Spoelstra played at OSU for two seasons, 1982 and 1983, earning second team All-American honors in 1983. She returned to OSU in 1995 to inherit basketball head coaching duties from her former coach, Aki Hill. Spoelstra coached the team for ten seasons, compiling an overall record of 133 wins and 158 losses. Her teams played in the 1996 NCAA tournament and in the WNIT from 2001 to 2004. She received Pac-10 coach of the year honors in 2000, and was named to the OSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1994
Ayotte-Law earned All-American status in 1981 (beam) and 1982 (floor and all-around). She was the second OSU gymnast to win a national championship, claiming the floor exercise title in 1982. Ayotte-Law also represented the United States in the 1981 World University Games in Romania, placing as the highest all-around gymnast. This photo appeared in the January 1982 Oregon Stater.
This wave tank, constructed in 1972, was 342 feet long, and served as the genesis for the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory. Research being conducted at the time this photo was taken pertained to oil drilling in Alaska. Today the lab is one of the largest and most technically advanced centers for research and education in coastal engineering and nearshore science, especially tsunami and coastal hazard mitigation.
The team included (from left) Kris Trom, Karen Brown, Julia Anderson, Janet Lovelace and Jenny Bird. Lovelace placed fifth at the regionals in 1977 and twenty-sixth at the AIWA championships in 1978.
Hill coached seventeen seasons at Oregon State (1978-79 to 1994-95), compiling a record of 274 wins and 206 losses. In 1980 her team went 20-8 and won the NIT championship; six of her teams had twenty or more wins. Four of Hill’s teams played in the NCAA tournament. Also pictured are players Jan Martin and Robyn Clark. Both Martin and Clark scored more than 1,000 points during their careers at OSU. Clark is also in the OSU top ten in career rebounds and steals. This photo appeared in the March 1980 Oregon Stater.
OSU oceanographers studied Antarctic under-ice water temperature, currents and salinity as part of a National Science Foundation research grant. The four-member team lived in one of the ten feet by twelve feet huts in the photo; the other served as their workspace. In September and October 1974, the crew experienced air temperatures with a wind chill of more than minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This photo first appeared in the January 1975 Oregon Stater.
OSU Fisheries and Wildlife Department technician Rich Keppler took the samples as part of a project to test the lake’s waters ability to support aquatic life after the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (seen in the background). The research at the time indicated that Spirit Lake was a decade away from being able to support fish.
Capps played at OSU from 1982 to 1985. She was OSU’s first softball All-American, named to the second team in 1983. That year she led the Beavers to a 9-2 NorPac conference record and a 26-14 overall record.
Thomas was one of the most successful collegiate wrestling coaches. Thomas’ OSU wrestling squads won 616 dual meets and twenty-two conference titles in thrity-four years. Thomas was the NCAA coach of the year in 1961 and 1970
Steve Johnson was a star post player for the OSU basketball team from 1977 to 1981. He was drafted number 7 overall in the 1981 NBA draft and played professionally for ten years.