Ada Letitia Loveless

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Ada Loveless Obituary

Ada Letitia ("Tish") Loveless

Ada Letitia ("Tish") Loveless, Ph.D., women's athletics pioneer and longtime Director of Women's Athletics at Kalamazoo College, died on Thursday, September 22, 2016, at her home. She was 91 years old.

Tish served as Director of Women's Athletics from 1953 until she retired in 1986. Prior to her arrival, there were no women's intercollegiate athletic teams at Kalamazoo College. During her tenure, she established women's varsity teams in tennis, field hockey, archery, swimming, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and cross country. She is the most successful coach of women's teams in the history of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the oldest athletic conference in the country. Her teams won 28 league championships: 23 in tennis, four in archery, and one in field hockey. Her 1986 women's tennis squad finished third in the nation. In 1992, Kalamazoo College inducted Tish into its Athletic Hall of Fame and, in 2015, the College dedicated the "Tish Loveless Court" in the Anderson Athletic Center.

Tish believed in the benefits of competition for everyone, regardless of skill level, and she worked tirelessly to ensure all students had opportunities to compete. She added new sports and classes based on student requests, and not just her own skills. On several occasions, Tish coached sports largely unfamiliar to her at the urging of passionate students. Over the years, she learned, and then taught, fencing, archery, modern dance, folk dance, social dance, and swimming.

Tish earned a BS in physical education from the University of Illinois in 1948, an MS from UCLA in 1952, and a PhD in education from Michigan State in 1977. In 1988, she was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame. She received the Weimar K. Hicks Award from the Kalamazoo College Alumni Association for service to the College in 2002.

Thanks to the loving care of friends and caregivers, Tish spent her last days at her Kalamazoo home that she had shared with Marilyn Hinkle, a lifelong good friend, who died on January 25, 2007. Tish is survived by many nieces and nephews and their children, as well as several generations of Kalamazoo students who always treated her like family.

A memorial service and reception is being planned for November 12, 2016 at 3:30 p.m. at the Stetson Chapel at Kalamazoo College. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Tish Loveless Women's Athletics Endowment or the Marilyn Hinkle Endowed Scholarship for Arts at Kalamazoo College. Arrangements by Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Memorial Chapel, www.langelands.com.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Journal & Courier on Oct. 2, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for Ada Loveless

Sponsored by Langeland Family Funeral Homes Memorial Chapel - Kalamazoo Memorial Chapel.

4 Entries

Marjorie Snyder

November 16, 2016

Tish came to Kalamazoo College in 1953, the year I was born. K was the only school I got into so it seems our paths were destined to cross. I had no idea when I showed up in her office in 1971 to tell her I wanted to play on the tennis team that she would become for me, as well as for many many other student athletes, my teacher, role model, mentor, and friend.
Since tennis wasn't till the spring, she instantly tried to recruit me for her field hockey team. I said no I am not wearing a skirt to play sports and went out for swimming instead.
Thank goodness she didn't hold it against me when a friend and I went to her office in the late Fall with the notion that we wanted to start a women's basketball team and we thought it would be a fine idea for her to be our coach. We didn't really think about the fact that she already had a fulltime job as a teacher, coach and administrator or that she wouldn't be paid for doing it or that she'd have to find money somewhere to fund the team (perhaps from her own pocket), or that she didn't have any training as a basketball coach, or that she might have a personal life. She just jumped right in and made it happen. As she made so many things for female athletes just happen when there was very little institutional or cultural support to do so. Suddenly there would be resources for new uniforms, or equipment, or money for a trip to nationals. Tish was nothing if not resourceful, persistent, and generous.
At the start of the tennis season, Tish said she fully expected me to be number one on the team. This was my first lesson in having her set the bar high. I instantly settled into number four. She never stopped pushing me though, and eventually I made it. I loved her faith in us as athletes, her pride in the execution of a great shot and her talent for teaching a new skill. She made me want to be better. As my teammate Vicky Stromee recalled, She was surely a force and an inspiration in our young lives.

Tish gave her all to us. She was passionate and intense. One day at practice before an important field hockey match with Olivet (yes, she did finally get me to join the field hockey team), she was unhappy with our effort. She grabbed a teammate's stick and began imitating a particularly talented Olivet player, showing us what was going to happen to us if we didn't work hard. In the process, she wrenched her knee and was in obvious pain but she was so angry with us that she stood there stoically leaning on the stick until the end of practice, continuing to push us to be our best. It was only the next day that we found out she had torn her ACL. And we did beat Olivet.
She had such confidence and belief in us and what we could achieve in life. She hired me as the Women's Basketball Coach at K when I was 23 and had no experience as a coach. I spent many hours in her office picking her brain about how to effectively coach. I wanted my players to want to play for me as I had wanted to play for her. It's no accident that I became a coach, went to the same graduate school as she did, and have spent most of my professional life advocating for equitable sports opportunities for girls and women. Tish was my role model and champion.
She always supported my educational and career pursuits, had an enthusiastic interest in the work I was doing and remained a staunch Title IX advocate to the end.
She was also just plain fun to be around. Quick with a laugh and the unmistakable trademark twinkle in her eyes. She had a naturally happy face with the kind of smile lines that all of us aspire to. You just felt good around her.
I am so grateful that I could spend some quality time with her in the past few years. Sharing my work, listening to her analyze the current state of K College athletics and the world, walking in her garden, talking about art. She never stopped being the coach telling me what I was doing wrong on the golf course, how to fix my swing, suggesting strategy. She was engaged in life and maintained friendships with many of her students and players long after they left K.
I will miss her terribly but feel so fortunate to have crossed paths with her so early in my life so that I had decades to develop under her watchful and supportive eye. I know many of you do as well.
Rest in peace Tish.

Amie Tyler

October 3, 2016

I will always remember her laugh and sense of humor. She was a great coach to me and many others. I have a lot of great memories of playing tennis at K with her.

September 29, 2016

I met Tish 50 years ago, what a dedicated person all her life. She was ONE of a kind person that only comes along once in a lifetime!

Chris Ballingall

Meegan Holland

September 28, 2016

A groundbreaker at K-College. My condolences.

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