Contact:  John Johnson or Andy Frushour 
517.332.5046 or [email protected]
 

EAST LANSING, Mich.  – March 3 – Two individuals who have combined for nearly 80 years of service to the educational athletics community – Ellen Pugh of West Branch and Patti Tibaldi of Traverse City -- have been named the recipients of the 2011 Women In Sports Leadership Award by the Representative Council of the MHSAA.

Each year the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.   The award will be presented at halftime of the Class A championship game at the MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 19.

Pugh retired recently from the Ogemaw Heights High School, where she served as a teacher, coach and for the last 15 years of her career as athletic director.  As a swimming coach, she was honored by the Michigan Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association as a regional Coach of the Year; as well as the Independent Swimming Conference Coach of the Year.  As an athletic administrator, the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association honored her with an annual Regional award.

She has also been active with the MHSAA, the MIAAA and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association on various committees; in numerous community programs as a volunteer with the Kiwanis, American Red Cross, Girl Scouts and the United Methodist Church.  She has also organized a youth swimming club program locally.

An Athens High School graduate, Pugh earned her bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University and did her post-graduate studies at Central Michigan University.

 “Ellen Pugh has modeled the traits of a leader in many ways,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the HSAA.  “While she did not have available to her athletic participation opportunities while in high school, she helped organize and grow those efforts for girls and boys in her career in education.  We could always count on her to go above and beyond the call of duty in a way that only true servant-leaders can.  She is a wonderful choice for the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”

Tibaldi has been both a high school and college coach and administrator in her 38-year career.  Starting with teaching and coaching stints at Comstock Park and Grand Rapids West Catholic; followed by 18 years at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids as a coach and athletic administrator; and she is now a coach, teacher and athletic director at Traverse City West High School.  At the high school level, she was been honored as a Coach of the Year while at West Catholic in directing the girls basketball team to the MHSAA Class B title in 1981, and by the National Federation of State High School Associations as a state Coach of the Year at Traverse City West in 2004.

She has served on several MHSAA’s committees; has been a past president of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan and served on its executive board; and is a member of the MIAAA.  In the community, she has worked with local Boys and Girls Clubs and co-authored a successful million dollar grant effort to help battle obesity in the greater Traverse City Community.

An Aquinas College graduate with a degree in English and physical education, Tibaldi was inducted into her alma matter’s Athletic Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999.

“Patti Tibaldi was a pioneer on the basketball court as the game for females was redeveloping at the high school and collegiate levels,” said Roberts.  “Her leadership as a teacher and administrator is exemplary as well.  Her contributions make us proud to present her with the Women In Sports Leadership award.”

The honoring of Pugh and Tibaldi brings to 26 the number of Women In Sports Leadership Award recipients.  Past recipients are:
 
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
 
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition.  No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools.  Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

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