ANN CHANDLER MORRIS (Coach, Charter Class of 1998)
In a span of seven years Ann Chandler Morris coached fifteen girls state championship teams in cross country, gymnastics, and track at Mary V. Quirk Junior High School and Warren High School.
At Quirk Ann’s cross country teams won three state championships, while finishing second twice. In gymnastics her squads won the state title every year from 1972 to 1976 and then won again almost a decade later. And in track the girls won three state championships, while finishing as runner-up a like number of times.
Her Warren High School gymnastics team won the state title in 1975, while her track squads won three consecutive state championships – from 1973 to 1975.
Ann’s teams, which won a number of divisional titles as well, featured fellow Hall of Fame members Pat O’Blenis Lachance, Karyn McCahey Monti, Beth Penkala, and Laurie Figureid Ross.
She gave back much to girls and women’s athletics, serving as a member of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s girls athletics subcommittee for twenty-eight years. She was the league’s director of cross country, gymnastics, and track for a combined total of twenty-two years.
Ann also served on the executive board of the Rhode Island Association for Girls and Women’s Sports (for approximately thirty years), an official with the Rhode Island Senior Olympics in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. She has served as a game/meet official in basketball, field hockey, gymnastics, and track.
Among the honors bestowed upon her are the following: Rhode Island Athletic Directors outstanding contribution to girls athletics in 1975; Rhode Island Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance meritorious service award in 1976; University of Rhode Island High School Girls Coach of the Year for 1978; the Bridgewater State College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988; the Brown University honorary referee award for track in 1991; the Rhode Island
Cross Country and Track Coaches Hall of Fame in 1993; the New Agenda Northeast Womens’ Hall of Fame in 1994; and the A. Lenore Cranston award for service to girls’ sports in 1996.
In 2003 Ann was named Rhode Island’s Female Athlete of the Year.
In 2005 Ann was named to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Hall of Fame.
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