women of Achievement Award.
Her four track teams 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; 13 earned All-America honors and two represented the United States in track and field competition.
Ingram and her teams accomplished all this before women’s scholarships existed. They raised their own traveling expenses and could practice at Bell Field only if the men were not in need of the facility.
Ingram was the director of the Women’s Recreation Association, the counterpart to the men’s athletic department, when Title IX legislation was passed in June, 1972. At that time, former OSU President Robert MacVicar appointed Ingram as OSU’s first women’s athletic director. She laid the foundation for the future growth of OSU’s women’s athletic programs while maintaining a full teaching load.
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 OSU’s first coed meet. That spring, Mary Budke won a national title and the Beavers placed third at the national tournament. The following year OSU placed ninth at nationals.
In 1975, OSU’s Joni Huntley capture national titles in the high jump and long jump in leading the Beavers to finish in a tie for seventh in a national meet held at the new Valley track complex.
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.
The entire 2015 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on Friday, Oct. 23. A reception (register here) for this year’s honorees will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Club level of Reser Stadium; dinner and the induction ceremony will follow at 7 p.m.
Ingram and the other inductees – gymnast Heidi Anderson, former football standout Ken Simonton, former basketball student-athlete and coach Jimmy Anderson, former baseball coach Jack Riley, and the 2005 College World Series baseball team – will also be honored during the Oct. 24 football game against Colorado.
The OSU Athletics Hall of Fame was established to honor and preserve the memory of those student-athletes, teams, coaches, and members of the athletic staff who have contributed in an outstanding and positive way to the promotion of OSU’s athletic and academic programs.
This story was originally posted on osubeavers.com.