Wayne State University Athletics

Stanicek served as Wayne State's head women's tennis coach for 15 seasons, including the team's first eight varsity seasons after the university elevated all of its women's athletic programs to intercollegiate status in the early 1970's. She was also a member of Wayne State's Department of Physical Education instructional staff for over two decades, teaching numerous physical and health education courses. The tennis team's first varsity season was spring 1972. The 1972 and 1973 teams did not win a match, and the 1974 team won only two of six matches played, but Stanicek was preparing her team for its eventual entry into the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). In the squad's last season as an independent, spring 1975, the Tartars finished 7-2 overall, with victories over NCAA Division I schools Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, and Michigan State. In the fall of 1975, the Tartars entered the GLIAC. Then as now, the GLIAC sponsors women's tennis during the fall, while the regular woman's tennis season in college is the spring of each year. The fall 1975 team won the first of four straight GLIAC titles under Stanicek's direction, and also began a string of undefeated GLIAC matches which stretched to 40 by the end of the 1978 season. After Stanicek passed away on Oct. 6, 1978, Wayne continued the unbeaten streak in GLIAC matches until it reached 55 in 1980. During this four-year stretch the Tartars went 49-6-1 overall for a 88.4 winning percentage. After her death in 1978, the Tartars would go on to win three more GLIAC titles in 1979, 1981, and 1982. Only Ferris state has won more GLIAC women's tennis titles than Wayne State, 14 to the Tartars' seven. Stanicek is being inducted posthumously into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame.