University of Utah senior associate athletic director Fern Gardner isn't old enough to retire. She certainly isn't being asked to retire by her boss, who values her greatly. Yet later this month Gardner will retire just because she wants to.
After more than four decades in athletics, as a competitor, coach and administrator, Gardner is leaving her post at the U., where she has served in various capacities for the past 21 years."I've been planning this for a long time," said Gardner. "I want to retire while I'm still relatively healthy and do some things I've always wanted to do."
Gardner's last day at the U. will be June 28 and sometime later in the summer, the university will name a replacement, or rather someone to fill her position.
"You don't replace someone like Fern Gardner," said Utah athletic director Chris Hill. "Fern has been my right-hand person for the last few years. She's added a lot to the entire department. It's obvious what's she's done for women's sports, but she's also done a lot for all sports at the university."
Even though she has overseen most of the women's sports at Utah for many years, she has also been in charge of all the men's sports except football, basketball, baseball and golf.
She says she feels good about leaving with the university in perhaps its best shape ever athletically. Besides the recent success of men's sports such as football and basketball, Utah's women's basketball team is coming off a championship season, the gymnastics team is a national power every year and the volleyball, softball and soccer teams are on the rise.
"I've watched the department grow with new monies thanks to football, basketball and the Crimson Club," she said. "And I'm proud of the movement of women's athletics at Utah. I've tried to be an advocate for women's sports."
Gardner grew up in the small town of Deweyville in northern Utah and excelled at several sports, including volleyball, basketball, tennis, track and softball. It was in the latter that she became an all-American pitcher at Utah State.
After coaching at her alma mater for seven years, Gardner moved to Utah in 1975 to become the women's head basketball coach and women's athletic director.
During her eight-year tenure as coach, Gardner's teams won seven conference championship teams and compiled a 174-64 record, an average of 22 wins per season.
Gardner has a hard time singling out highlights of her career, even though there have been many. She remembers the 1976-77 team that went 26-3 and finished seventh nationally, because of the closeness of the team that only had nine players.
"It's been fun to see my former players go on to be successful in business and in the coaching ranks," she said.
Gardner has seen dramatic changes in women's athletics in the past couple of decades. As for the future, Gardner says she sees opportunities for women becoming even more equal, although she adds, "some things you can never equalize. I don't know if spectators will ever be equal."
Gardner plans to get away from college athletics altogether, and she surely won't be looking over her successor's shoulder. She's moving to St. George, where she has a whole list of things to do, with golf and reading books at the top.