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Northern Illinois Women's Golf Boss Pam Tyska Named Recipient of NGCA Palmer Service

DeKalb, IL ---Recognition from your peers on a national basis for Northern Illinois University head women’s golf coach Pam Tyska might be the frosting on the proverbial career cake. Tyska---in her 20th year as Huskie links boss---will be the re




January 9, 2006

Northern Illinois Women's Golf Boss Pam Tyska Named Recipient of NGCA Palmer Service Award

DeKALB, IL ---Recognition from your peers on a national basis for Northern Illinois University head women’s golf coach Pam Tyska might be the frosting on the proverbial career cake.

Tyska---in her 20th year as Huskie links boss---will be the recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association’s most prestigious individual honor, the Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award, this Tuesday (January 10) at the NGCA Hall of Fame Induction Banquet held in conjunction with the group’s national convention in Lake Tahoe, NV.

“It’s humbling,” Tyska said about the NGCA honor. “I’m honored and our program is honored. To be added to a roll call of ground-breaking men and women in the sport of women’s golf humbles me---especially when this honor comes from your peers. I’m extremely fortunate to be in the world of collegiate golf where your opponents and rivals can be close friends and good colleagues.”

The Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award recognizes outstanding service to women’s golf “above and beyond the call of duty.” According to the NGCA, recipients of the Gladys Palmer Award have made significant contributions to the “evolution and growth of women’s collegiate golf.” The award “...is meant to honor a pioneering spirit.”

“Congratulations to Pam,” said Northern Illinois director of athletics Jim Phillips upon hearing the news. “The Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award certainly is the ultimate compliment to Pam, her coaching career, and her many contributions to the game of golf. Obviously, she is held in high esteem by her peers across the country as a teacher and role model. Pam is the type of person that we want to surround and support our 469 student-athletes so they all can succeed academically, socially, and athletically.”

Tyska joins a distinguished list of women’s national golf pioneers---including past Palmer Award recipients such as Patty Berg (2001), Peggy Kirk Bell (2002), Arizona State University coach Linda Vollstedt (2003), Oklahoma State coach Ann Pitts (1987, 2000), UCLA coach Jackie Tobian-Steinmann (1986, 1999), Michigan State coach Mary Fossum (1998), Iowa coach Diane Thomason (1992), Texas coach Pat Weiss (1991), Florida coach Mimi Ryan (1990), and North Carolina coach Dot Gunnells (1993).

Gladys Palmer’s contributions to women’s intercollegiate golf were highly significant. As chair of the women’s division of physical education at Ohio State University, Palmer organized the first women’s golf championship tournament in June, 1941. It was her belief that institutions of higher education needed to initiate top-level events for women’s golfers.

Founded in 1983, the NGCA is a non-profit organization that was created to encourage women’s collegiate golf competition in correlation within the general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the NGCA membership includes 400 coaches throughout the United States.

Ironically, Tyska received the 20th NGCA Gladys Parker Meritorious Service Award in her 20th campaign at Northern Illinois. Since arriving on the DeKalb campus, the 44-year-old Tyska has led the Huskies to 18 championships, 20 runner-up finishes, and 76 top five performances in 166 tournaments during her tenure. During her debut Northern Illinois season in 1986-87, her team responded immediately to her golf acumen by winning two tourneys and placing in the top five an amazing 10 times in 12 meets. Tyska’s Huskie squad won three tournaments in both 1989-90 and 1991-92 and produced two tourney wins apiece in 1988-89, 1991-91, and 2004-05.

Individually, Tyska has tutored a long list of Northern Illinois links standouts---including 1987 NGCA All-America selection Nicole Jeray who has played on the LPGA Tour since 1992 and was inducted into NIU’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, plus Shelley Wendels (Gilk) who also had a stint on the Futures and LPGA Tour in 1995-96. In the classroom, NIU has had consistent representation on the NGCA All-American Scholar honor roll that requires a cumulative 3.50 grade point average (11 student-athletes during 1987-2002).

Tyska, a 1983 Illinois State graduate and a Hinsdale Central High School product, was selected Midwest Region Coach of the Year by the NGCA and the Ladies Professional Golf Association in both 1994 and 1996. She served on the NGCA Midwest Regional Selection Committee (1989-95), Awards Committee (1990-96), and Board of Directors (1996-2001). Tyska is a member of the NGCA, LPGA, Professional Golf Association, and the National Association of Golf Educators. She is also on the executive boards of The Fairway Network, the Illinois Junior Golf Association, and the Women’s Western Golf Association. Since 1993, she has been a clinician for the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Youth Education through Sports (YES) golf workshops and helped originate NIU’s “Get a Girl Golfing” clinics in 1998.

A world championship finalist in 2002, 2004, and 2005 in the REMAX World Long Drive contest, Tyska also competes on the LPGA Team Classic. She also worked as an assistant pro at the St. Charles Country Club (1983-86), plus as a rules official with the Futures Tour (1984), and as a physical education instructor at the University of Chicago Laboratory School (1984).

(For further information, please contact Mike Korcek)) -NIU-