Alice Textor, an outstanding all-around student-athlete at Western Washington University (then Western Washington State College) in the early 1970s when intercollegiate women’s sports were just beginning, died Sunday, Nov. 10, at 74 following a 12-year battle with cancer. She went on to coach and teach and earned hall of fame honors as a slow-pitch softball player.
Textor started for the Vikings during their first two basketball seasons (1971-73) as a member of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), helping them to a combined 43-3 record.
Textor was captain of the unforgettable 1972-73 team that made the program’s first trip to the national tournament, finishing 24-2. The Vikings won the regional title with a dramatic 48-46 victory over Washington State in the team’s first game on the main floor of Carver Gymnasium. At nationals, they lost to eventual champion Immaculata in the semifinals.
In 1971-72, Western finished 19-1, its only setback being to Washington State in the regional championship game..
Textor also lettered in field hockey and tennis at Western. In 1973, she won the No. 1 doubles in tennis at regionals on a 7-1 team that took the region championship. She also played badminton in 1972, winning the regional doubles title.
Following graduation from Western, Textor attended the University of Arizona where she was a graduate assistant women’s basketball coach for the Wildcats while earning a master’s degree in physical education.
Textor became the head women’s basketball coach at Northern Illinois University (NIU) (DeKalb, IL) for four years (1977-81), followed by seven seasons directing the program at Cal State Dominguez Hills (Carson, CA) (1981-88). She also coached at Laytonville (Calif.) High School before becoming a professor and Student Life Coordinator at Los Rios Community College District and Folsom Lake College (Eldorado, CA).
While at NIU, Textor was part of a major Title IX lawsuit. They won the suit, forcing the University to bring coaching salaries and athletic opportunities for women more equitable.
An outstanding slow-pitch softball player, Textor was a 2007 inductee into the Tacoma-Pierce County Oldtimers Association Baseball-Softball Hall of Fame. She played three years with a Creekwater Dispensary team that won a regional title in 1974, qualifying for the national tournament held at Elk Grove, Calif. She won numerous all-star and MVP trophies, playing for multiple league, tournament and regional championship teams.
Born on April 20, 1950, in Toledo, Ohio, Textor graduated from Evergreen High School (Seattle) in 1968. At Western, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1973.
Textor’s younger sister, Phyllis, also attended and competed in athletics at Western. They were two of seven children to parents Carl and Lillian.
“Alice was not only my inspiration in sports, she was my inspiration in life,” said Phyllis. “She lived her life as an example of how to treat people with kindness and love, and to live everyday as though it might be our last.”
This obituary was written by historian and longtime Sports Information Director Paul Madison and used with permission of WWU.
