Lou and Mary Henson are loyal supporters dedicated to the advancement of New Mexico State University. Their commitment to academics and competitive excellence was demonstrated in February, when they made a generous contribution to help establish the Lou and Mary Henson Endowment Scholarship Fund in memory of their late son, Lou Jr.

The announcement of their $100,000 donation to the endowment fund came Feb. 8 during the Lou Henson “Roast and Toast” Dinner in honor of the head men’s basketball coach. In conjunction with the event, the Pan American Center basketball floor was named “Lou Henson Court.” Since the initial donation, the fund has increased to $112,000. The fund is designed to support deserving student- athletes at NMSU for their academic and athletic achievements.

“My family and I owe so very much to New Mexico State University. As a young man, I was given the opportunity through an athletic scholarship to complete my formal education. Later, in my roles as basketball coach and athletics director, I enjoyed a most gratifying association with this outstanding institution. I feel extremely fortunate to have received a quality education, which enabled me to achieve many goals in life,” Henson said.

“Now it’s pay back time. I firmly believe that alumni and friends have a duty to step up and make strong commitments of time, talent and resources, so that this great university will continue to thrive and advance as an educational force on the local, state, national and international levels.”

Karen Fey and Linda Koch have seen New Mexico State University's women's athletics program come a long way from the operation they inherited 29 years ago.

“We had just one small office, with a desk and a chair, that all the coaches came in and out of,” Fey said of her first days in the Pan American Center.

Fey, senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, was hired in 1973 as head coach for the women's basketball and tennis teams, a physical education teacher and the women's athletics director. Koch, assistant athletics director for compliance and eligibility, came to the university the same year as assistant coach for the women's basketball team, head coach for the women's volleyball and badminton teams, a physical education teacher, and the assistant women's athletics director.

Both women plan to retire Aug. 1.

When Fey and Koch arrived, they found a women's athletics program in need of structure and discipline. “It was an adventure for both of us,” Fey said. “Nothing had been left to us by our predecessor, so we had no idea who we competed with or what schools we were aligned with.”

Fey said the women's program was in a “play-day” mode, with athletes practicing only two times a week, and she was determined to turn it around. “We said, ‘If this is athletics, the only thing I understand is practicing five to six days a week, being competitive and setting goals for your program.’ We worked around the clock.”

Fey received job offers from several other schools, but selected New Mexico State because it was the only school that would allow her to work in administration as well as teaching and coaching.

In 1973, when Fey flew back to the University of Wyoming to complete her graduate work after interviewing at New Mexico State, she encouraged Koch, also finishing her graduate studies, to apply here as well.

“I was primarily drawn here by the opportunity to work in a program that was being restructured, and to have the opportunity not only to teach, but to help create an athletics program and a positive environment for our female students,” Koch said.

Fey and Koch were members of the committee that voted to initiate athletic scholarships for female athletes at New Mexico State in 1975, the same year Title IX was enacted. Title IX is an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in education.

Theresa Jaramillo Jones, ’80, principal at Fairacres Elementary School in Las Cruces, was one of three female basketball players to receive scholarships in 1975.

“Ms. Fey made a difference and has definitely touched a number of lives. She was one of my inspirations to go into administration,” Jaramillo Jones said.

Lou Henson, head coach for the men's basketball team, said of Fey and Koch, “These women are the most capable and dedicated people I've worked with throughout the years.”

Fey said she and Koch have many good memories at New Mexico State, both with the athletes and with the people at the university and in the community who have supported the program.

“I hope the university, in replacing Linda and me, will bring in strong, broad-based individuals who will care and will give the job the love that we have,” Fey said.

Erin Waldron