University of Evansville Athletics

Lois D. Patton is the pioneer of women’s athletics at the University of Evansville.  She started at UE working in the Physical Education Department before joining athletics. Patton started the women’s basketball, women’s tennis, softball and volleyball programs at UE, and she spent time coaching all four programs while simultaneously serving as professor of Health and Physical Education and the Director of the Women’s Sports Program.

"We started our program under that guide and were fortunate to get through those years.  I wanted to thank particularly the student-athletes who helped to start those programs," she said.  "They were an army of young women who were totally dedicated and persevered through unbelievable trials and paved the way.  They were special people and I am still in touch with many that I worked with.  They deserve more recognition than anyone could ever know."

She was instrumental in expanding women’s athletics at UE to six varsity teams in the early 1980s and coached until 1981 when she moved into an administrative role as Women’s Athletic Director at UE. While at Evansville, she expanded the curriculum as the head of the Department of Physical Education and that work helped the program expand to include majors such as athletic training, sport studies and exercise science.

In 2018, Patton was inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in a ceremony in conjunction with Arch Madness. She entered the HOF as an institutional great. Patton was voted into the UE Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2017, the volleyball and basketball floors inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse were named in her honor. 
    
Patton retired in the late 1990s, but continues to play an active role in UE athletics where she serves on the Hall of Fame committee, acts as a photographer and supports all of the Aces programs.  The new volleyball and women’s basketball floors are named in her honor – Lois D. Patton Court -- while one of the most prestigious awards for the Purple Aces – the Lois D. Patton Award – is given annually to the top female senior student-athlete. Patton was previously honored by the Conference as the 2016 recipient of the John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award.