NAME: Joyce Fromson
UNIVERSITY: Manitoba
CATEGORY: Builder
YEARS ACTIVE: 1966 - 1995
HIGHLIGHTS:
Served four years as Winnipeg Director of Women’s Sport
SID at the University of Calgary
Served over 15 years as Manitoba’s Director of Sport
Received the Canadian 125th Anniversary Governor General’s Award for Contribution to Canada
BIOGRAPHY:
Winnipeg native Joyce Fromson served as director of men’s and women’s sport at the University of Manitoba from 1979 to 1995, highlighting a career of influence on sport in her home province.
Fromson graduated from the Manitoba Teachers College in 1958. She taught high school physical education and art, while coaching volleyball, basketball and track at Transcona Collegiate in Winnipeg.
Fromson then served as director of women’s athletics at the University of Winnipeg from 1966 to 1970. In 1972 she moved on to the University of Calgary, where she became the first woman in North America to hired as a sports information director.
In 1978, Fromson returned to Manitoba, becoming the first executive director for Volleyball Manitoba. After a year, she was hired by the University of Manitoba, beginning her lengthy tenure as the school’s director of sport.
Fromson was appointed to the National Advisory Committee for Sports and Fitness in 1984.
In 1987, she was the inaugural recipient of the Dave Anderson Award, which recognizes outstanding service to the University of Winnipeg. In 1992, she received the Canadian 125th Anniversary Governor General’s Award for Contribution to Canada, recognizing her efforts in sport.
Fromson passed away in 2001. In 2002, the swimming pool in the University of Manitoba’s Frank Kennedy Centre was named the Joyce Fromson Pool.