The charter class of the Sweet Briar College Athletics Hall of Fame will be inducted this Sunday, Sept. 24, as part of the College’s homecoming weekend.
The nine individuals of the charter class span multiple decades and establish the standard for future honorees. Inductees for 2006 are Professor Emerita Harriet Howell Rogers, Ann Samford Upchurch ’48, Professor Emerita Katherine “Kay” Macdonald, Anna “Chips” Chao Pai ’57, Mildred “Bee” Newman Thayer ’61, Mary Jane Schroder Oliver Hubbard ’62, Lendon F. Gray ’71, Cannie Crysler Shafer ’78, and Katherine “Katie” Hearn ’85.
The Sweet Briar College Athletics Hall of Fame honors special achievement by alumnae and other who have been associated with athletics at the College. These individuals have helped bring recognition, honor, distinction, and excellence to Sweet Briar College and the intercollegiate athletics program.
Rogers, an expert horsewoman, retired from Sweet Briar in 1963 after 39 years of teaching. During that time, she played an instrumental role in the building of the gymnasium in 1931, the building of the first indoor riding ring at Sweet Briar, the development of the College’s riding program, and the establishment of a nationally recognized systematic program of instruction at the College.
Upchurch is the youngest Alabama State Golf Champion ever and the first to win titles in each of the three decades, capturing the title in 1946, 1956 and 1963. Among her many involvements while a student at Sweet Briar, were varsity tennis and serving as vice president of the Athletic Association.
An instructor and coach in the physical education department, Macdonald loved to shared her passion for learning and teaching with others. During her time at the College, she attended countless clinics and was heavily involved in state and national physical education organizations, bringing back tips and ideas to her fellow instructors and coaches.
Pai, the College’s Distinguished Alumnae in 1994, was committed to seeing both the Honors Program and the B.S. degree developed at Sweet Briar as a member of the College’s Board of Trustees. As a student, she played field hockey, basketball, softball and lacrosse for Sweet Briar and after graduating, played in the AAU Nationals as a member of the Livingstone, N.J. AAU power volleyball team.
Thayer, who overcame childhood polio, has always loved the outdoors and played tennis, swam and rode horses as a child. After graduation, she represented New Jersey in the U.S. Field Hockey Tournament. Thayer just completed a term on the College’s Board of Directors and is currently a 25-handicap golfer.
A year after graduating, Hubbard returned to Sweet Briar with her husband, a studio art professor. Back on campus, she became a member of the “Campus Characters,” a team made up of many area field hockey coaches and continued to participate in hockey and lacrosse tournaments. She also began coaching, serving first as a sabbatical replacement as lacrosse coach and then as an assistant lacrosse coach.
Gray has won more than 15 national championships and was a member of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Dressage Teams. In recent years, she has authored a book, “Lessons with Lendon,” using her years of experience and success in the dressage world to help others follow in her footsteps.
Sweet Briar’s Crysler Award, honoring a senior four-year athlete who demonstrates athletic achievement, service to sport and sportsmanship, was named in honor of Shafer, a four-year letter winner in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse at Sweet Briar. After graduating, Shafer continued her athletic involvement, coaching everything from varsity girls’ field hockey and lacrosse to JV girls’ and boys’ basketball at The Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pa., where she is currently head of Lower School.
Hearn was a two-time All-American and Conference Player of the Year in lacrosse as a Sweet Briar student-athlete and in the 1980s, held the Division III national scoring record in career points per game (6.00). In January 2006, she was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Greater Baltimore Chapter.
