Illinois State

4 2014 Redbird Softball Tradition of Excellence MARIAN KNEER The name Marian Kneer has been synonymous with Illinois State softball far before the stadium was renamed in her honor during the 2009 season. Kneer was a pioneer for women's athletics, spearheading the efforts for women's sports inclusion in the Illinois High School Association, two years prior to the passage of the Title IX Education Amendment (1972). A four-sport Redbird athlete from 1945-49, Kneer was inducted into the ISU Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 1976 and became a member of the College of Education Hall of Fame in 2004. She is also a member of the Greater Peoria and National Association for Sport and Physical Education Halls of Fame. Born in Peoria, Ill., she went on to earn her doctorate in physical education from Michigan and was labeled "the world's greatest softball catcher" in the late 1950s. Kneer is a member of the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame and the Illinois Coaches Association for Girls and Women Hall of Fame. AN ERA OF DOMINANCE Illinois State Athletics has always been at the forefront of promoting women's athletic opportunities, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, when the movement to bring women's college athletics up to speed with men's intercollegiate athletic programs was at its zenith. Three visionary women, Carmen Imel, Dr. Laurie Mabry and Dr. Jill Hutchison, who would later go on to coach the Redbird women's basketball team for 28 years, brought national attention to ISU women's athletics and Redbird softball in the early years of women's athletics at Illinois State. Softball has been a part of Illinois State dating back to the 1930s and has been recognized as an intercollegiate sport at ISU since 1965. Since then, the program has amassed well over 1,000 wins, made seven Women's College World Series appearances, won 12 regular-season conference championships and six conference tournament titles. Redbird softball helped to set a standard for athletic excellence at Illinois State that continues to this day. ISU made appearances in the AIAW Women's College World Series seven times from 1969-1981, finishing second in '69 and '73, with the former featuring current head coach Melinda Fischer as a player. The teams' appearances in the WCWS set in motion an era of softball dominance that has existed at Illinois State ever since. MARGIE WRIGHT The majority of Margie Wright's 1,457-career coaching victories, the most in college softball history, came during her 27- season tenure at Fresno State. It was her time at Illinois State, however, both as a player and a coach, that molded her into the coach she would become. Wright came to Illinois State from her hometown of Warrensburg, Ill. She accrued four letters in both basketball and softball, as well as three in field hockey. As ISU's star pitcher, Wright led the Redbirds to a second-place finish in the 1973 AIAW Women's College World Series. She was inducted into the ISU Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 1979. After coaching softball at Metamora High School and Eastern Illinois, Wright returned to coach her alma mater in 1980. In six seasons at the helm of ISU, Wright's Redbirds compiled a 163-92-2 record, inclduing a trip to the 1981 AIAW Women's College World Series and three-straight state titles from 1980-82. From there, Wright would continue one of the most decorated coaching careers in college softball at Fresno State, where she won the 1998 national championship and led the Bulldogs to 10 WCWS berths. TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE

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