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Princeton University Athletics
Louise Gengler To Retire After 2004 Season
July 01, 2003 | Women's Tennis
July 1, 2003
Louise Gengler, whose skill as an athlete and dedication to the ideal of the coach as a teacher have made her one of the greatest names in the history of women's athletics at Princeton University, has announced that she will retire as women's tennis coach after the 2004 season.
Gengler, a three-sport athlete in the early days of women at Princeton, will be completing her 25th season as the head women's tennis coach. She has led the Tigers to seven Ivy League championships and four EITA championships and has a career record of 323-174 entering her final season.
Gengler's tenure at Princeton is the longest of any woman coach in school history. She currently trails only men's track coach Fred Samara and women's track coach Peter Farrell among active Princeton coaches in length of service.
"Few people have had as remarkable a career in athletics at Princeton as Louise Gengler," said Princeton director of athletics Gary Walters. "As an undergraduate, she was a pioneer in the evolution of women's athletics at Princeton. As a coach, she has been a tremendous role model and teacher to the student-athletes who have been fortunate to play for her." Gengler, who grew up on Long Island and attended high school in La Jolla, Calif,, came to Princeton in 1972, two years after women were first admitted. She and her two sisters, Marjory of the Class of 1973 and Nancy of the Class of 1980, continued the family tradition of attending Princeton, a tradition that included her father Herb Gengler of the Class of 1931 and grandfather John Logan of the Class of 1913, a Walter Camp All-America in football. In addition, another uncle, Art Gengler '33 attended Princeton, and this past spring her nephew Trevor Smith '03 captained the men's tennis team.
The Gengler sisters remain among the greatest women athletes ever to play sports at Princeton. Louise played tennis, ice hockey and field hockey and won the 1975 C. Otto von Kienbusch Award as the top senior sportswoman at Princeton. She then played professional platform tennis, twice earning the No. 1 ranking in the country, while also serving as a teaching tennis pro before returning to Princeton as head women's tennis coach in 1980.
"I will have had 25 years," says Gengler. "It's been a great career for me. I plan to stay involved in tennis and remain in the Princeton area. Now I'm looking forward to the next step I take. When I took the job, I thought I'd do it a few years and then go to business school. But I really got involved and felt challenged, and Princeton is a great place to work. The balance and philosophy here - with the very elite academics and Division I athletics, - is a tough combination but we do it well. They're very excited about the game. They want to do well and win championships, and that has kept me enthusiastic."
Gengler has led the Tigers to six appearances in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and NCAA national team championships and to numerous Eastern and Middle States Intercollegiate.
In 1982 and 1983, Gengler's teams were ranked 19th and 20th, in the country. Traditionally her squads have been among the strongest in the East while playing an extremely competitive schedule, much like this year's. Gengler guided Princeton to consecutive Ivy titles in 1993 and 1994 and was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Coach of the Year following the 1994 and 2000 seasons. Her most recent Ivy title was in 2000.
Gengler has served on the NCAA National Tournament Committee for six years and was chair of the NCAA Eastern Regional Advisory Committee for four years. Since 1981, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the ITA and has served as chair of the ITA Women's Operation Committee. In 1989, she was the first woman honored with the ITA Meritorious Service Award.
Away from tennis, she is an avid baseball fan who started the TKO - Take Kids Out to the Ball Game - program to take underprivileged children to Trenton Thunder baseball games to introduce them to that sport and theme-based academic lessons. TKO has expanded to include a tennis and tutoring program on campus involving the men's and women's tennis teams each fall and spring. She is also involved in many other community tennis programs.
"I've had a chance to see women's sport programs grow considerably at Princeton," she says. "The role the coaches play has expanded. Princeton continues to attract amazing kids. That's one reason I've stayed here so long and one reason it will be difficult to leave."