The OSAA honored current St. Mary’s Academy executive athletic director Anna Maria Lopez on Wednesday, Feb. 4, inside the Blues’ home gym with an award named after the iconic Oregon athlete.
Lopez is the inaugural recipient of the Anna Maria Lopez Female Athlete of the Year award, a new yearly award to be given out by the OSAA to honor a past or present female athlete who goes above and beyond wins and losses on the playing field.
The award continues the spirit of what Feb. 4 also represents being National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
“I feel incredibly honored, humbled and proud representing our school, representing my family,” Lopez said. “This setting the bar for young women for the rest of time in the state of Oregon is really mind boggling for me to think about.”
As a four-sport standout at SMA, Lopez was an athletic trailblazer in the immediate years after Title IX was passed in 1972, which opened the door for increased interscholastic sports opportunities in the ensuing decades.
Lopez led the Blues to two state volleyball championships, was a Parade All-American selection in basketball, won two individual OSAA state track and field titles in the discus, and was an All-American softball player before the OSAA offered the sport.
“When you come in the door here (at SMA), there’s so much potential,” Lopez said of her high school experience. “Being in the right environment, I think that was the other piece after the fact, that I realized how fortunate I was to be at St. Mary’s and even with Title IX, some of the stories I’d hear from my friends.”
Lopez recalled some of those stories being that female athletes had to put a paper bag on their heads to walk through the men’s locker room to get to the training room because that was the only one the school had.
Today, the landscape has changed for girls in the state of Oregon and across the country with women’s sports growing at a rapid rate not in just terms of participation, but popularity as well.
Lopez has been at the forefront of that with SMA as she’s been the athletic director for the Blues for the past 35 years along with coaching and teaching the next generation of student-athletes.
“Seeing the progress and the opportunities the girls have to rise and improve is awesome,” Lopez said.
The Blues also honored five current student-athletes who also signed their National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to commit to playing their sport at the next level.
The five include: Adelaide Nelson going to Seattle University for track/cross country, Asa Maker going to Northeastern for rowing, Charlotte Ames going to San Diego for swimming, Janey Rowe going to Macalester College (MN) for soccer and Madi Gilbert going to Willamette University for lacrosse.
Following her time at SMA, Lopez went on to star in basketball and volleyball at USC and helped the Trojans win two national volleyball titles. After playing professional volleyball, she returned to SMA in 1985 as a teacher and coach and has been the school’s athletic director for nearly 35 years.
Last June, Lopez became the 14th inductee from Oregon to enter the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame, joining a prestigious list of Oregonians that includes Steve Prefontaine, Danny Ainge, former NFL star Mel Renfro and Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker.
Lopez was also inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, and, as an administrator, she’s been chosen twice as the Oregon Athletic Directors Association’s Athletic Director of the Year. Last year, Sports Illustrated named Lopez the greatest high school athlete in the history of Oregon.
Now, each year a trailblazing female athlete will get the honor of the Anna Maria Lopez Female Athlete of the Year award to continue the work and dedication of one the state’s best.
“Knowing the success that I had, this is the way to set these young athletes up for the future,” Lopez said. “If you treat someone like they’re the best, they’re going to rise to that occasion.”
austinw@osaa.org
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