Hall of Fame
Written July 2013
Student. Alumnus. Educator/coach. Hall of Fame inductee.
Lucy Sack will complete her Slippery Rock University grand slam in September when she joins six other individuals as members of the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame's Class of 2013.
A 1963 Slippery Rock Area High School graduate, Sack graduated from Slippery Rock in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. She then served as an elementary and high school physical education instructor as well as women's gymnastics and cheerleaders coach at Rochester High School for one year. Sack returned to Slippery Rock in 1969 to serve as assistant gymnastics coach and a member of the college's physical education faculty.
One year after joining The Rock staff, Sack was promoted to head gymnastics coach,a role she filled from 1970-76. She remained a member of the faculty until 1999, attaining the rank of assistant professor and serving as chair of the dance department from 1989-98. Sack was the physical education department assistant chair from 1985-89.
Proud recipient of a Master of Education degree from Slippery Rock in 1970, Sack is credited with developing the dance major program at SRU in 1987 and also creating the dance department in 1989.
Slippery Rock was the first, and remains the only, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) institution to create and maintain a dance department.
Sack's legacy continues to this day in the form of several dance-related scholarships named in her honor.
In recognition of her long commitment to dance, Sack received professional honors from both the PSAHPERD and EDA in the 1990s. She served in leadership roles for both organizations during her professional career,
As The Rock's gymnastics coach, Sack led the Green and White to a the Pennsylvania State College Conference championship in 1975 and a sixth-place regional finish in 1976.
One of Sack's proteges, Sarah Singer Patterson, has become arguably the top collegiate gymnastics coach in the nation, as evidenced by the seven NCAA Division I national titles Patterson-coached Alabama ladies have captured.
Sack is married and lives in Grove City with her husband, Anthony. They are the parents of two daughters.
