Murray State University Athletics
Margaret Simmons Honored At OVC Celebration
6/5/2013 9:23:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Former Murray State track & field coach and athletics administrator Margaret Simmons was honored as part of the Ohio Valley Conference's year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX.
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The celebration culminated at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Nashville (May 30) when all 12 OVC member institutions came together for a luncheon to honor their women's athletics pioneers.
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"Things always look better when you look back," Simmons told GoRacers.com. "It was good to see the progress that women's athletics has made over the last 40 years. I enjoyed the event and it was good to showcase what a pioneer the OVC has been in women's athletics."
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Simmons was presented a plaque by Murray State Director of Athletics Allen Ward.
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"Coach Simmons has meant so much to Murray State and the sport of track & field," Ward said. "This celebration highlighted a lot of great people who shaped women's collegiate athletics and where it is today."
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Inducted into the Murray State Hall of Fame in 1994, Simmons had a long and distinguished career for the Racers that included being women's track & field and cross country coach from 1968-91 and she also served as assistant athletics director from 1988-2004.
Simmons had a vision to start a women's track & field team at MSU and she was able to do that in 1968. During her 23-year tenure as head coach, she led MSU to eight Ohio Valley Conference titles and was named OVC Coach of the Year six times.
"Looking back, Murray State was already ahead of everyone else when Title IX came in 1972," Simmons added. "At the luncheon, I shared a letter that I wrote to MSU President Dr. Woods in 1968. I asked to get a women's track & field program started and he gave us $1,000 and said go to it. After that, the rest is history."
Simmons' influence was also strong on the national level as she served in many capacities in shaping and directing track & field at the NCAA level. She was a big part of writing the NCAA Men's and Women's Track and Field Rules Book from 1983-1985 and was editor of the same publication from 1988-2004. She also authored many articles for the NAGWS Track and Field Guide. She also served on the NCAA rules committee.Â
She was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the Kentucky Track and Cross-Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008.
Even though she is no longer coaching at Murray State, Simmons is still active with Racer Athletics and assists the track & field program at Murray High School.
MSU Athletics began the Margaret Simmons Female Athlete of the Year Award and it has been given every year since 2005.
