Margery McCormick, member of a pioneer Napa Valley family, graduated from Napa High School in 1928. She went on to Sacramento Junior College and the University of California in Berkeley. At all three schools, McCormick was active in whatever sports were available to the female students in that era. After graduating from Berkeley and getting her teaching credential, McCormick returned to Napa High as a physical education teacher and eventual department chairman. It is particularly fitting that McCormick was inducted into the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in the same year in which the HOF honored the first female coach (Barbara Franco) and three of the most outstanding female athletes to graduate from Napa High School (Darlene Ah-Mau, Amy Atkinson and Tracey Emberley). In McCormick’s day, there were no women’s teams that competed against other schools, and nearly all of the physical education budget went toward the men’s programs. She developed programs within the Girls Athletic Association which taught her female students the value of sports as a learning tool and the joy of athletic competition. McCormick’s nomination to the Hall of Fame was endorsed by 13 of her former students, all of whom graduated between 1938 and 1941, and by Dr. Harry McPherson, the principal during much of McCormick’s tenure at Napa High. McCormick was a pioneer in, and early advocate for, women’s sports. The Special Category of the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame is reserved for people who made a contribution to the success of athletics and the athletic programs at Napa High. McCormick made such a contribution before women athletes were recognized beyond the G.A.A. McCormick helped pave the way for the female athletes of today.
