Women’s History Month, Jean Mader (’86)

OSHKOSH, Wis.- This Women's History Month, UW-Oshkosh Athletics is proud to honor our female Hall of Famers in a series of eight stories throughout March. This campaign creates the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our female alumna. Our first story will look at what Hall of Fame class of 1986 member Jean Mader did with the Titans and her life after Oshkosh.

Jean Mader ('86), a Menasha native, came to UW-Oshkosh in 1972 to study physical education after graduating from Kimberly High School. She was a star athlete on the Papermakers' volleyball, basketball and track teams with the basketball program posting a 27-1 record in the three years she was on the squad. While at Oshkosh, she earned twelve total varsity letters, four each in volleyball, basketball, and softball. She also led the women's basketball team in scoring all four years and became the founding member of the 1,000-point club.

The Titans played in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Midwest Regional Basketball Tournament all four years Mader was with the team.

In the 1974 volleyball season, Mader helped the Titans to an 11-5 record, including a seven-match winning streak to open the season. The team competed in a tournament at Wisconsin, defeating all three teams they faced, including the Badgers. Mader finished the 1974-75 basketball season with a team-leading 280 points, averaging 16.6 points across 17 games. She also recorded 183 rebounds. Oshkosh finished with a 14-3 (12-1 WWIAC) record. After dropping the season opener to UW-Stevens Point 60-55, the Titans went undefeated the rest of the regular season and won the first round of the conference tournament for a 13-game winning streak.

In her senior year, Mader led the basketball squad to a 14-2 (8-0 WWIAC) record including a conference tournament title game win over UW-Whitewater after losing to UW-La Crosse in each of the previous three years. On January 17 at Northern Illinois University, Mader recorded a career-high 32 points, shooting 16-of-32 from the field. She finished the year leading the Titans with 332 points, averaging 22.3 points per game. She earned All-WWIAC First Team honors in both volleyball and basketball that season.

At the end of her career, Mader was the basketball team's all-time scoring leader with 1,124 points. She also recorded 639 rebounds and led Oshkosh to a record of 48-14.

After she graduated from UW-Oshkosh with a degree in Physical Education and a Health minor, Mader coached the Oshkosh North High School girl's track team to conference and sectional championships in 1976 before moving to Merrill High School to teach and coach the varsity girls' basketball team for the 1976-77 year. While at Merrill, the team won the regional crown. After the year concluded she moved back to the Fox Valley for a position at Menasha High School, where she stayed from 1977 to 1985. Mader coached girls' volleyball and track. The volleyball team was regional champions in 1983. On top of the various positions she held between 1976 and 1983, Mader played amateur basketball for Snitz Manufacturing. While with the team, she earned All-State honors five times and All-America honors twice. When she left in 1983, she was the all-time leading scorer, averaging 21.0 points per game. She represented the United States internationally when she travelled to Brazil for a tournament in 1979 and was invited to try out for the Olympic squad three times, making it to the final round of cuts in 1976. She departed from Menasha in 1985 to accept the associate athletic director position at UW-Platteville, also coaching the Pioneers' women's basketball and softball programs. The basketball program held a record of 88-74 with her at the helm including the 1989 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) District 14 title. In 1995, she left Platteville, moving back to Oshkosh, and accepting head coaching duties for the girls' volleyball and basketball programs at Oshkosh North High School. She also taught health at North. In 1997, she was inducted into Kimberly High School's Hall of Fame with five other Papermakers.

Stay tuned to uwoshkoshtitans.com and our social media accounts for the next story on our Hall of Famers. Next week, we will be highlighting Sylvia Ferdon ('02).