{"id":48691,"date":"2022-07-11T16:30:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T16:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/?p=48691"},"modified":"2022-09-08T19:52:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T19:52:43","slug":"a-real-game-changer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/2022\/07\/11\/a-real-game-changer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Real Game Changer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patricia<\/a>Basketball has played an important role in Patricia (Patty) Piepenburg\u2019s \u201969 life. In her small hometown of Grove City, Minnesota, Patty discovered her natural athleticism. \u201cI grew up pre-Title IX, so the only exposure I really had to sports were through intramurals and gym class,\u201d she shared. Her high school team was organized through the Girls Athletic Association (GAA) where she and her teammates had to work hard to find other teams to play. They eventually convinced their advisor to play a neighboring town. In Patty\u2019s words, it could be more accurately described as \u201cscheduling a time two schools could get together and do intramural activities.\u201d At the time, the rules were completely different for women\u2019s basketball. It was played on half the court and each team had 6 players. Nonetheless, Patty fell in love with the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The 1966 Auggiettes (Patty pictured 2nd row, third in from the left)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While she was a student at Augsburg, she participated on the Auggiettes women\u2019s basketball team. During her four seasons, the team only lost four games, and were completely undefeated her junior year. She was also the leading scorer her last two years in school. A big part of the team\u2019s success can be attributed to Patty\u2019s coach at the time, LaVonne Johnson Peterson, or Mrs. Pete, more affectionately. \u201cShe was a great teacher and friend. She played a big factor in me staying at Augsburg all four years,\u201d Patty shared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patty<\/a>Patty graduated with a degree in Physical Education in 1969. She taught and coached various grade levels in Atwater, Minnesota while also working double time to help her dad with their family farm. \u201cThere came a point where I was just burned out and couldn\u2019t do both anymore,\u201d Patty reflected on deciding to leave coaching and teaching after over 30 years. The family farm, conservation, and wildlife remain an important part of Patty\u2019s life \u2013 she has even won awards for her conservation projects!<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011, Patty was inducted into <\/span>Augsburg\u2019s Athletics Hall of Fame<\/span><\/a>. Although some of her teammates were inducted several years earlier, Patty wanted to be retired when she accepted the honor. \u201cA hall of famer is someone who not only contributed to the sports while they were in school, but it should also reflect what they went on to do after college,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like I needed to earn my place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Patty has given a generous gift to help update the Si Melby Women\u2019s Locker room. The dedication will take place in October during Augsburg’s <\/span>Homecoming Week and All-School Reunion<\/span>, where Augsburg will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. When reflecting on what inspired this decision, Patty shared, \u201cTrying to figure out your estate plans is difficult when you aren\u2019t married and don\u2019t have kids\u2026 you want to channel it to where you think someone made a difference. I chose the women\u2019s locker room because I would love to see a legacy.\u201d The advice Patty has for current and future generations of women athletes at Augsburg is, \u201cAlways be prepared, be yourself, and willingly accept opportunities for leadership.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basketball has played an important role in Patricia (Patty) Piepenburg\u2019s \u201969 life. In her small hometown of Grove City, Minnesota, Patty discovered her natural athleticism. \u201cI grew up pre-Title IX, so the only exposure I really had to sports were through intramurals and gym class,\u201d she shared. Her high school team was organized through the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[158,148,175,176],"class_list":["post-48691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gift-announcements","category-giving","tag-athletics","tag-augsburg-university","tag-basketball","tag-class-of-1969"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48691"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49687,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48691\/revisions\/49687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}