Gayle Blevins
Hometown: Dayton
Years as college softball coach: 31
Record: 1,245-588-5
At Iowa (23 years): 900-442-3
At Indiana (8 years): 345-146-2
Losing seasons: None
Women's College World Series: 7
Honors: Inducted into National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999 and Indiana University Hall of Fame in 2005.
Even at Stebbins High School in the mid-to-late-1970s, the softball teams she coached were making noise. Call it foreshadowing.
“My last year there was the first time the school qualified for the regionals,” Gayle Blevins recalled. “That was an exciting time.”
Blevins, who retired last month from the University of Iowa after 31 years and 1,245 wins as a college softball coach, grew up on Dayton’s east side, played multiple sports at Wilbur Wright High School and graduated with honors from the University of Dayton, where she played softball, basketball, volleyball and tennis.
“Just a first-class, all-around good person who cared about the kids and gave everything she had,” said Gail McGovney, a retired Stebbins teacher and coach who became a mentor and friend.
True enough, when discussing career highlights, Blevins emphasizes relationships over victories. But it was the winning that came to define her.
Twice named national coach of the year, Blevins brought Iowa to 16 NCAA tournaments and four Women’s College World Series. She stepped down as the second-winningest coach in NCAA Division I softball history, never suffering a losing season in 23 years at Iowa or eight at Indiana.
“She built the Iowa program basically from the ground up,” said Katy Foulk, a player there from 1991-95 who still keeps in touch.
Indeed, when Blevins arrived at Iowa in July 1987 after eight years at Indiana, the Hawkeyes had been fielding a team for nine years and had five winning records to show for it. By 1990 they were a power, winning a Big Ten title and making their first NCAA tournament.
“She built it on integrity, hard work and dedication,” Foulk said. “Softball was her life, and you could tell.”
Blevins also helped raise about $1 million to build a state-of-the-art softball stadium in Iowa City, contributing to her legacy.
“She’ll never toot her own horn,” McGovney said from her home in Florida, “but she’s one of the most respected coaches and people I have ever known.”
Humble beginnings
Coaching college softball did not exactly pay top dollar in 1980 when Blevins left Stebbins for Indiana.
The job paid $10,500. She took a $5,000 pay cut in accepting.
“And it was full-time,” Blevins said. “You had to recruit and do everything else involved with running a program.”
While jump-starting Indiana softball (three Big Ten titles, three Women’s College World Series), she struck up a friendship with legendary IU basketball coach Bobby Knight.
“He was incredibly good to me, a wonderful mentor,” Blevins said. “I learned a lot from him and saw behind the scenes the things he did for kids.”
Knight especially came in handy during recruiting visits.
“Imagine how exciting it was for a high school student to meet him,” Blevins said. “I knew he was incredibly busy, but I would call his office and he always made time. A lot of people wouldn’t think someone of that magnitude would do that.”
In softball circles, Blevins would become “of that magnitude.” She was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 2005.
At Iowa, with winning came pride. Midwest schools were not supposed to make it to the Women’s College World Series. Or so went the prevailing wisdom.
“She wasn’t willing to accept that,” Foulk said. “That’s what we were very proud of when we went for the first time (in 1995, losing to UCLA in the national semifinals).”
A rewarding life
Growing up, Blevins had watched her father toil at a Chrysler plant to put food on the table. Marvin and Olive Blevins, who now live in Beavercreek, wanted more for their five kids than a job.
“My dad felt his children would have a chance to do something they loved,” Blevins said. “I’ve loved coaching.”
“So many young women I’ve coached will come back and talk about what they’re doing now. I just got through with three days of lunches with former players. It’s pretty neat. You feel like they’re your kids.”
Like Knight, however, Blevins was known as a demanding coach unwilling or unable to bend with the times.
“Gayle demands a lot of those kids,” McGovney said. “She expects them to follow the rules. Kids are different today. They’re harder to deal with.”
“It’s a total shame is what it is,” Foulk said. “We live in a different world where parents and some children feel like they’re entitled to something. That’s not reality. You have to work hard for stuff.”
“She got more flexible over the years, but maybe not flexible enough for kids these days.”
In recent years, McGovney said Blevins had begun asking her how a coach knows when to quit.
“It was getting difficult for her, because she always had to do her own recruiting and she never had any time,” McGovney said. “It just became very taxing physically and emotionally. It’s a tough decision when you do a job that you love and all of a sudden you just know it’s time to retire.”
Plans to stay busy
Blevins’ retirement announcement brought an e-mail from former Stebbins baseball coach Mike Heinke, now retired and living in Florida.
“He had been following my career,” she said. “It was really nice. I had no idea. He told me there’s life after work and encouraged me to consider moving to Florida.”
That’s not going to happen anytime soon. Blevins has no intention of slowing down.
“There’s a lot of things I feel passionate about, such as developing ways to make the educational experience better for kids; for example, addressing the booing that goes on,” Blevins said. “I still view myself as an educator who can have an impact.”
Toward that end, she plans to do a good bit of public speaking.
“She’s a very good speaker,” Foulk said. “That’s right up her alley.”
And she can visit her parents during the summer now, free from the recruiting burden. She was just here last month, in fact.
Or she can monitor more closely the exploits of 15 former players and assistant coaches who are running their own college programs. Another 30 are high school coaches.
If she has regrets, apparently they are too few to mention.
“You always wish you could have done something a little better,” Blevins said. “But as far as the life experiences I’ve had and the great people I’ve had the opportunity to teach and coach, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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