I find it ironic that as people celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 around the country, one of its biggest supporters and beneficiaries has passed away.
Laurice “Lo” Hunter, or as those of us who grew up in Evergreen and were blessed to cross paths with this incredible woman and called her “Miss Hunter”, left us on Friday. She was 89.
For those who weren’t as fortunate, Lo was a PE teach at Evergreen High School (the school’s gym is now named after her) who just happened to build one of the greatest girls sports programs in the country from scratch. Her basketball teams were always challenging for state titles, but the volleyball teams were her crown jewel. Lo coached the Cougar volleyball team from 1972-1995, winning nine state championships, eight consecutively. The teams from 1978-1984 won 182 consecutive matches (a National Record at the time) and the 1984 team never lost a game (matches were best of three games). She had a career record of 503-83 (.858 winning pct). Even more impressive, her programs (she also coached golf for a spell) earned more than 125 girls scholarships to four-year universities. She once told my former Denver Post colleague, the late Irv Moss in 2009, “(The scholarship opportunities) was one of the biggest reasons to start girls sports, (for them) to be educated to go out and see the world. It was a wonderful opportunity to play volleyball.”
Lo is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the Colorado Sportswomen Hall of Fame, The Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame and the National High School Federation Hall of Fame.
Yes. She was the definition of icon.
Lo was also as polarizing figure as I could ever remember.
There were those that walked the halls of EHS that cared about her, respected her, were influenced by her and were proud to say they were one of her students. Then there were those who wanted her and, to an extent, girls athletics to go the way of the Dodo bird.
I’m not speaking out of school here. There were teachers, students an parents who disparagingly referred to her as “Lo Baby” or “General Patton” because of her tactics. Lo wouldn’t just sit in the corner and be quiet or accept condescending, backhanded compliments of her teams. She wanted respect for the girls more than anything.
Lo was demanding, iron-fisted, a drill sergeant who took no guff from anyone, including her players. She could be as fiery as four-alarm blaze and as comforting as a priest.
“I was a disciplinarian,” Hunter once said. “There were times when my teams couldn’t settle down and focus, even in practice. I made them sit down for five minutes and not say a word to anyone. It proved a point, and it really worked.”
Hunter initiated a series of summer camps, starting with varsity players and extending down into the sophomore and freshman ranks. And she focused on playing rather than drills.
She had practices at 6 a.m. and in the afternoon during the season. Was it a little much? Perhaps. But I know many of the guys (including myself) who would go an play against those girls at the crack of dawn had a blast. Everyone just wanted to be a part of something special.
Make no mistake it was Lo’s way or the highway. But for all of the discipline and, at times, unforgiveness, Lo fought tooth and nail for her girls, her teams and for women’s sports. That was her sole purpose. If she thought her programs were getting the short-end on facilities or equipment, she let the administration know about it. Boy, those guys hated when Lo was right.
Lo grew up in Dodge City, Kan. and graduated from Wichita State University. She came to Colorado in 1963 with a few years of teaching and coaching in Kansas and Texas on her resume. She itched to get girls out onto the courts and playing fields in organized fashion.
“We had play days first,” Hunter said in 2009, recalling her early years at Evergreen after joining the staff in 1967. “Several of us promised Alice Barron, the athletic director in Jefferson County, that if they’d let us play sports, we’d stay and coach.”
Organized Colorado high school girls sports began with gymnastics, track and tennis in the early 1970s and Hunter coached all three for free. She said when volleyball and basketball were added a year or so later, so was a salary.
A trailblazer, Lo, for the most part, was highly respected around the state. Most opposing players and coaches admired the Evergreen program, the Cougar players in particular for their abilities, sportsmanship and kindness. However, there were some, even years after Lo retired, that didn’t speak of her in glowing terms. Her methods came into question. But you know, I always laughed when years later while covering volleyball, a coach told me he/she wasn’t a fan of Hunter, yet they had modeled their program after hers. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Boom!
How respected was Lo? Back in the early 80s, the University of Colorado was starting its women’s volleyball program and athletic director Bill Marolt asked Hunter to be the head coach. She turned it down.
She told me, “I could do more for girls by teaching and coaching at the high school level than I could ever do in college. I felt I was needed (in high school education).”
To me, that really tells you everything you want to know about Lo. She was all about the kids. And she loved it when the student body came to the games, often doing a celebration dance with the kids on the court after a big win.
She started calling me “Hot Shot” my senior year. I never knew why. It was always “Hi Miss Hunter!” and she’d say “Hi Hot Shot”! Years later I was covering a CU women’s basketball game and I hear this “Hey Hot Shot!” from the stands. I turn and there’s Lo, grinning from ear to ear. She was very supportive of my being in the media and we always visited during games. I’d usually get an email or two from her after my story came out. It was her way of “coaching” me.
But that was the lady she was.
Right. Wrong. Good. Bad. Disciplinarian. Affectionate.
Lo was all that and more. She wanted everyone of her students, whether they played a sport for her, just came at watched, or just passed her in the hall paying no mind, it didn’t matter. It meant the world to her if an Evergreen High School student found success.
She had such an influence on so many of us, from her players like Tanya Haave, Sue Hays, Liz Ewy, Jana Milsten, Kerry Stuhr, Sherri Danielson, Sue Muncaster, Debbie Griebling, the late Beth Wittebort, Donna McCrimmon, Denise Bonds, Bonnie Brewster, Heidi Dexter, Kari Lee (Keke Stickney), Tracy Wahl, Jennifer Mintle and soooo many others that we don’t have room to name to the boys that played against these girls on the cold mornings in Lo’s words “To help them get better”. She taught us all how to fight, how to compete, how work together, how to dig down and find something in ourselves we never knew we had.
Lo was tough on us at times and she did it for a reason. She wanted all of us to be the best that we could be. Sports columnist Woody Paige once referred to her as “Aunty Lo” when he wrote about her in 1980. It was appropriate. Lo was like that one aunt we all have that would drive you crazy, make you do what you didn’t want to and then give you that big hug and a milk shake.
Lo could make many people feel many things. And right now we’re all sad because our dear lady, mentor, teacher, inspiration and friend is gone.
Did everyone like her? No. But all great people have their detractors and nobody can please everyone. Particular in high school athletics. But no matter.
Farewell Miss Hunter, you were one of kind and was so much to so many of us. You were Evergreen. And none of us will ever forget you!