Spartan Title IX Moments: Mary Fossum Builds Women's Golf Powerhouse at Michigan State
2/1/2022 12:36:00 PM | General
SPARTAN TITLE IX MOMENTS: MARY FOSSUM BUILDS WOMEN'S GOLF POWERHOUSE AT MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State's women's golf team has won 14 Big Ten Championships and is a perennial contender on the national scene.
And it all started with Mary Fossum.
Mary McMillin Fossum was the first and only head coach in the history of Spartan women's golf prior to 1997, coaching from 1973 until her retirement.
Under Fossum's guidance, the Spartans won an unprecedented five straight Big Ten titles from 1974-78 and played in six consecutive AIAW National Championships (1973-78). The Spartans regained the conference crown in 1982 and played in the 1982 and 1984 NCAA Championships. MSU claimed its third conference runner-up spot under Fossum at the 1987 Big Ten Championship.
Fossum's accomplishments led to her recognition as one of the country's best collegiate golf coaches. She was honored as the first-ever NCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 1984 and was inducted into the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988. In January of 1998, Fossum was honored by the College Golf Foundation with the Rolex/Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award for outstanding service and contributions to collegiate women's golf. She was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.
Mary helped pave the way for so many women to have experiences and opportunities in golf. She fought hard when Title IX came into effect in the early 1970's so women could be student-athletes in college.-Michigan State women's golf head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll
Mar gave me the opportunity to be a student-athlete at Michigan State and then the chance to coach next to her and to learn from her. I have always been proud to continue the Spartan tradition of excellence in her honor. She was the first call we made after every Big Ten title, and she wore each of our seven championship rings proudly.
A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Fossum won the Wisconsin women's golf championship in 1945, 1946 and 1947. One of the many highlights of her career was her match-play victory over Mildred (Babe) Didrikson-Zaharias in the 1946 Women's Western Amateur semifinals. Fossum was inducted in 1990 into the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame, making her only the fifth woman to achieve that distinction.
At the national level, Fossum was also influential, serving as a member of the NCAA golf committee which guides the national development and administration of women's collegiate golf. She earned the Michigan Women's Golf Association Lifetime Achievement Award in May 2014.
In 2007, the Big Ten named its award for the women's golfer with the lowest stroke-average to par in a season the Mary Fossum Award. In 1999, Michigan State's annual fall women's golf tournament was renamed the Mary Fossum Invitational.
For 17 of her seasons as head coach of the Spartans, Fossum was part of a unique coaching pair as her husband, Bruce, coached the MSU men's team for 25 seasons before his retirement in 1989. Bruce passed away in March 2014 at the age of 86.
Mary passed away in December 2020 at the age of 93, but her impact is still being felt every day for the Spartan women's golf program.
