STAUNTON, Va. – Six new members, including two with Hall of Fame credentials from other organizations, will be inducted into the Mary Baldwin University Athletics Hall of Fame on Sunday, June 11, as part of the University’s Alumni Weekend.
The late Lois Blackburn Bryan, a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame, and distance runner Sophia Stone ‘15, a member of the USA South Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, are in the fourth class of inductees for the MBU Athletic hall of fame. Two former Mary Baldwin athletic directors and coaches – Mary Ann Kasselmann and Sharon Spalding – along with two more former standout student-athletes – tennis player Martha Coates ‘87 and basketball’s Jessica Carter ‘08 – were voted into the MBU hall of fame by the selection committee. The ceremony will be held at the Hotel 24 South, near the MBU campus. Following a reception and brunch, the induction will begin at approximately 11 a.m. Previous Hall of Fame ceremonies, inducting eight Mary Baldwin outstanding student-athletes, were held in 1982, 1984 and 2010. Blackburn Bryan, Kasselmann and Spalding will be the first inductees who were MBU athletic administrators, coaches and faculty members. Blackburn Bryan was the Mary Baldwin tennis coach for two decades, building a program and a legacy that continues. She was presented dozens of honors and awards for her work, which included building one of the strongest tennis programs in Virginia, running state and national championship tournaments and even designing the tennis complex that bears her name on the MBU campus. She coached the only Fighting Squirrels team to win a championship (1988) and several players who were All-Americans and national award winners, including two Mary Baldwin Athletics Hall of Fame honorees. After learning about the honor Blackburn Bryan was inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame posthumously in 1997. Kasselmann worked together with Blackburn Bryan through the 1980s to build a stronger program with additional staffing and enhanced facilities. Under Kasselmann’s leadership, the Mary Baldwin athletic program moved from King Gym into the currently used Physical Athletic Center (PAC), which included the institution’s first weight-training center, a larger dance studio and was adjacent to several new athletic fields. She helped develop the transition to the new Atlantic Women’s Collegiate Conference (AWCC), in which Mary Baldwin had great success for nearly two decades before joining the USA South Athletic Conference. Kasselmann, who also instituted several athletic awards still presented annually, currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Coates is the second member of Blackburn Bryan’s late 1980s tennis juggernaut to be selected to the Mary Baldwin Athletics Hall of Fame, joining 2010 inductee and teammate Karin Whitt. Other former tennis standouts in the hall of fame include Cindy Goeltz Willkomm ’66, Nancy Louise Falkenberg Muller ’67 and Mary Hotchkiss Leavell ’73. Coates was a three-time selection to compete in the NCAA Division III individual championship (1985-87) and was selected as the 1987 Mary Baldwin Athlete of the Year. Carter played basketball for the Fighting Squirrels from 2004-08, and then served as an assistant coach during the 2020-21 campaign. She is the Mary Baldwin career points leader (1,943) and ranks second in numerous other statistical categories, including career scoring average (16.92), career three point goals (184), three-point shooting percentage (34.14), free throws made (226) and free throw percentage (76.1). Carter is currently a coach and educator in Charlottesville. Spalding, who retired in 2020 as professor emeritus at Mary Baldwin and lives in Stuarts Draft, served two tenures as the director of athletics from 1997-99 and 2007-15. She coached three different Mary Baldwin teams, including the 1995 AWCC championship volleyball team and the cross country program that featured two-time All-American and Academic All-American in fellow 2023 hall of fame inductee Sophia Stone as well as many other USA South all-stars. Spalding also contributed to the University as a professor of physical education and wellness for nearly two decades and with the Virginia Institute for Leadership for three years. She has also been active in dozens of local health and wellness organizations and programs, including her current stint as an instructor at the Augusta Health Lifetime Fitness program. Stone’s cross country career at Mary Baldwin produced first-team All-USA South and All-Region awards. In her sophomore and junior seasons, Stone won the NCAA Division III South/Southeast individual gold medal and gained first-team All-America recognition, finishing 31st in the national championship race in 2011 and 19th place in 2012. Stone, who still owns the team records in the 5,000-meter run (18.24) and the 6,000-meter run (21:17), was also stellar in the classroom, earning first team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors twice. Stone, who lives in Washington, D.C. and is the only Mary Baldwin athlete in the USA South Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, was the Mary Baldwin Newcomer of the Year in 2011, Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 13 and was a three-time Mary Jane Donnalley award winner for posting the highest grade point average among student-athletes. Tickets for the Hall of Fame celebration will be available to the public for $25, which includes the brunch prior to the induction ceremony, and can be purchased through the MBU Homecoming website at alumni.marybaldwin.edu/homecoming.