ASHLAND — Athletic experience helps young women learn to trust themselves and build confidence, according to Kari Pickens, Ashland University’s women’s basketball coach.
A former college athlete-turned national-champion coach, Pickens said 50 or 60 years ago, those opportunities to grow through athletics didn’t exist for women.
“It’s really important for our generation to be educated on women’s athletics and the impact it’s made on women’s confidence and women’s ability to pursue things that 50 or 60 years ago, they wouldn’t have,” Pickens said.
Recently, Ashland University’s women’s athletics programs just received a boost.
The university announced the first installment of the Gay Whieldon Memorial Fund, a seven-figure gift given to AU. It will provide scholarships to female student-athletes. The first distribution of the gift came with a $2 million price tag.
The fund came from Whieldon, a 1966 and 1983 graduate of Ashland College. According to an AU press release about the fund, Whieldon was a Fulbright Scholar. She served as the athletic director at Castleton State College in Vermont. The school didn’t know of her intentions to offer the gift until after Whieldon’s recent death.
Pickens, and a slew of other AU women’s sports coaches, agreed that a gift of that amount has potential to act as a game changer for AU’s programs.
Getting the best
Bill Pollock, AU’s women’s golf coach, explained that the Gay Whieldon Memorial Fund allows the school to recruit at a higher level.
“Ashland sells itself,” Pollock said. “It just needs to be financially feasible for all parents.”
In Pollock’s estimation, the monies from that fund going toward full or partial scholarships matters. It helps put AU in reach for recruits, making the university’s recruitment process more competitive.
Katie Kuhn, the women’s volleyball coach at Ashland, agreed with Pollock. In an email to Ashland Source, Kuhn said this type of gift “provides opportunities [for] so many student-athletes and provide[s] stability for a long time at Ashland University.”
Pollock said the availability of that funding in the future is something he’s already mentioned in some conversations with athletes.
Unknowns remain, though. Namely, Pollock said he doesn’t anticipate the gift starting to apply until 2026. He added he doesn’t know how much funding each program will receive.
Leaving a legacy
Still, coaches agreed that the gift came as a major surprise. They said Whieldon’s generosity will allow AU women’s athletics to experience continued success.
The Eagles’ women’s soccer team was rated No. 1 in the nation for a time in October, while the women’s basketball squad won the Division II national championship last spring.
“What a blessing for an individual to leave that amount of her estate to our athletics department, and specifically to our female athletes,” Emlyn Knerem, the head softball coach at AU, wrote in an email to Ashland Source. “Something Ashland has been known for is the success of our athletics — it’s something you hear about everywhere when you mention our university.
“Now, with this endowment fund, we are able to continue the legacy and build upon the foundation that was laid by Gay and the women who have represented the Eagles in the past.”
Pickens said her program, women’s basketball, has received generous support in the past. But this time, coming from someone she didn’t know, it took her aback.
With the fund, Pickens said her program will be able to offer financial help to more women, getting the team closer to being “fully funded.”
That matters to Pickens, she said. Part of the recipe for her team’s success is getting the right players to the school.
“If you don’t have the right people in your programs, it’s hard to win,” Pickens said.
