Treynor coach Gail Hartigan is the latest recipient of the prestigious Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union’s First Lady Award. Gail is just the 11th indiviudal to receive the award, which was first given in 1978. Hartigan will be honored Friday, March 6 at halftime of the Class 2A championship game.
The award is given “to a daughter of Iowa, — recognizing the million girls of the commonwealth who have carried the tradition and training of a sport into varied and important careers — and for singularly illustrious and most memorable accomplishments.”
The former Gail Ahrenholtz was a star multi-sport athlete for Manilla, playing under Hall of Fame Coach Larry Bullock on the 1970 basketball team that finished second in the state. She went on to John F. Kennedy College in Wahoo, Nebraska and was a standout basketball player on JFK teams that won two AAU national championships.
Hartigan began an illustrious coaching career in 1975, coaching at Lake City, Woodbine and Treynor. During that time, she amassed over 600 victories, ranking fourth among active coaches and 11th all-time. She guided Treynor to the first-ever Class 1A five-player state championship in 1994 and was named co-State Coach of the Year by the Des Moines Register that year. She has coached the Cardinals to 13 state tournament appearances.
Hartigan also coached the Treynor volleyball team to 12 state tournament appearances in a 15 year span, reaching the state championship match twice and the state semifinals five times while compiling 451 career victories. She continues to coach the Treynor girls track team, finishing as the state runner-up in 1997.
Hartigan has been honored by her peers as a Hall of Fame coach in both basketball and volleyball. She has also been the recipient of the IGHSAU Golden Plaque of Distinction and been named regional and state coach of the year by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association numerous times. She was inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame in 2012 and the B’Nai Brith Hall of Fame in 2007. Gail has been named IGCA Regional Coach of the Year 21 times and was named the organization’s Coach of the Year twice.
Hartigan has served terms on various IGHSAU committees, including a stint on the IGHSAU Board of Directors. She currently is a member of the IGHSAU Basketball and Track & Field Hall of Fame juries. Gail and husband Tom are the parents of two sons: Blair and Kyle and one daughter, Lea.