UE Athletics to honor Lois D. Patton with court naming

Patton to have two courts named after her 

When the University of Evansville volleyball team takes to the floor for their home-opening contest on September 8, they will be playing on Lois D. Patton Court inside the Meeks Family Fieldhouse on a brand new Taraflex floor.

The department announced the naming updates on Thursday.  Formerly Meeks Family Court, the Fieldhouse will house the Purple Aces volleyball and women’s basketball teams.

New amenities of the facility include:

-       New bleachers on the west side of the facility

-       Chairback seating

-       Taraflex floor for volleyball (1^st facility in the MVC to do so)

-       Resurfaced women’s basketball floor

-       New baskets

-       Upgraded sound system

-       New main videoboard, score/stat board, LED scoreboard on each sideline and two video sideline boards

-       Updated volleyball netting equipment

UE is also excited to honor women’s sports pioneer Lois D. Patton by naming the volleyball and women’s basketball floors in her honor.  Patton will be on hand for two naming ceremonies in the regular-season openers for the volleyball and women’s basketball squads.  The first ceremony will be on September 8 when the UE volleyball team opens up the facility against Indiana University.  A second will take place on November 12 for the women’s basketball home opener versus Murray State.

Patton, who was the 2016 recipient of the John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award, began her career at UE in 1966 with one goal in mind – to give females the opportunity to compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics.  It is appropriate that the first regular-season contest on the court bearing her name will see the women playing at the highest level, welcoming the Indiana Hoosiers.

The naming also comes as the Missouri Valley Conference celebrates its 25^th year of women’s athletics in 2017-18.

“This is a very unique honor,” Patton said.  “It was quite a surprise, I never expected anything like that.  It would be nice to put all of the student-athletes and coaches names on there that have been there who have been working towards this since the beginning.”

“When I started, we did play IU in basketball in the mid-1970’s.  We were competitive with their B team in the 70’s but now we are competitive with their A team,” Patton added.

She continues to be an active supporter of Purple Aces athletics to this day and the present administration knows just how important her contributions have been.

“Lois Patton has been such an integral part of women’s sports history at UE,” UE Director of Athletics Mark Spencer said.  “This is the perfect way to recognize her for all of her work and dedication to UE athletics as a whole.  She has been a great representative of the University of Evansville and we are very proud to recognize her in this way.”

Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations and Senior Women’s Administrator Sarah Solinsky echoed those sentiments.

“We are excited to recognize Lois Patton, a true pioneer in women’s athletics, by naming and dedicating the volleyball and basketball courts to honor her contributions to UE,” Solinsky said.  “This will be a special year for women’s sports with the facility renovation, court celebrations for Lois and celebrating the 25th anniversary of women’s sports in the MVC.”