Virginia "Ginny" Hunt

Virginia "Ginny" Hunt became Montana State University's first women's athletics director in 1977. “In many ways Montana State’s women’s athletic department was miles ahead of its peers. That was because of the attentiveness and leadership of Ginny Hunt,” said Big Sky Commissioner and former MSU Men’s AD Doug Fullerton. Hunt arrived in Bozeman from the University of Michigan with a vision and a vast amount of ambition and enthusiasm necessary to build a program. MSU’s thriving women’s athletic programs will stand forever as testimony to Hunt’s success. At her first Lady Cat basketball game, Hunt was one of 250 fans. At her last game as MSU’s women’s AD, there were 5,000 people, and MSU won the program’s first Big Sky championship. For over a decade, Hunt was also involved in MSU’s Faculty Council and served as its first chairwoman. While working tirelessly to build the program, Hunt was a strong voice on the national level, serving as president-elect of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. In addition, Hunt was a representative to the USOC eligibility committee for the 1984 Olympiad. She was also honored by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators as one of its lifetime achievement award recipients.

Ginny Hunt was a role model of what a strong professional woman should be, in all aspects: professional, moral, ethical as well as competence.