Jane Pease, 90, First Woman Inducted Into Cleveland State University Athletic Hall Of Fame

Jane Pease coached Cleveland State University’s first women's basketball and tennis teams, played in several national field hockey tournaments and in 1984 became the first woman inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

The 90-year-old Westlake resident, who died March 3, became the first woman to teach in Fenn College’s physical education department in 1944.

During that period, she also played field hockey in the Cleveland and Great Lakes Field Hockey associations for 20 years.

Pease remained with Fenn as it became part of the newly established Cleveland State University in 1965. She served as associate professor of health and physical education until retiring in 1982.

She became CSU's first women’s basketball coach in 1972.  Not long after that, she started the women’s varsity tennis program and became its first coach.

Pease also officiated men’s and women’s athletic events from intramural to intercollegiate.

She was born in Cleveland and grew up in what is now Westlake.

Pease excelled in basketball, soccer and track at the former Dover High School, which later became . She was inducted into the Dover Westlake Alumni Association Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.

After graduating in 1938, she enrolled in a 5-year program at Lake Erie College in Painesville. She majored in physical education and set the American Collegiate track record for the 60-yard low hurdles before graduating in 1943.

Pease taught for a year in Crestline, OH, before joining the faculty at Fenn College.

Calling hours are 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Monday, March 7, at , 2914 Dover Center Road.

Services will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 8, at , 2239 Dover Center Rd, Westlake, OH 44145, where Pease had been a member of the handbell group.

Donations may be made to the church or to Cleveland State Athletic Department, 2121 Euclid Ave., KB 300, Cleveland, OH 44115.