Dr. Ginny Hunt (2000) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Dr. Ginny Hunt

Induction:
2000
Class:
1993

Dr. Ginny Hunt- Women’s Athletic Director, 1977-93 Years at MSU: 1977-93 Honors Earned: NACWAA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner AIAW President-Elect, 1982 Hometown: Tipton, Iowa “In many, many ways, as it pertained to status of coaches and treatment of athletes and facilities, Montana State’s women’s athletic department was miles ahead, maybe a decade ahead, of its peers. That was because of the attentiveness and leadership of Ginny Hunt.” –Big Sky Commissioner and Former MSU Men’s Athletic Director Doug Fullerton Ginny Hunt arrived in Bozeman in 1977 from the University of Michigan with a vision for MSU Athletics and the amount of ambition and enthusiasm necessary to build a program from scratch. MSU’s thriving women’s athletic programs will stand forever as testimony to Hunt’s success. Ginny Hunt took the reins of Montana State’s Women’s Athletics at a time when it was a glorified intramural program. At her first Lady Cat basketball game, Hunt was one of 250 fans. At her last game as Montana State’s women’s AD, there were 5,000 people, and Montana State won the program’s first-ever Big Sky Championship. While working tirelessly to build MSU’s women’s athletic program, Hunt also was a strong voice on the national level for opportunities in athletics at all levels for women. To that end, she was actively involved throughout her career in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee. Hunt chaired the AIAW Ethics Committee, and was the organization’s President-Elect when it was folded into the NCAA. Hunt, an Iowa graduate and former field hockey, basketball and volleyball coach at Wooster College, was most recently honored by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA). She was named as one of its Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.