Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Mention the name Mary Louise Eltz, and the average follower of IUP sports will say, ''Women's Tennis.” But that's only part, actually a comparatively small part of the story.
 
True, Eltz mentored the sport for 15 seasons, from its initiation as a varsity sport through 1984, for a record of
153 wins and 47 losses (a .770 win percentage). Her tenure was highlighted by records of 9- 1 in 1972, 11-l in '73, 12-0 in '74and ll-1 in '76.
 
(The 1974 campaign was a story unto itself. Accomplished when there were no tennis courts on campus while Zink Hall was being built, IUP won 62 of 63 individual matches. The only loss came because of an ankle injury in the season's opening set.)
 
It was Eltz who also established women's basketball as a varsity sport in 197 1-72. Her 7-2 record stood until this year as the best win percentage by any IUP women’s round ball team.
 
And, though behind the scenes too many, Eltz assisted IUP Hall of Fame inductee Ruth Podbielski for many years in the latter's role as Associate Director of Athletics for Women's Program and herself at one time served as Acting Associate AD.
 
Their teamwork resulted in the women's program developing II varsity sports and becoming known as the model toward which nearly all other colleges and universities strived.
 
An example of this came when the AAU selected IUP as the site for its annual track and field Junior Olympics and related clinics for Indiana, Cambria and Blair counties. Eltz directed, and the program grew to 1200 participants.
 
Eltz, who retired from the health and physical education faculty in 1997, came to IUP in 1969 after having taught and coached as many as six different sports (never experiencing a losing season in any) at Delone Catholic High School in hometown McSherrystown and Canton, Pennsylvania.
 
An East Stroudsburg graduate who earned a master's degree there, Eltz completed additional graduate studies in gerontology at Penn State, Michigan State and the University of Georgia. She has been accorded a number of national and state professional recognitions in her field, including a 1992 state honors award.