NORMAL, Ill. – In recognition of her support of the Weisbecker Scholarship Fund and Illinois State Athletics, Dr. Marian Kneer has been named the recipient of the 2016 Joseph F. Warner Golden Redbird Award.
The Joseph F. Warner Golden Redbird Award is the highest honor bestowed to a donor by the Illinois State Athletics Department and recognizes individuals for dedication and loyal support of the Weisbecker Scholarship Fund and Illinois State Athletics through exemplary service, leadership, and financial support. It was renamed in 2003 after the death of Joe, a WSF and Twin Cities leader, who perished in a plane crash.
"We're so excited to recognize Marian Kneer with the 2016 Joseph F. Warner Golden Redbird Award," Illinois State Assistant Athletics Director for Development Matt Lyons said. "Marian's loyal and generous support of Illinois State Athletics is inspiring, and her passion and enthusiasm to specifically help the Redbird softball program exemplify what this award represents. We are thrilled to be able to show our gratitude by honoring her in this way."
Dr. Kneer, a longtime supporter of Illinois State softball and the Illinois State Athletics Department, earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Illinois State. On July 25, 2008, the Redbird Softball Complex was renamed the Marian Kneer Softball Stadium following a generous donation by Dr. Kneer.
In the early 1970s, she pioneered the inclusion of women's sports in the Illinois High School Association, two years prior to the passage of the Title IX Education Amendment (1972). She was inducted into the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1976 and became a member of the Illinois State College of Education Hall of Fame in 2004.
Kneer is also a member of the Greater Peoria and National Association for Sport and Physical Education Halls of Fame, as well as the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame and the Illinois Coaches Association for Girls and Women Hall of Fame. She is the co-author of "Softball, Fast & Slow Pitch," a publication now in its sixth edition and part of the curricula in many softball classes since 1967.
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