NAN HARVEY
University at Buffalo Athlete, Coach, Administrator
Nan Harvey was the consummate trailblazer for Title IX. At the University at Buffalo, Nan was an inspiration to generations of student-athletes, coaches and staff through her steadfast work for gender equality.
Nan Harvey loyally served the Bulls for 30 years, first as a student-athlete, then as a coach and finally as an administrator. A two-sport athlete at UB, she captained UB’s basketball team in 1976-77 and graduated cum laude with a degree in Physical Education in 1978. She earned a graduate degree in Exercise Science in 1987. Harvey coached UB’s softball team from 1983-85, compiling a 19-9 mark in 1985, earning her SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors. She also coached the women’s basketball team from 1985-90 and served as UB’s Strength and Conditioning Coach from 1993-96. In 1996, she was named Assistant AD and Senior Woman Administrator, the position she held until her passing in 2003. Nan was not only a champion for women’s athletics, but for all programs. Under her leadership as Senior Woman Administrator, UB Athletics added baseball, softball and women’s rowing as varsity sports during its move to Division I-A.
Nan was also an accomplished softball athlete and coach, playing amateur fast pitch softball for the Sunbirds and the Breskis from 1972 – 1990. Nan excelled as an infielder and catcher while also serving as coach for a period. Her teams played in the Canadian-American League with her squad advancing to three national tournaments.
Nan’s legacy as a builder was evident by the many university and community committees and organizations she touched. A philanthropist at heart, she was a legacy donor to the National Association of Collegiate Woman Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) and established an estate gift to support the softball field that bears her name at the University at Buffalo. She was inducted as a player into the WNY Softball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Amateur Softball Association National Indicator Fraternity in 1996. That same year she received her International Softball Federation Umpire Certification. She was inducted, posthumously, into the UB Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. Through her hard work and dedication, Nan ensured UB’s athletics programs, one of her greatest passions, would continue on its course to distinction.
