Mary McElroy Luncheon

Mary McElroy '87, Georgia State University Athletic Director Speaks at Chapter October Luncheon

Our guest speaker at the Chapter October luncheon was Chapter Board of Directors member Mary McElroy, ’87.

Mary agreed to share with us the story of her path to the first African-American female Division 1 Athletic Director. On July 18, 2005 she took over as the Athletic Director at Georgia State University.

Mary credits her Mom with getting her interested in athletics at an early age. Her Mom first taught her and her sister to play baseball, which she took to immediately. She says that even though it may have been a way for her Mom to get her out of the house, and out from under foot, it was the beginning of her passion for sports. Next came and introduction to basketball, which she took to with the same passion.

She and her sister both made the JV basketball team in high school. Mary had two working parents, so she and her siblings were latch-key kids. Mary credits her sister for deciding to drop out of basketball and help manage the house so that she, Mary, could continue playing sports.

When Mary got to the Naval Academy, she made the basketball team as a walk-on and lettered in her Youngster year. Upon graduation she decided to go Marine Corps, as did her husband Terry ’86, whom she met at the Academy. They were lucky to be stationed relatively near one another for most of their service, except one bi-coastal stationing which was tough. When Terry got orders to USNA, Mary went with, abandoning her plans for starting a career in corporate America.

At USNA then Coach Smalley, seeing her athletic background, got Mary a job as Assistant Compliance Officer in the Athletic Department. She eventually worked her way up to an Assistant Athletic Director position. In that position she was responsible for the NCAA compliance for 29 sports. All that with no assistant or staff of any kind. After carrying that workload alone for a number of years, she decided to leave and worked for the USNA Alumni Association for a short time before she and Terry moved to Atlanta.

In Atlanta, circumstances lead to a meeting with Dave Graine, the Athletic Director at Georgia Tech. Dave hired her to take over the NCAA compliance for 17 sports. This time, she had a full-time assistant and access to other staff as well. (For more money too, she added!) Mary stayed at Georgia Tech for six years, culminating with the men’s basketball team making the final four her last year.

During her trip to San Antonio for the playoffs, she related a story about she and the team meeting with David Robinson (former USNA and pro basketball star). At first, David’s camp said that his schedule was too full to meet with the team. However, when they arrived, David was there and greeted Mary and all of the players! David also took them on a tour of his school in San Antonio, which was a private charter school for underprivileged kids. The team members got to meet and mingle with kids from the school that day, and came away with a new perspective on things and a bit less jaded than they had been in the past. A great experience for all involved.

When the Georgia State AD’s job became available she looked at the opportunity with great interest, with the one exception. It certainly would be great to be the top dog, but not so good to no longer be sheltered from the “bad parts” of the job that she had been sheltered from before by being a step removed.

None-the less, she was offered and accepted the job and became the first African –American female Division 1 Athletic Director! Great job Mary! She wasted no time getting to work. As she explained, many of the teams at Georgia State had to play their sports off campus, since no on-campus facilities were available for their particular sport. Since arriving she has added new facilities and has more planned. She reviewed these plans with us using an aerial photo of the area titled “Panthersville Complex Phase II Plan” showing the new and planned facilities.

Of course the question of football came up. No football program currently exists, but alumni and students have been pushing to start one. If they did, it would be in Division 1AA, not division 1A. A feasibility study was done to investigate the costs of starting a football program there. Mary broke down the expenses category-by-category for us. These figures are not officially release yet, so I will only report that the estimated total to start the program in the first year was expected to be in the $10 to $20 million range. Mary said, that looking at the big picture, that kind of money could do wonders for the existing athletic programs at Georgia State.

Just before Mary closed her presentation and took questions from the crowd, someone reminded her that she had just received a prestigious award and was perhaps to humble to mention it herself. Mary had just been named “Administrator of the Year” by the National Association of Collegiate Administrators! Way to go Mary! The entire Chapter couldn’t be more proud of you and your achievements.

Click on a thumbnail image to view a full-size picture.

Assembled alumni and friends start their lunch.

Chapter President Steve Frederick '72 introduces Mary before her presentation.

Mary explains plans to expand on-campus sports facilities at Georgia State.

Chapter President Steve Frederick '72, presents Mary with her personalized Atlanta Chapter Apron.