Pebworth came to Wabash in 1984 after 14 years as the swimming coach of the highly succesful Sugar Creek Swim Club in Crawfordsville. She leaves the College with an overall record of 775-112, including a 131-20 dual meet record, ranking her among the elite coaches in Wabash and NCAA Division III history. Her Little Giant teams recorded eight undefeated seasons, 13 Liberal Arts Invitational Championships, five Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, and a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. Her teams have competed in the North Coast Athletic Conference the past three seasons, earning third-place finishes in the toughest swimming conference in the nation.
Pebworth is a seven-time winner of the Wabash “Coach of the Year Award” and received the Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men’s “Spirit of the Monon Bell Award” in 1998. In 2000 she became the first female inducted into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame. She was honored as one of Indiana’s “Trailblazing Women” in 1999.
Pebworth’s athletes have performed in the pool and in the classroom. Pebworth has seen 48 of her charges earn All-American honors at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships and led her teams to eighth-place finishes in 1991 and 1993. Four Wabash swimmers have gone on to earn NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, and two have been Rhodes Scholar finalists. Pebworth’s teams have been named to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Academic Team for 23 consecutive semesters. Twenty-one of her athletes have been named to the CSCAA All-Academic Team.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to be associated with such an excellent institution of teaching and learning,” said Pebworth. “I am so appreciative to the Wabash administration for affording me this opportunity. It has been a pleasure working with outstanding colleagues in the athletic department, in addition to the faculty and staff as a whole. I am grateful to Max Servies ’58, former Wabash athletics director, who took a bold step by hiring a middle-aged women to be a head coach at Wabash, and for the support he always provided. More importantly, I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of Wabash swimmers and divers over the years who have gone on to be successful in life.”
Pebworth has served as assistant director of athletics at Wabash since 1991. She was a member of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Rules Committee from 1995-99, and was selected to serve on the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship Committee. Pebworth was the chairperson of the CSCAA All-Academic Comittee for four years. She was named the Indiana Swimming Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1987. Pebworth received the Certificate of Excellence from the American Swimming Coaches Association in 1989.
Pebworth has been active in many community activities in Montgomery County, including the League of Women Voters and the Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church. She served six years as a member of the Crawfordsville Board of Public Works and Safety.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Gail Pebworth for the four years that I’ve been here,” said Vernon Mummert, Wabash Director of Athletics. “She has been the consummate professional as a coach, as an administrator. More importantly she has been a joy to work with on a personal basis. She has been exceedingly valuable to this department and will most certainly be missed. I wish her all the best in her retirement.”
“Everything is in place for the next chapter in Wabash College swimming and diving,” said Pebworth. “There is a tremendous and wonderful tradition of aquatic success here at Wabash that blends so well with the overall athletics tradition of the College. With the returning team of swimmers from the 2001-2002 team, along with the potential of one of the finest recruiting classes joining them next season, I truly believe that the best of Wabash swimming is yet to come.”
Pebworth and her husband, Robert, are the parents of two grown children, Carl and Marjorie, and have two grandchildren.