Former millikin women's basketball coach passes away

Crannell

Press release courtesy of Millikin Sports Information

DECATUR, Ill. -- Long-time Millikin University women’s basketball coach, administrator and women’s sports pioneer Harriett Crannell surrendered to her battle with Alzheimer’s Disease on Jan. 24. Crannell battled the disease for more than three years and celebrated her 74 th birthday on Jan. 13.

“Coach Crannell was the pioneer of modern-day women’s athletics at Millikin University,” said Head Women’s Basketball Coach Lori Kerans, one of Crannell’s former players. “She was a torch-bearer
of opportunities for girls and women in sport at the local, regional and national levels. I am eternally grateful for her unselfish contributions as an educator, coach and pioneer. While we will miss Coach Crannell's energy and passion for women’s athletics, what she achieved in her lifetime will forever live in everyone involved in girls and women’s sports.”

Crannell joined the Millikin University staff in 1967 as a professor of physical education and associate athletic director. She became the University’s first women’s basketball coach, launching the program during the 1970-71 academic year just as Title IX was beginning to take shape. In 16 seasons, Crannell compiled a record of 180-103 with nine of her teams making post-season appearances. Her teams earned considerable success including both NCAA and pre-NCAA appearances at the IAIAW College Division Tournament. Crannell was inducted in Millikin’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990 and was inducted into Millikin’s Medallion Society in 2001.

The highlight of Crannell’s coaching career came during the 1984-85 season when her team earned a third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament. That year’s finish, Millikin’s second-best in any team sport, relied heavily on the play of senior point guard Lori Kerans who would be entrusted to serve as head coach after Crannell’s retirement from coaching in 1986.

A pioneer in the women’s sports movement, Crannell served as a member of the NCAA Division III’s first Women’s Basketball National Committee. That group was instrumental in the decision to add a female to the NCAA National seal. Crannell served on the committee from 1980-86 and her 1981-82 Big Blue team earned one of 16 spots in the first-ever NCAA Championship for women’s basketball. Crannell’s involvement with ensuring equality for women’s sports didn’t stop at the NCAA level. From 1982-85 she served as the Division III Ad-Hoc member representative to the National Association of Girls’ and Women’s Sports committee, which mandated the smaller-sized basketball in February 1982. The smaller ball is still used by girls and women today.

Crannell earned multiple coaching honors including – College Coach of the Year by Illinois Sports Information Directors (1977-78), Converse District Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (1983-84) and All-American Coach by the American Women’s Sports Foundation (1983-84 and 1984-85).

For 10 years from 1967-77, Crannell served as the director of Millikin’s Dorothy McClure Memorial Tennis Tournament. The event, which started in 1917, is believed to be the longest-running collegiate tennis tournament for women. Crannell, who named the event, was also honored with a tournament named after her. The Annual Harriett Crannell Holiday Classic is held in December and celebrated its eighth year in 2007.

For her efforts in the community, Crannell was also honored by several community organizations. In 1988 she was awarded the YWCA’s Women of Excellence honor and in 1995 she was named the Decatur Athletic Council’s recipient of its Volunteer of the Year award. Throughout her life she served as a Decatur Athletic Council Board member from 1994-98 (serving as treasurer in 1997 and 1998). She volunteered at the Decatur Scovill Zoo from 1994-2005, was the Director of the ASA Major Women’s Fastpitch National Tournament in 1998 and was a member of the Easter Seals Planning Board for the first Softball Challenge event in 1999. In 1997, she also served as an active honorary member of Millikin’s Big Blue Club Advisory Board and was a member of the Decatur Softball Booster Club Board of Directors.

Crannell began her professional career as a physical education teacher in the Bloomington Public School system followed by nine years in the Decatur Public Schools (1958-67) before she came to Millikin. A native of New Berlin, Ill. Crannell was inducted in the New Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Chapel of Graceland/Fairlawn Funeral Home.