MacPhee selected to CCCAA Hall of Fame

Pat Moorhouse MacPhee, a longtime coach and administrator at Santa Barbara City College, has been elected to the California Community College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

She's a product of the Community College system, having attended Chabot, Diablo Valley and College of the Desert. She went on to study at UC Riverside where she received her BA and then onto San Francisco State for her Masters.

MacPhee is going into the State Hall as a women's tennis coach. She's the most successful coach in SBCC history, winning 19 Western State Conference titles in 21 seasons as women's volleyball and women's tennis coach in the 1970s and '80s.

She coached women's volleyball for six years, compiling a 128-16 record with five WSC championships and four Coach of the Year awards. She was the women's tennis coach for 15 years, finishing with a 250-28 record, 14 WSC titles and 10 Coach of the Year honors.

She won nearly 90 percent of her games during a 21-year career at SBCC with a 378-44 record (.896).

"Pat was a great coach and role model," said Debbie Ekola, a former player who went on to coach the SBCC women's tennis team. "She inspired me to achieve greatness on the court and in life."

MacPhee was the CCC Tennis Coaches Association State Coach of the Year in 1991. She was inducted into the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame in 1999 and the CCC Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000. She's also a member of the Yucca Valley High Hall of Fame (where she was the first girls' basketball and girls' volleyball coach).

MacPhee has been on the SBART Board of Directors since 1980. In 1996, she received the Louise Lowry Davis Award from the Round Table for her many contributions to women's athletics in Santa Barbara.

"Pat put competition in perspective and provided balance in an often over-competitive, high-pressure environment," said Ingrid Schmitz, a former player who coached the Vaqueros to a State title in 2001. "Although she wanted student-athletes to be competitive, she placed her focus on effort verses outcome, while at the same time incorporating fun. At the end of the day if we did our best, we achieved success, regardless of the outcome.

"Her philosophy guided teams to numerous championships. I remember asking her what her secret was to dealing with player personalities. Her response was, "I just treat them as if they were my daughters."

MacPhee was the Women's Athletic Coordinator (Associate Athletic Director) in 1976, one year before women's athletics began at SBCC. She was the Associate Athletic Director and WSC representative from 1977-1994. She was also the WSC representative to the Commission on Athletics state organization (1985-91) and the PE Division Chair from 1985 to 2003.

"Pat was successful as a coach because she was true to the adage 'no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care,' " said SBCC Associate Athletic Director Ellen O'Connor. "Long after Pat retired from coaching, her players would drop by to say hello if they were anywhere near Santa Barbara. That spoke volumes about Pat's coaching philosophy and was probably why many of her players went on to coach at various levels of competition.

"In addition to her coaching, Pat was a positive role model for the importance of being involved in the decision-making process both on campus and statewide by serving as our Physical Education Department Chair, Associate Athletic Director and on several CCCAA committees in addition to her work with SBART."  

MacPhee will be inducted on April 2 during the CCCAA Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Renaissance LAX in Los Angeles. Other 2014 inductees are Albert Gasparian (Golden West), Joseph Gonzales (East Los Angeles) and Chris Pappas (Monterey Peninsula).

The CCCAA Sports Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed in California community college athletics. Founded in 1984, the Hall of Fame has sought to recognize those who have made the most of their experiences as California community college student-athletes, coaches and administrators, maximizing their own potential to better themselves and those with whom they come into contact.

The four new HOF members will join 122 previous inductees in the Hall, which features some of the most recognizable names in amateur and professional sports. The CCCAA Hall of Fame page complete with past nominees and bios can be found at http://www.cccaasports.org/history-hof.asp.