Harvard
Hall of Fame:
Susan St. Louis '81
A phenomenal athlete whose efforts were integral in helping raise the level of respect for women's athletics at Harvard, St. Louis lettered four years in soccer, two years in lacrosse, and one year in track. She is considered by many as one of the first athletes to put Harvard women's soccer on the map when, as a freshman in 1977, she scored 18 goals. It was the first year that Harvard had a women's soccer team. Her scoring total increased to 20 goals as a sophomore.
St. Louis was named to the First Team All-Ivy her senior year (1980). To this day, she owns the Harvard record for points in a game (9), and co-owns the record for goals scored in a game (4, twice). Her achievements, however, were not limited to individual accolades---she graduated holding nearly every Harvard scoring record---as the Crimson won the Ivy title in 1978 and 1979.
Today, St. Louis lives in California with her husband and three daughters.
"I have been mulling over the question of what Harvard athletics meant to me, and have not really come up with anything profound or unique. Like many of us here tonight, I imagine, I enjoyed a certain level of prominence during my high school years. I am the fifth of eight children, most of who are male, in a family well known in our local area for athletic and academic prowess. It seemed that wherever I went for the first eighteen years of my life, I could say I was a St. Louis and people would say knowingly, "Oh, yes, I know so-and so . . ." (for better or for worse, it wasn't always clear!)
"Despite the fact that I was in the top classes and a starting member of three sports teams every year, I never really felt an integral part of my high school community. I was interested in different things than my friends and felt out of step with everyone else, academically as well as socially.
"Arriving at Harvard, for the first time I found that I had no identity. None of my fellow freshmen knew me. No professors knew me. I felt little, and lonely, and depressed, and I wondered if I was the one mistake the admissions department allegedly makes in each entering class. At the same time, I felt a wild sense of exhilaration at being at Harvard, where people were so diverse and interesting, and where I felt I might finally find my niche. Part of my excitement stemmed from the very anonymity that depressed me---here was a chance to redefine myself.
"Circumstances also demanded that I redefine myself. Academically, I had clearly been among the best few students in my high school. It soon became equally clear to me that I would never hold that same rank at Harvard. Surrounded by keen intellects, I had to adjust to being a good student, but not a shining star. I had to reign in my competitive instincts to allow me to be satisfied with a less than leading performance in the classroom. Athletics were my avenue to personal fulfillment, my chance to unleash myself, and strive to be the best there was while feeling that it was an attainable goal.
"Although I competed on the lacrosse and outdoor track teams, the niche that I found on the soccer team proved to be the making of my Harvard career. It allowed me to be as competitive as I yearned to be. If I didn't perform the best on every drill, every sprint, every scrimmage, I wasn't satisfied, and I vowed to improve until I was the best. It provided me with successes and awards which bolstered my self-confidence and determination at a time when I needed both greatly. It surrounded me with a group of wonderful, interesting, warm and funny women, who taught me much about life as well as soccer, and who gave me the sense of belonging that is the basis of happiness.
"Certain memories come back to me again and again---the walk along Boylston Street and across the river to the fields; the late afternoon light shading to purple night during those end of season practices; drills, drills, and more drills; coach Scalise smiling that funny trademark half-smirk; the look of exultation on the faces of my teammates at an especially sought after win; team pajama breakfasts at Kirkland House; half-time pep talks' the camaraderie of long bus rides, alternating study with quiet conversations and rudely funny songs dreamed up spontaneously; the joy of a steaming shower on muddy skin after particularly cold and wet games; cries of "QD: Questionable Desire!" to anyone not giving their all; the sound of my parents' cheering voices carrying across the field (they came to almost every home game for four years); and arriving at the warmth and light of Leverett dining hall after a November practice, hair frozen and face ruddy, to find myself actually enjoying the smells rising from the serving trays!
"I count myself extremely lucky to have been a member of the Harvard soccer team. I grew to love soccer here, and I'll never forget the many joys it brought me, or the wonderful people who came into my life because of it. Although I am now a thirty-eight year old mother of three, I still play when I can, and plan to keep on doing so for a long, long time."
[Excerpted from
"Inductees' Thoughts on Harvard Athletics,"
written by Susan St. Louis.]