Wendy Carson was a true pioneer in athletics at the University of Calgary.
Her career is replete with firsts: her first season, 1965-66, saw the Dinnies basketball team win the University of Alberta at Calgary’s first-ever conference championship; the following season was the first for an autonomous institution as the University of Calgary; and the year after that, Carson joined the school’s first field hockey team.
In the early days on the burgeoning U of C campus, a relatively small number of athletes had to play multiple sports in order to field full teams, and Carson was one of those athletes, joining hall-of-famers Theresa (Sekura) Maxwell and Gaylene (Donald) Berry.
A physical education major, Wendy joined the Dinnies after graduating from Central Collegiate Institute in downtown Calgary. During her four years on campus, she played basketball all four seasons and added two with field hockey. The 1966 women’s basketball conference title was the first for a two-year-old athletic department, and Carson was a key member of that championship team.
In 1967, she signed up for the first ever field hockey team at the University of Calgary, often running back and forth between the hockey pitch and the basketball court. She excelled in both, winning the Outstanding Female Athlete award in 1967-68.
In her spare time, she trained with the volleyball team that went on to win the U of C’s first-ever national title in 1970, just one year after the end of Wendy’s career. She also coached the junior varsity basketball team.
Her athletic prowess was not limited to the university campus; Wendy was also a star in the senior women’s fastball circles, playing in several national championship tournaments. She was named to the national all-star team in fastball in 1970, before moving back to the field hockey pitch with the national team. From 1972 until her retirement in 1980, Wendy played for and then managed the Canadian national field hockey squad
Wendy graduated with a Bachelor of Physical Education degree in 1968, adding an education degree in 1972. She obtained her M.A. from the University of Alberta in 1975, majoring in sports administration, and went on to have a 28-year career with the Calgary Board of Education and spent more than 30 years as an educator – including a brief stint as a professional instructor at the University of Calgary in the mid-1970s.
She began her career at Viscount Bennett Junior/Senior High School and, following a decade away from the secondary school system, returned to the CBE in 1985. She spent the last 18 years of her career as a guidance counselor at Western Canada High School, where she also coached volleyball, basketball, and field hockey at various times.
Wendy retired in June 2007, but she remains active. She works out daily, enjoys walking her dog, and still plays field hockey. And she shows no signs of slowing down – she plans to take up golf after receiving equipment as a retirement gift, and she continues to enjoy cycling and skiing.
