AMHERST, Mass. – Generations of student-athletes gathered on campus Saturday to celebrate women's athletics at Amherst and honor one of the most iconic figures in Amherst history, professor emeritus of physical education and athletics Michelle Morgan. As part of the festivities, the path leading from Alumni Gymnasium up Memorial Hill to the first-year quad was dedicated as Morgan Way.
In Morgan's 44-year tenure at Amherst from 1978-2002, she coached golf, soccer, squash, basketball, lacrosse and tennis. Arriving on campus just two years after the advent of coeducation and the first female students at Amherst, Morgan was instrumental in the birth and growth of many of the women's athletics teams at the College. She also taught physical education and served as Amherst's senior woman administrator. Morgan was the first woman to be tenured in the athletics department and was the last tenured faculty member in the department.
To honor Morgan's legacy, a group of alums created the Michelle Morgan Women's Athletics Endowment Fund, the first of its kind at Amherst devoted exclusively to women's athletics, as well as the first fund named for a female coach at Amherst.
The attendees first gathered on the path that will now be known as Morgan Way, where Katie Fretwell '81 and Kathleen Murphy '82 spoke glowingly of the impact Morgan had on their own lives and on countless others that benefitted from her coaching and wisdom. "She challenged us to challenge ourselves," said Murphy. "We all benefitted from the Morgan Way."
"This is my first naming as president and I love the fact that it's for Michelle," said Amherst President Michael A. Elliott '92. "Coach Morgan made sure that no one who knew her walked alone. Her presence as a coach and a faculty member for 44 years has transformed Amherst and transformed many of you."
As described on the plaque that will adorn Morgan Way, the path named for Morgan was chosen as it both physically and symbolically "connects the athletic complex to the academic core of the campus, much as Coach Morgan united athletics and academics throughout her 44 years at the College."
"I can think of no better place on campus for my name to be attached than Morgan Way as its symbolism captures my educational philosophies," said Morgan. "Perhaps there is some Robert Frost significance that this is one of the many paths a student chooses to follow during their four years that helps shape their lives, and on commencement day I know that every student's last walk on campus will be up Morgan Way to receive their diploma and to move on to the next phase of life to make the world a better place."
At a reception in Middleton Gymnasium, trustee Beth Cisneros '89, director of athletics Don Faulstick, head women's soccer coach Jen Hughes and Chris Seaver '81 delivered remarks, reflecting on the early days of women's athletics at Amherst and the transformative impact and lasting legacy forged by Morgan.
Many alums of the first women's athletics teams at Amherst were in attendance, including members of the first women's teams in crew, lacrosse, soccer, basketball, swimming, cross country, squash and field hockey.
"Each team today stands on the shoulders of the women who were here in the late 70s early 80s forging these paths for us," said Cisneros.
Seaver was one of those women on campus in the early days of coeducation. "It's because I was in this newly formed class of women that I had the opportunity to play and compete at Amherst," she said. "We looked up to you [Morgan] from the very beginning and you knew where that line was between friend and coach and mentor and wise authority. You really did know how and when to speak to us and in what ways so that you got the best out of us and kept us looking up to you."
Faulstick noted Morgan's success as a coach in a record-breaking career that included seven NCAA Tournament appearances with the women's soccer team and four with the women's golf team (all of which came in the latter half of her career since the mid-1990s when NESCAC teams were first allowed to participate in NCAA Tournaments), and remarked that her legendary attention to detail and commitment to the student-athlete experience are still felt within the department today.
Hughes, Morgan's successor as head women's soccer coach, spoke of the wisdom gleaned from sharing an office for 12 years and presented a custom putter to Morgan, who is still a regular fixture at the Amherst Golf Club.
"I'm truly blessed and proud to be part of this historic evolution," said Morgan. "I'm truly honored that my legacy will continue on through the Michelle Morgan Women's Athletics Endowment Fund."
