From the shores of Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania boarder, women have made an impact as student-athletes, coaches, and administrators .
Sally Kus graduated from Sweet Home School where she played field hockey, basketball and softball. She returned to her alma mater, serving as the girls volleyball coach from 1974 to 1996. Sally and her Sweet Home teams set the National High School Federation Record for consecutive wins with 292. During her tenure, she compiled a 794-29 record with six straight New York state titles (1990 to 1995) along with 21 straight ECIC League Championship Titles, 20 straight Section VI Championships and 15 consecutive Far West Regional Championships. She went to coach Daemen College, then an NAIA school, for four seasons before coaching three seasons at the University at Buffalo. She is a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame and numerous others.
Cindy Bullis graduated from Lewiston-Porter High School in 1976 going on to earn her degree in physical education from Central Connecticut State in 1981. In 1985 she returned to Lew-Port coaching both girls' and boys' volleyball, girls' and boys' swimming, and girls' track and field. She held several leadership positions in Section VI and became the first full-time female athletic director in the Niagara Frontier League serving North Tonawanda. She was inducted into the Section VI Hall Of Fame in 2022.
Donna Ledwin graduated from Nardin Academy in 1977, earning a tennis scholarship to Fordham University. She began working in college athletics in 1985 as the manager of athletic facilities and events at Yale. She then served as Director of Athletics at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and as Commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Conference before joining the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference as its commissioner in 2002 until her retirement in June 2025.
A true pioneer for girls track at Lockport High School, Loretta Young DiCarlo was one of three girls who competed on the boys team for several years before the creation of a girls team was She qualified for the first New York State Girls Track Championship and went on to compete in back-to-back state championships in 1976 and 1977. Elected to the Niagara County Community College Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Lockport High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010, Loretta has coached track, volleyball and cheerleading at Lockport.
Kay Gould went to Panama Central School, where her only “sport” opportunities were Play Days. She graduated from SUNY Brockport in 1967 with a degree in health and physical education, returning to teach and coach in Chautauqua County. Kay started the girls' basketball at Southwestern Central, wining four straight Section VI titles from 1975-79. In her six years at Southwestern, her teams went 94-10, including a 41-game winning streak. Kay was also involved with the Empire State Games, coaching the the high school division twice and the open division once. She went on to coach basketball and softball at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where her teams combined for seven NCAA tournament appearances. She later served as athletic director for Jamestown Public Schools — one of the first female athletic directors in Section VI. Kay is a member of the Brockport Hall of Fame, the Allegheny College Athletics Hall of Fame and the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.
Martha Altmire coached girls’ basketball for 35 years at Olean High School, compiling 484 career wins, 19 CCIAC league titles and 7 Section VI titles. She guided the 1981-82 squad to a school record 24-game winning streak and the Far West Regional Championship. From 1999 to 2005 her teams won 63 consecutive league games along with nine IAABO Tournament titles. Martha also coached cheerleading and track at Olean and served on the Section VI Basketball Committee. She is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame, the Section VI Hall of Fame, the Butler County (Pa.) Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Olean High School Athletic Wall of Fame. In 2006, Olean named their basketball court "Coach Altmire Court "while the Olean Times Herald named their "Big 30 Offensive Player of the Year Award" after her in 2002.
Ann Ridler Strong was a member of the girls’ swim team and cheerleading squads at Lockport Senior High School, graduating in 1975. She went to Niagara County Community College and then to SUNY Cortland, where she majored in physical education and swam on Cortland's women's swimming team. In 1983 she earned her master's degree in physical education from the University at Buffalo. In 1980, Ann was hired full time in the Lockport School District and spent the majority of her career at the high school. She coached girls varsity soccer from 1979 to 1988 and worked numerous sporting events including serving as the football scoreboard operator for 30 years along with clock and scoreboard duties with girls soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, track and field and swimming.
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