Linda Detra spent 43 years as an administrator, coach, and professor in Glenside. She arrived at Arcadia in the fall of 1971 as an assistant professor of Health and Physical Education and head field hockey coach, was named department head the following year, and four years later was named Beaver College’s first athletic director after restructuring by the institution moved Athletics away from the physical education program.
Detra oversaw the development of the modern athletic department Arcadia has today. The department grew from five women’s sports (basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, riding, tennis) upon Detra’s arrival to add baseball, men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming, and women’s volleyball by the time she stepped down as athletic director following the 1992-93 academic year to return to coaching.
Under Detra’s guidance, Beaver College was a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (PAIAW) and Keystone Athletic Conference while affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). She led the program’s transition to NCAA Division III membership as a founding member of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) in 1993, which coincided with the opening of the Kuch Recreation and Athletic Center and Lenox Pool that same year. During Detra’s time as athletic director, the University captured 14 PAIAW titles, seven NAIA District championships, and six Keystone titles. Â
In 21 seasons as head softball coach, Detra compiled a 445-306-1 (.598) record, including 14 winning seasons. She is the school’s all-time leader in wins and finished her career ranked 54th among NCAA Division III coaches in victories. The Knights made 13 conference tournament appearances, with three appearances in the conference championship round (1997, 2005, 2011), and made their first ECAC tournament appearance in her final season in 2014. Arcadia had an individual NCAA statistic champion eight times and ended the season leading a NCAA team statistical category five times.
Arcadia won a school-record 34 games in 2006, which was the second of three consecutive 30-win seasons. The Knights captured the 2007 PAC regular-season title with a league record of 20-2, marking the program record for conference wins in a season.
Detra coached the program’s only National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, fellow Arcadia Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Maggie Shaeffer ’05 and Laura Fencik ’07; Shaeffer was the first female All-American in any sport following the transition to NCAA Division III status, while Fencik was the school’s first female two-time All-American. Detra was named PAC Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2007 and produced 86 All-Conference selections, among them were the 2007 PAC Player of the Year, the 2002 and 2004 PAC Rookie of the Year recipients, and 11 NFCA All-Region honorees.
Detra earned a bachelor’s in health and physical education from Lock Haven University, and later earned her master’s in health and physical education from the University of Florida. During the years between degrees she was a teacher and coached softball and swimming at Bristol Township High School, where in four softball seasons she won three conference titles and was named Coach of the Year three times by the
Bucks County Courier Times.
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