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Ellen M. Hawver
Rochester - Ellen M. Hawver, 88, of Rochester, a former Batavia High School teacher who was instrumental in organizing girls sports at the school, died Saturday, April 21, 2007.
Miss Hawver was a teacher and a coach at BHS from 1943 to 1958 and spent a lifetime of service and leadership in the promotion of sports. Her involvement and leadership opened many more opportunities for girls and women in sports. While teaching at BHS, she immediately started the Girls Athletic Association with a varied program of intramurals. Because there were no varsity sports teams for girls to participate in, she organized "Honor Teams" and established the Tri-County Girls Athletic Association to organize games and sports days for teams from area schools.
During her 15 years at BHS, girls had the opportunity to compete in a wide variety of athletic endeavors. After leaving the school, she became the first woman athletic director in the Rochester City School District. She was named to the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.
Survivors include a niece, Joellen (Joe) Lubanski; nephews, Jeffery (Molly), Mitchell and Blair Hawver; grandnieces and grandnephews, Christa and Joey Lubanski and Nathan Hawver; and a longtime friend, Sally Wilkins.
A memorial service will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Richard H. Keegan Funeral Home, Egypt Location, 7501 Pittsford Palmyra Road, Fairport. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Fairport Baptist Home or to the Alzheimer's Association.
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Jim Minor
Faculty picture from the 1944 Batavian (College Degree: "B.S. Ithaca College"):
Sandra Peck (Schoen)
Ellen Hawver was a great coach and she did have to battle the old boy system at BHS. She had the qualifications and many came to believe how good she was in her field and attitude. She was actually envied by the other coaches. I remember basketball or hockey practice and she was relentless. We spent many hours perfecting the teams after school. She expected a lot from each of us not only athleticism but character building. She knew my father was a professional boxer (golden gloves) and jockey and expected a lot from my sister and me. Some of the girls had difficulty "living up" to her expectations but respected her. She also made sure that if you wanted to be a cheerleader, you had to be an athlete.
We were given a unique experience by her when she made us student sports leaders. During our study hall periods, we used the time to teach underclassmen the various sports games and techniques during gym classes.
Judy Johnson and I helped her establish the GAA and Tri-county games with area schools. That is when the real competition began and Batavia usually was on top. Corfu and Alexander were our rivals. Early on we had to pile into cars with our parents if we wanted to participate in games. She made sure the school provided the buses for us.
The Present girls from BHS teams should be thankful she left her mark.
She represented a wonderful mentor for girls:
"You don't have to be the best, you have to be your best".
Sandra J. Schoen