College Athletics News – Former Guilford Coach & Professor Kitty Steele Inducted into Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Kitty Steele, a former Guilford College professor and coach, is one of 10 individuals tabbed for induction into the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame Monday. Steele joins her husband, Jerry, a former Quakers’ men’s basketball coach, who was inducted with the hall’s inaugural class in 2005. The Steeles are also both members of Guilford College’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

The formal induction ceremony is Sept. 21at the Greensboro Coliseum. Steele joins an esteemed class that also includes former National Football League players Marques Douglas and Adrian Wilson. Other honorees include Atlantic Coast Conference assistant commissioner Fred Barakat, Greensboro Coliseum Complex managing director Matt Brown, High Point University cross country and track & field coach Bob Davidson, local baseball player and coach Walter “Tee” Frye, former UNC Greensboro baseball coach Mike Gaski, North Carolina A&T State University coach and administrator Hornsby Howell and high school coach Bill Slayton. Contact Demp Bradford (demp.bradford@greenboro.nc.gov) for ticket information.

Steele served as a physical education professor at Guilford from 1957-76 and was instrumental in developing the school’s recreational and women’s sports programs. She sponsored the Quakers’ cheerleaders and directed the Women’s Recreation Association and intramurals program with fellow Guilford Athletics Hall of Famers Joyce Clark and Gwen Reddick. Steele’s efforts in expanding the school’s intramurals program led to club sports that competed against other local schools.

Steele was Guilford’s first coach of women’s intercollegiate teams in volleyball, basketball and tennis. She coached all three teams from 1972-74 before moving on to teach and coach at High Point University. Steele led tennis and field hockey at High Point for 20 years, winning 12 conference titles and 12 conference and district coach of the year honors before retiring in 1996.

A 1949 Woman’s College (now UNC Greensboro) graduate, Steele was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2007, High Point University dedicated the Jerry and Kitty Steele Sports Center, which houses athletics offices, locker rooms and academic study hall areas.

Steele is the 10th person with Guilford ties inducted into the Guilford County Hall of Fame. She joins fellow Guilford inductees Bob Jameson ’32, Rick Ferrell ’28, Stuart Maynard ’43, Jerry Steele, Jack Jensen, Marion Kirby, Herb Appenzeller, Larry Dempsey Sr. ’51, Gayle Currie and Sandy Gann ’66.