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Jan. 4, 2008

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - Paula Smith, former Women's Golf Coach at the University of Illinois, has been named as the 2008 Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award Recipient, the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) most prestigious honor.

Smith and Beans Kelly, former Women's Golf Coach at the University of Georgia and 2007 Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award Recipient, will be formally recognized at the NGCA Hall of Fame Banquet which will take place on Sunday evening, January 13, 2008 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana.

A 1997 inductee into the National Golf Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame, Paula Smith coached 28 seasons at the University of Illinois. Smith's coaching career with the Illini has spanned the entire duration of Illinois' participation in Big Ten and NCAA competition, as well as the final six seasons of play under the auspices of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Playing in the competitive Big Ten Conference, Smith's teams have achieved success, on and off the golf course.

In 2002, Smith guided Illinois to fifth place in the Big Ten and to a berth in the NCAA Central Regional, the first-ever postseason appearance for the Fighting Illini as a team. The next year, Smith led the Illini to a very successful season. Illinois won three tournaments during the course of the year and advanced to NCAA Regionals for the second consecutive season, finishing 10th at the West Regional and missing a trip to nationals by just two spots. Starting with the 1993-1994 team, Smith's teams had the highest combined grade point average among Illinois female varsity sports teams on eight occasions, including five successive years from 1999 to 2004.

Illinois golf has had numerous Academic All-Big Ten selections, George Huff Award winners, National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar selections and Chi Alpha Sigma honorees during Smith's tenure. At Illinois, Smith has coached such standouts as 1983 Big Ten Medal of Honor winner Mary Ellen Murphy Martin; two-time All- Big Ten performer Justine Rae Miller; All-Big Ten selection and former LPGA Tour member Lia Biehl Lukkarinen; three time All-American, two time Big Ten champion and former LPGA Tour member Renee Heiken Slone; Becky Biehl Sabbert, the only player to win the Big Ten title as a freshman and the only UI female golfer to earn All-Big Ten honors four times; and 2002 Futures Tour member Karen Karmazin Brunt.

As a competitor, Smith won back-to-back Illinois Women's Amateur Championship titles in 1971 and 1972. Her championship experience dates back to 1963 and 1964, when she won successive St. Louis-area junior girls championships. Smith won the Tri-State (Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky) Invitational in 1967, the Lake of the Woods Open in 1968 and 1969, the Southern Illinois Women's Golf Association Championship in 1969 and the Northern Illinois Women's Golf Association Tournament of Champions in 1976. She was the amateur runner- up in the 1970 St. Louis Open at Norwood Hills C.C., the amateur medalist in the 1971 LPGA Columbus Open held in Columbus, Ohio, and qualified for several U.S. Amateur Championships and the 1975 U.S. Open held at LaGrange (Ill.) Country Club.

A graduate of Southern Illinois University in 1968, Smith competed for four years on the Saluki golf team. She participated in the national championships in each of her four seasons and was selected to give the senior farewell speech at the National Championship Awards Banquet.

The Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award is given in recognition of outstanding service above and beyond the call of duty. Outstanding service may take the form of years of unselfish involvement in promoting golf at any level, or highly significant service of far-reaching proportions. Gladys Palmer's contributions to women's collegiate golf were highly significant. As Chair of the women's division of Physical Education at The Ohio State University, she organized the first women's golf championship in June 1941.

About the National Golf Coaches Association
The National Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women's collegiate golf coaches. The NGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the NGCA represents over 450 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.