2025 Hall of Fame Inductee: Sharon Taylor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Over the next few weeks, USA Field Hockey will be celebrating and honoring the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees. This class honors five individuals who have played a significant role in the development and support of the sport in the United States during their long careers and are all being inducted as Contributors.

Sharon Taylor, who won seven national championships while coaching at Lock Haven University and also served as president of USA Field Hockey, is being inducted as a Contributor. A multi-sport student-athlete and multi-sport coach at Lock Haven, Taylor is a former member of the USOC and was the driving force behind the creation of the national collegiate championships, which started in 1975.

As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1971, Taylor approached Dr. Katherine Ley, who was the chairperson of the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, to suggest a national competition among colleges. Taylor then worked with the USFHA, led then by the legendary Grace Robertson, to organize and run the tournament that was a joint venture with both the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and USFHA. This tournament was the forerunner for the NCAA Championships and serves as a lasting legacy of the impact Taylor had.

As a student-athlete at Lock Haven, Taylor played field hockey and basketball, before coaching tennis, basketball, lacrosse and field hockey at her alma mater. Her Lock Haven teams went 333-96-27, capturing an astounding six national titles in field hockey to go along with a lacrosse title in 1979. The Taylor-led field hockey teams won national titles in 1981, 1982, 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1995. The 1995 season, her final one at the helm, allowed her to leave the sidelines with a perfect 21-0 record and a national title – all while also serving as athletic director.

Taylor continued to serve as Lock Haven’s athletic director through 2012, which overlapped with her term of service as the president of USA Field Hockey from 2000 to 2007. She also served as the president of the Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, president of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and president of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators.

A major advocate for field hockey, Taylor had terms as both president and vice president for the College Field Hockey Coaches Association (the predecessor to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association), and she was also a consultant to the President’s Commission on Olympic Sport. From 1987 until 2001, she was the USA Field Hockey representative to the USOC and also served as the United States delegate to the FIH. Taylor was instrumental in helping to bring major international events to the United States, including the 2005 Rabobank Champions Challenge. In 2018 she was named the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA)'s first Lifetime Award Honoree.

USA Field Hockey will formally honor these legends of the game on Sunday, December 7, 2025 at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. More information will be shared soon.