A SISTERHOOD UNIqUE TO SPRINGFIELD Continued from previous page
and available ash trees to make the sticks. “I guess I was pretty committed to lacrosse,” she said. Apparently so. In 1977, she moved on to Middlebury College, where
she has been for 37 years. For 33, she has coached lacrosse, and she no longer has to go into the forest for supplies. Her teams have won five Division III national championships, and Foote has become a coaching legend. In 2003 she was inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame. Just last year, she became a National Lacrosse Hall of Famer as well.
SOCCER
By prevailing in a thriller in penalty kicks at MIT on Nov. 10, Springfield continued a legacy of excellence under 14th year head coach John Gibson. The victory marked the second straight season, and fifth in the last nine, that the Pride had captured the NeWMAC championship. Gibson’s 178-80-25 mark has continued to upgrade a long-
successful program that began in 1980. Herb Zettl, still a history professor, was the team’s first coach who lasted 17 seasons, going 156-106-21. Gibson, possessor of one of the most wry
senses of humor on the Springfield campus, prominently displays a book behind his desk that he says contains all his coaching wisdom— Barbie: Soccer Coach. Nicole (Hanewich) Ross ‘09 begs to differ. The
Dartmouth, convincing a friend (then-athletic director Ian Day) to interview her. The interview itself defined, as much as anything, the power of the “Springfield Coaching Way.” There were eight people grilling Ross, including basketball coach (and current AD) Amanda Van Voorhis ’98, G’00, a Springfield College grad who had played basket- ball for Naomi Graves. “She started to cry during the interview,” Ross recalled. “There
were tears in her eyes. She said, ‘I just haven’t heard that passion in anybody. You remind me so much of myself when I was here 10 years ago.’”
SOFTBALL
fourth-year head coach at UMass-Dartmouth, Ross says simply, “Tactically and technically, everything I have learned is from him.” Ross says that her own hell-bent tendencies in the game met their match from Gibson. “Coach and I are polar opposites. Learning from him taught me the other end of the spectrum, which I really needed. I’m super aggressive. everything has got to be hard. Coach is the opposite. Coach is soft. He’s soft-spoken and he’s very methodical. He taught me to take a step back, see the big picture, pick and choose my battles, which is really important at this level.” Gibson also paved the way for Ross to get her job at UMass-
College benefactor Louise Appleton asked how she enjoyed the spring break team trip to Florida that her family had financed. When DiPrete politely informed her that the money had been used just to send the men’s team, Appleton said, “Well, honey, that’s just not right. We will change that.”
Springfield College is not alone in calling the fourth base of its softball diamond “home,” but there is no question that this program likes to keep things in house. Through 50 years, the school has known five coaches—Diane Potter ’57, G’63; Gail Chmielenski Bochieme (interim); Lynn Johnson ’77, G’85; Kathy Mangano ’86, G’88; and Julie Perrelli G’04, PhD ’09. All are Springfield College alumnae. All have known success at a program that has produced championships, All-Americans, and an aggregate record of 908-657. Respect for the tradition is embodied by
the all-time winningest coach Mangano’s insistence, to this day, on referring to her coach as “Dr. Potter.” Now Chair of the Physical education and Health education Department after 20 years of coaching, Mangano says that her career path was
etched as an undergraduate. “Working with Dr. Potter, I thought ‘Wow, this is my ultimate dream. I would love to be the coach at Springfield College.’ I learned from the best.” That pattern has continued through the years. Kelly (Thompkins)
Markol ’92 played for Johnson and said she learned the essence of the Humanics philosophy through her softball experience. It is something she has tried to instill in her players at Brattleboro (Vermont) Union High School, a team she has taken to three state championships,
Jen Starek
Kelly Thompkins Markol 18 Julie Perrelli
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