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Coed queen

Coed queen

Nicole L. Craw August 08, 2024

As a student, Patti Geib-Dietz '74 made a space for women in intramural sports at the University of Dayton.

In the winter of 1970, Patti Geib ’74 would leave her room in Marycrest at 7:30 a.m. every basketball gameday. In a huge winter coat and clumsy boots, she walked with her head down across campus, her teeth chattering in the 30-degree air, as she made her way to the Fieldhouse. 

Patti answers a phone at her desk.

By 8 a.m., she was passing out tickets to that night’s men’s basketball game through the Fieldhouse ticket window to the mass of students who had been in line since the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes the line wound all the way up to the chapel.

One morning, an impatient student yelled, “Hey, ticket queen, get a move on!” from the back of the line. And the name stuck.

She was the “ticket queen.” More and more students began recognizing her on campus.

“Eventually, I started to wear a disguise,” she said. “I’d pull my hat down or comb my hair differently or something.”

“Eventually, I started to wear a disguise. I’d pull my hat down or comb my hair differently or something.”

Geib had a work-study job in the athletics office for then-athletic director Tom Frericks ’53. But soon, he had an even bigger task for the ticket queen — get the coeds to go coed.

“He said the freshman football coach [Billy Mayo ’68] needed some help running the intramural sports office. He was coaching football and running intramurals,” she said. 

Said Mayo, “After my second year of coaching, my charge was to expand the intramurals program. There wasn’t really a program yet, per se.”

As a lifelong athlete herself, and a physical education major, Geib started wondering if there was a women’s intramurals program. There wasn’t.

“There was a small women’s program, but it was run by the women’s Physical Education Department,” Mayo said. “They were pretty much separate.”

Mayo gave her the go-ahead. In Geib’s junior year, she organized the first women’s recreational sports leagues at the University of Dayton. Basketball was first, followed by volleyball, flag football, tennis and softball. 

As the program started gaining traction on campus, Mayo began sending Geib to recreational sporting conferences across the U.S. — oftentimes, she was one of the few women in attendance. One year, she came back from one of those conferences — the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association — and had a big idea. 

“I said, ‘Billy, they have co-rec leagues at these other schools, where guys and girls are playing together on the court or in the field at the same time! I think we should start that at UD.’”

His response: “Do it.”

Her senior year, Geib began introducing coed leagues with teams formed in most traditional team sports. 

Group of intramural workers and coaches pose in front of a chalkboard
Patti Geib ’74 (second from left, bottom row) took her role as a work-study student for Billy Mayo (far right, bottom row) very seriously, helping bring coed and women's intramurals to the University of Dayton. 

 

“The coed program just infused into the bigger intramurals program,” Mayo said. “And that year, 1974, intramurals exploded.”

“Almost every sport that was for men, we then had for women,” Geib said. “We offered every sport possible, and Mayo was always on board. By the time I graduated, we had almost 80 student officials, loads of intramural supervisors and nearly every sport to meet the needs and interests of all students.” 

Today, UD’s intramural sports program is one the of most popular activities on campus with more than 4,000 student participants last year (nearly 40% of them identifying as female) playing on just over 2,000 teams across all sports — including some unique offerings like Battleship, Wiffle ball and floor hockey.

The University has ranked in the top 25 for the “everyone plays intramurals” category by the Princeton Review for many years. In 2018, UD ranked No. 1 in that category.

“It is and remains an important component of student life,” Geib said. “It was great fun, a stress reliever, a popular social activity and provided camaraderie like nothing else. Being grounded in teamwork with a healthy dose of competition was a precursor to work-life experiences after UD.” 

“It was great fun, a stress reliever, a popular social activity and provided camaraderie like nothing else.” 

Upon her graduation, Mayo offered Geib a full-time job at UD. 

After attending several NIRSA conferences together, Geib and Mayo founded the association in Ohio, creating the Ohio Recreational Sports Association. The two held the first workshop in May 1976 at what was known as the PAC (Physical Activities Center). Mayo made Geib the organization’s state director — an organization that today has more than 120 member schools.

“She did a fantastic job; just threw herself into it,” Mayo said. “She was an excellent worker and a wonderful young woman. I couldn’t have done it without her.”

Geib said, “Mayo was truly the roots and foundation of intramural sports at UD. As the men’s program grew, he let me branch out and create more opportunities to enhance the student experience. It was his leadership, commitment and work ethic that inspired me. I will always be grateful for his mentorship.”

Geib, who now goes by Patti Geib-Dietz, went on to have a long career in university recreation, including at Miami (Ohio) University. She recently retired from her own leadership consulting
company.

In June, she returned to campus for the first time in several years for her 50th reunion as a volunteer for the Class of 1974 Reunion Committee. 

She didn’t have to wear a disguise. 

In her wisdom