The founder of women’s volleyball, basketball and track at Kansas City Kansas Community College and coach of the first KCKCC softball team to reach the national tournament, Nancy Allen was inducted into the Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame by Athletic Director Dan Pratt. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins) 

   It could be said that Nancy Allen came along too soon. An outstanding athlete, she was the victim of a high school system that did not offer sports programs to girls.

   But for Kansas City Kansas Community College, Allen came along just at the right time. KCKCC, too, was without women’s sports until Allen arrived in 1975 to found the college’s volleyball, basketball and women’s track programs and coach the softball team to its first national tournament berth.

   Just like the pioneers of the Old West, Allen blazed new trails in women’s athletics and it has earned her induction into the Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame.

   “Surprised and humble,” said Allen, who was inducted Saturday along with former KCKCC basketball standouts Bryan Scott and Aneta Kausaite.

   To blaze those new trails, however, meant clearing a pyramid of hurdles starting with just a week to prepare for the first season. 

 “The college called in October and needed to have women’s athletic programs or it was going to lose federal money,” remembered Allen, who had been teaching physical education and running girls intramural programs at Wyandotte High School when the call came.

   “They hired me October 19 and we had our first volleyball game on October 24. We started with just six girls and only two had every played competitively. We played six matches and although we didn’t win, we got better.”

   Allen was given a budget of $5,000 for three sports, basketball, volleyball and women’s track.

   “We had no uniforms so I went to Varsity Sports and Keith Lindsey made us one set of uniforms and we used them for all three sports.”

   The same six women also made up the basketball and track teams and while the basketball season was not unlike the volleyball season, it had its lighter moments.

   “One of the girls was a good athlete but had never played basketball so she didn’t play much,” Allen said. “One game she did get in she was thrown the ball right in front of our bench and just stood with the ball. I yelled ‘Throw the ball, throw the ball’ and she turned around and threw to me.” 

   Track, however, was a different matter.

   “We had a relay team, longjumper, sprinter and distance runner and finished second in a couple of meets,” Allen said.

   “The second year I went to the board and lobbied for scholarships. We were trying to recruit athletes who were getting scholarships from other schools and the board gave me one scholarship for each sport.”

   By the 1977 season, the women’s sports programs were divided. Allen took volleyball, Ken Mark the basketball program and track was merged with the men’s program. Despite the meager start, Allen enjoyed remarkable success in volleyball, finishing 13-4 in her third year (1977); second in the conference and third in the regional with a 23-11 record in 1978; and 26-15 in 1979. 

   In 1980-81, Allen added the job of softball coach to her volleyball coaching and physical education teaching duties. Softball had been started the year before under the direction of Linda Huggins. It was in softball that she enjoyed her greatest success. Seeded No. 6 going into the 1995 Region VI tournament, Allen’s Lady Blue Devils ripped through the tourney like a Kansas tornado, finishing with a perfect 5-0 record and becoming the first women’s team to ever qualify for a national tournament.

   The route to the national tourney was something right out of Hollywood including the fact that nine of the 12 players were from Wyandotte County. Two others were from Olathe and one from Spring Hill.

   Kathleen Myszka jump-started the Blue Devils with a bases-loaded double that drove in the tying and winning runs in a 10-inning 3-2 win over Coffeyville in the opener. KCKCC overcame a 4-1 deficit to defeat No. 3 seeded Barton County 6-4 in game two and Missy Meek pitched her first shutout in beating Independence 4-0. Megan Snyder allowed just three hits and Myszka delivered a game-winning triple in the bottom of the sixth for a 2-1 win over Cloud County in game four and set up by all accounts the finest performance by a Blue Devil softball team in history.

   “Winning the regional was my biggest thrill,” Allen said. “In the championship game we played like we were on a mission. Nothing could get through them. If the ball was hit in the air, I wasn’t worried. If our outfielders could get there, they’d catch it.”

   Kim Manthei reached over the fence to take a home run away and then made a diving catch in the seventh; shortstop Andrea Flenker stole two runs with a sensational diving backhand grab of a shot headed for left; Debbie Terrell ran the proverbial mile to flag down a drive in the seventh; and Angie Fiatte went behind first base to grab a ground ball and make a backhand flip to first.

   KCKCC opened national tourney play with a 12-1 thumping of Suffolk County, N.Y., and the birth of a son to assistant coach Lisa Pickert Terrell just hours after the opener.  No. 2 seeded Northeastern Oklahoma sent the Blue devils to the loser’s bracket 7-3 in the second round but KCKCC rebounded with a 7-5 8-inning win over Camden County, N.J. before being eliminated by Chattanooga State 10-2. Of the 280 teams that started tournament play including 16 in the national tourney, the Blue Devils finished an all-time best seventh.

   Allen retired June 30, 1996. She coached volleyball through the 1988 season, compiling a 193-181 record, and had a 226-279 softball record in her 14 years at the helm.

   “The women’s sports program is in the best shape it’s ever been,” Allen said.

   While she quit coaching, Allen never left sports. An outstanding golfer, she’s a former Wyandotte County champion and multi-winner of club championships at Victory Hills (now Painted Hills) and Dub’s Dread.

   As a youngster, she started bowling at age seven and is a former city all-events champion as well as a multi-winner of doubles and team championships. She also won the city tennis championship at age 16 and played on the field hockey team and in intramurals while earning a Bachelor of Science in physical education at the University of Kansas in 1958.