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Hall of Fame

Tammy Gage Butler

  • Class
  • Induction
    1998
  • Sport(s)

Class of 1988
Sports: Lacrosse, Soccer, Basketball
Positions: Goalie (Lacrosse)
Jersey: #15 (Lacrosse)
Women’s Coach for Lacrosse & FieldHockey 

Athletic Accomplishments:

While Tammy was a three-sport athlete at St.Mary’s, she excelled in lacrosse as a goalie. As afirst-year, she quickly distinguished herself as “one of thebest goalies St. Mary’s College has had in threeyears.” She set the record of most saves in a single game (45versus Mary Washington), most saves in a single season (201), andbest save percentage in a single season (.653). She also set theschool record for most saves in a career (652) and best career savepercentage (.574). Tammy received the Athletic Director’saward and Female Athlete of the Year Award.

Coaching Accomplishments:

After graduation, she was an assistant women’slacrosse coach at St. Mary’s for two years (1989-1990) beforebecoming the head coach in 1991. Selected as the Capital AthleticConference (CAC) Women’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year in 1995,her overall record (1991-1995) was 29 wins/24 losses. Next, she wasthe assistant women’s lacrosse coach at Columbia University,a NCAA Division I school. She then moved to Hood College, aDivision III school, where she was an assistant coach for both thewomen’s lacrosse and field hockey teams. While at Hood, Tammyalso was the director of major gifts and gift planning. In 2009,she was hired as the first head coach of the new women’slacrosse pro­gram at Shepherd University, a Division II schoolin West Virginia. When interviewed about her new job, Tammy said,"I like to build from scratch because you can truly put your nameon it and truly wrap it around the mission of the university." Hergoal is for her team “To be truly competitive with DivisionII national programs within three years.”

Most Memorable Sports Experience at St.Mary’s:

“As a player, it was a lacrosse game my junioryear and we were playing against ranked Mary Washington. That day Iwas in a zone and, along with the defense, we got them sofrustrated they were throwing their sticks after saves. We lost butit was quite an achieve­ment to have them thatfrustrated.”

“As a lacrosse coach at St. Mary’s, ithas to be our win over Salisbury. They were headed to the NCAAtournament with a win against us. We spoiled their plans and I gota cooler of water over my head. It was such a dynamic and amazingteam. They played so hard and with such heart that day; I was soproud of them.”

Thoughts on St. Mary’sCollege:

“Being an athlete at St. Mary’s has been thefoundation of my success as a professional, parent and coach. Ideveloped my leadership skills, ability to overcome challenges andpassion for life-long fitness. Also, I met my husband whilecoaching at St. Mary’s; he was the women’s basketballcoach at SMC.”

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