In December, Salt Lake City's Deseret News ran the year-end headline "15 Utahns Who Made Us Love Sports in 2015." Word spread quickly that Kathy Howa, one of Rowland Hall's most beloved coaches and physical education teachers, had made the list.

"I'm excited but not a bit surprised," said Rowland Hall Director of Institutional Advancement Robyn Payne '02. "Kathy Howa was a mentor for me and many students on and off the court."

A four-year starter on the volleyball team, Robyn—now 5'10"—looks back and laughs about her 5'5" stature in middle school. "It was hard to hide from Coach Howa, who would definitely seek you out for that volleyball team," she said.

According to student-athletes, a request from Kathy to be on a team is more of a calling than a recruitment. Students have been known to say, "When Coach Howa asks you to be on a team, you just do it."

Gita Varner '05, now the school's advancement database and office manager, said she eagerly volunteered for the long hours and less glamorous position of team manager "simply because Kathy Howa is so positive and sees the silver lining in every situation."

One lesson from Kathy's personal silver-linings playbook is "not to take life for granted." When diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, she turned the hardship into a mission to help others. Motivated by the enormous emotional support received from student-athletes after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment, Kathy organized softball hit-a-thon fundraisers. By 2007 the hit-a-thons were so successful that she created the nonprofit organization Swing for Life, and contributed 100% of the proceeds to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. In the past 14 years, the tournaments have raised more than $1 million for breast cancer research. The events have expanded to football, basketball, and volleyball teams, all of which host annual Swing for Life games.

Gita illustrated Kathy's forgiving nature with a story from her first time keeping stats for the softball team. "After the game Coach Howa came over and asked, 'Gita, how many errors?' and I said, 'What's an error?' Kathy froze, burst into laughter, and said, 'We'll tackle that next time.'"

Admiration for Kathy and Rowland Hall coach and Director of Athletics Kendra Tomsic is confirmed by the number of alumni who come back to the school to cheer for their teams. It's also evident in the coaches' attendance at alumni weddings and birth announcements.

"You see them at these events because their teams were about creating lifelong bonds, not the wins and losses," Robyn said.

"The Deseret News clearly picked the right person for its list," Gita said. "Coach Howa made me and all her athletes love sports, not only in 2015 but every year."

People