Women’s sports at Washington University in St. Louis received a big boost recently with an anonymous gift of $350,000 to establish The Nancy Fahey Women’s Athletic Endowment Fund. The Fahey Fund will provide much-needed resources for all women’s intercollegiate athletics programs, and is named for the women’s basketball coach.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said the donor is an avid fan of the women’s basketball team. “The donor’s gift comes from the many hours of enjoyment received from watching the Bears play throughout the years,” Wrighton noted. “This thoughtful and generous gift provides a source of funding and a way to pay tribute to the extraordinary career of Nancy Fahey at Washington University, for which we are extremely grateful.”
“Intercollegiate athletics have played and continue to play an important role in the lives of our students,” said John Schael, athletics director. “This wonderful gift will help strengthen and advance women’s athletics on the Hilltop Campus and will benefit current and future generations of Washington University women by providing opportunities for achievements, fellowship and spirited competition.”
According to Schael, Fahey’s career has been truly remarkable with many impressive statistics, most notably four consecutive NCAA Division III championships from 1998 to 2001. With a 403-66 career record, Fahey also owns the best active winning percentage (0.859) in all divisions of men’s and women’s NCAA basketball.
Since arriving in 1986, Fahey has led the Bears to 15 NCAA tournament appearances, six Final Fours and 13 University Athletic Association championships. In 2003-04, WUSTL is going for its seventh straight UAA title and 15th consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“I am very honored and flattered by this exceptional gift to women’s sports programs here, and I’m very grateful to the donor for this critical support,” Fahey said. “I’m also very excited about this gift because it will create more opportunities for our young women in sports.”