Special Thanks to Al Schumacher of the Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club for contributing to this story.
MADISON, Wis. - Pam Roecker, Regis College Dean of Athletics, is one of five people selected for induction into the Madison (Wisconsin) Sports Hall of Fame, with the dinner and enshrinement ceremony taking place Wednesday, May 31, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
Roecker, the Dean of Athletics at Regis since May 2017, was a three-sport athlete at Madison LaFollette High School, where she won nine varsity letters in tennis, basketball and softball. Her softball team won the Big 8 Conference championship and became a WIAA State finalist. During the tennis season, she was a City Doubles champion and was a First Team All-City selection, advancing into the WIAA State Tournament.
However, basketball was her passion, as Roecker was All-City and All-Conference in basketball, helping her team advance to the WIAA State Tournament. The love of basketball led her to the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, where she continued to play basketball for four more years. Roecker became a 1000-point scorer during her career at UW Green Bay. She is still the all-time leader at UW Green Bay in assists in a single game, assists in a season, and assists for a career.
After her playing career concluded, Roecker entered the coaching world, serving as an assistant coach at her alma mater as well as at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Seton Hall University. In 1990, she became the head coach at Wagner College and won 112 games in eight seasons at the helm, second-most in Wagner women's basketball history.
Roecker moved to the administrative side of collegiate athletics full-time, eventually serving as Director of Athletics and Recreation at Emmanuel College from 2003 to 2015. She spent two years as the Athletic Director at Gann Academy in Waltham from 2015 to 2017 before taking over as Dean of Athletics at Regis College in May 2017.
For the last 20 years, Roecker has been a regional TV and Web broadcaster for college basketball games on ESPNU, ESPN+, ESPN3, Fox, MSG Network, and CBS Sports Network. She has also been a guest speaker at basketball camps throughout the Northeast.
Roecker will be inducted along with four other products of Madison public high schools: Gary Buss, an All-Conference football player at the University of Wisconsin; Michelle Jesperson, an All-American swimmer at Stanford University; Doug Parrish, who went on to play football at the University of California-Berkeley and the Canadian Football League; and Bo Ryan, legendary men's basketball head coach at three different colleges within the University of Wisconsin system, including UW Madison from 2001 to 2015.
The Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club began in 1963 to recognize and honor great athletes and sports figures from Madison, Wis. The group hosts weekly luncheon meetings from August through May and holds the induction ceremony every year. Over 200 individuals have been previously inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame. Go to madisonsportshalloffame.org to find out other information about the club.