LincolnWay Community Foundation honors coach Pam Duncan with charitable fund

In 1967, there were no girls athletics at Central DeWitt High School. Enter Pam Duncan, then a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, who joined the faculty and began a career focused on making a difference in the lives of young women for the next 30 years. 

When she moved to DeWitt, Pam couldn’t believe that there were no athletics for girls. “The girls were in the bleachers watching the guys,” the retired physical education teacher recalled. “There were lots of talented kids who were athletically inclined and loved competition, yet they had nothing to express that.” 

Because of Pam, Central girls today have many opportunities to play competitive sports. Her legacy grows both through the girls’ athletic achievements as well as a new endowment fund established in her honor. The Pam Duncan Endowment for Women’s Sports at Central DeWitt High School was recently established with the LincolnWay Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, and will support equality in school athletics at Central forever.

“Miss Duncan was our catalyst into a world where women played a wider role in business, politics and leadership. She instilled in me, especially during track season, that I could do whatever I made up my mind to do. I could not imagine beating the 100-meter hurdle record set by an older athlete, and yet Pam wondered why I’d even question it,” recalls Maureen Burke Moeller, class of ’75.

“That was my job, she implied, to break all records. In fact, she expected it! Therein lies the magic of Pam Duncan. Her expectations of us exceeded our own, teaching us that anything is possible,” says Moeller.

Beginning with a basketball program, Pam eased the school into girls athletics — driven entirely by her students’ desire for competitive sports. The girls took a signed petition to the school board in 1970, which encouraged the board to approve girls track and softball. 

“Even when hard choices had to be made, she was there to help us discern right from wrong. What more can a young woman ask for?” says Moeller. “Only now do I understand the obstacles she may have had throughout her life and career, yet we were never fully aware of her ongoing advocation and struggles for our right to be an equally recognized athletic program, and ultimately equal on all terms.”

Pam coached volleyball for 25 years and basketball for 30, retiring from both coaching and teaching in 1999. While teaching, she served on the state volleyball advisory committee and was an active member of a professional group for physical education teachers.

“I gained so much that I’m thankful for from coaching. It was fun to see these young people who worked so hard and were able to contribute so much, and it’s fun to see them and talk to them now when they come back,” said Pam. “Many who were in athletics have done wonderful things, and I hope part of that was the experience they had in athletics. I was fortunate, and I hope the kids feel that they were fortunate in having athletics also.”

Many of Pam’s students have expressed their gratitude for her role. “Participation in women's sports has been foundational to my life. It was a way to learn, grow, and express my competitiveness in constructive ways. It helped me to develop my leadership skills and allowed me to learn how to set goals and achieve them,” says Katie Green, former student. 

“Throughout all of it, those teams also provided a chance to work hard and grow and learn with the other girls and women on those teams. Even after my competitive playing days were over, the impact of sports on who I am and what I learned has carried on, as have the friendships forged on those teams,”  says Green.

To make a contribution to the Pam Duncan Endowment for Women’s Sports at Central DeWitt High School, contact Pat Henricksen, executive director of the LincolnWay Community Foundation, at 563.659.5039 or pkmh34fb@gmail.com.