Stephen F. Austin State University

The women’s basketball office suite in William R. Johnson Coliseum will be named the Sue Gunter Basketball Office Suite in honor of a former Stephen F. Austin State University coach.

Gunter, who died in August 2005, enjoyed historic careers both at SFA and Louisiana State University. She coached at SFA for 16 years, with a 266-87 record. As SFA women’s head basketball coach from 1965 to 1980, she brought national recognition to the university as a pioneer of women’s college basketball. During Gunter’s tenure, SFA held four top-10 national rankings, included No. 5 rankings in 1979 and 1980.

While at SFA, Gunter coached four sports, including softball, tennis and track, and her basketball teams went to five Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women playoffs and won four state titles and a regional crown.

After 16 seasons at SFA, Gunter was named director of women’s athletics and served in that position two years before returning to the coaching ranks at LSU.

Gunter coached at LSU for 22 years. Her overall record in her 40-year career was 708-308, making her the third most winning head coach in National Collegiate Athletic Association history.

A native of Walnut Grove, Miss., Gunter earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Peabody College. She played from 1958 until 1962 for the Nashville Business College and helped lead the team to two Association of American Universities national championships. She earned All-America honors in 1960 and, from 1960 until1962, was a member of the U.S. National Team, which competed against the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

Women’s basketball was included as an Olympic sport for the first time in the 1976 games, and Gunter was the assistant coach of the U.S. team, which received a silver-medal. She was to serve as head coach of the Olympic team in 1980, but those games were boycotted by the U.S. due to the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. She coached the U.S. National team three times. Gunter was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and was Louisiana Coach of the year in 1997, 2002 and 2003.

A formal dedication of the women’s basketball office suite at SFA will be held during the 2007-2008 season to honor Gunter for her accomplishments.