Maggie Cushing Burke '75
Regina Dominican is proud to announce that on March 21, 2010, Maggie Cushing Burke ’75 was inducted into the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference (GCAC) Hall of Fame for basketball, volleyball, and softball.
"It is a tremendous accomplishment for Maggie to be recognized for three separate sports," said Bob Carlson, Athletic Director of Regina Dominican. "I am sure that she is particularly honored to be recognized by her peers in the GCAC."
Though participating in three sports at a college preparatory high school is daunting by any standard, Burke (whose daughter, Emily, graduated from Regina in 2009) maintains that athletics motivated her to do well in her classes. A self-described "average student" who worked hard for her grades, Burke feels fortunate to have had the support of her parents and teachers. "There were, and still appears to be, teachers at Regina who take an interest in you as a student and are very willing to do whatever it takes to help you do well in school," she states.
Burke, the only girl in the middle of three bothers, grew up playing sports. "I began playing basketball around the same time I could walk," she says. "In the neighborhood where I grew up, we were either playing softball on the corner with the sewers as the bases or we were playing hoops in someone’s driveway almost every day after school."
When asked if she has a favorite memory from her time at Regina, Burke says it’s difficult to pick just one, as she has many. However, graduating from high school without having lost a single basketball game her junior and senior year was, as she says, "a special one". She recalls going back to a teammate’s house to watch the news after channel 5 came to the basketball finals her senior year. "Back them, there was no DVR or Tivo," she says. "We saw it once and it just stuck in our heads. We signed each other’s gym shoes that night and I still have them."
In addition to being an athlete during her time at Regina, Burke also served as an Athletic Board member, vice-president of her senior class, and was a four-year choir member. She feels that her experience at Regina had a lasting impact on her. "While a student at Regina, I always felt I could achieve my goals with hard work and effort," she said. "My teachers and coaches were true mentors. I think high school can be a really difficult time in a young person’s life. I believe I had many teachers and friends at Regina who helped to make me the person I am today. Not everyone feels that in high school; I was one of the lucky ones."
After graduating from Regina, Burke attended the University of Dayton, where she participated in every intramural sport offered by the school. After college, Burke returned to her grade school, St. Mary of the Woods, where she coached basketball, volleyball and softball for four years. Burke took a break to have her three children, but returned to coaching in 1990 at St. Paul of the Cross, where she has served as Athletic Director since the mid-1990’s, a position from which she will retire at the end of this school year.
Burke says her experiences as a student at Regina have left a lasting impact on her. "I don’t recall ever feeling like I was not part of a team effort. We all wanted to be there and be a part of something. My teammates were my friends; we were each other’s biggest fans. That feeling is something I have always strived for in any team I have ever coached or played in since. . . I try to emphasize to my kids and those I have coached that enjoying the effort or the ride is so important. If you lose that, then you are not doing it for the right reasons."
Pictured: Maggie Cushing Burke '75 (right) with GCAC President, Darlene Graf