Jenepher Shillingford
Ursinus College, Class of 1954
Field Hockey
Her impact was felt first on the field. Her voice away from it impacted generations of athletes to come, pre-dating Title IX initiatives and beyond. In her athletic administrative roles, as president of United States Field Hockey Association (1993-2000), as a member of the United States Olympics Committee (2001-2003) and various NCAA committees, Shillingford advocated for equality in women’s sports and cemented her influence in shaping women’s sports at both national and international levels.
Shillingford is an Honorary Academic All-America Hall of Fame inductee as her collegiate career at Ursinus College pre-dated the Academic All-America® program in her sports of field hockey, soccer and tennis. Field hockey was the sport most pivotal in her athletic career, marked by her selection to the All-Philadelphia Field Hockey Team in 1955 and her time on the United States Field Hockey Team from 1955-1957.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology and physical education from Ursinus College (1954) and her M.Ed. in physical education and sociology from Temple University, Shillingford served as assistant athletic director and coach at Immaculata College, where she led her women’s basketball team to league championships in 1972, 1973, and 1974. After 15 years there, Shillingford joined the physical education staff of nearby Bryn Mawr College in 1976, coaching field hockey, basketball, tennis and lacrosse before becoming director of physical education and athletic director in 1980.
She was head of the USA Field Hockey delegation to numerous World Cup competitions and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Her collegiate leadership roles included time on the NCAA Council and on the NACDA Executive Board. Shillingford also served as president of the U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association.
Her Snell-Shillingford Leadership Symposium, founded in 1999 and still active today, is an annual event empowering female college undergraduates to pursue careers in coaching and athletics through mentorship, leadership skills and advocacy. It is administered through the Centennial Conference and named for both Shillingford and her mentor, Eleanor Frost Snell, who served for four decades as Ursinus College professor of health and physical education, coach, and head of the women’s physical education department from 1931 to 1971.
Among her numerous honors, Shillingford was inducted into the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974. She earned the ECAC Katherine Ley Award in 1992 for her work in the promotion of women’s sports and received an honorary Doctor of Science from Ursinus College in 1993. Shillingford received the Women’s eNews Philadelphia Leadership Award in 2012. In September 2024, Bryn Mawr College celebrated the rededication of Shillingford Field with Shillingford in attendance, marking the completion of a state-of-the-art upgrade for the complex with is one of the first carbon-zero hockey turfs in the world, originally developed for the 2024 Paris Olympics.