Marilyn Florian-award

Marilyn Pearson Florian to receive MGWSD award

MINNESOTA GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY PAGE

MINNEAPOLIS -- Augsburg College Assistant Athletic Director Marilyn Pearson Florian '76 will receive a Special Merit Award from the Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership during the 27th annual Minnesota Girls and Women in Sports Day on Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 12 p.m. at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.

Pearson Florian is receiving one of four Special Merit Awards given during Wednesday's event, joining a group of Minnesota's inspiring and influential athletic leaders. A total of 20 individuals will receive awards in five categories during the ceremony. The event is free and open to the public.

A 1976 Augsburg alumnae and 1997 inductee into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame, Pearson Florian has served as a member of the Augsburg athletic department since 1980 as a teacher, coach and administrator. She served as head coach for Augsburg's volleyball team from 1981-98, claiming a school-record 271 victories in her career. Her Auggies reached the NCAA Division III national playoffs in 1982 and finished as Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference runners-up twice. She also served as Augsburg's women's basketball head coach from 1980-85, compiling a school-record 54 victories in five seasons.

As an administrator, Pearson Florian served as Augsburg's women's athletic director from 1988 to 2007, and as assistant athletic director since 2007. She also serves as the department's Senior Woman Administrator. An assistant professor in the Augsburg health and physical education department, she served as the department chair from 1999 to 2008.

During her tenure as an athletic administrator at Augsburg, the school has added five women's sports (golf, cross country, ice hockey, swimming and diving, and lacrosse) and has steadily increased the number of opportunities for Auggie female student-athletes. She initiated the induction of women athletes into Augsburg's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988, and created an athletic lettering program for female student-athletes in 1989.

Pearson Florian has been a member of the athletic department staff during two historic women's sport additions at Augsburg; in 1995, when the school became the first college or university in the Midwest to add women's ice hockey as a varsity sport, and in 2012, when Augsburg announced that it would be the first college or university in Minnesota to add women's lacrosse as a varsity sport.

Pearson Florian is regarded as one of the top female student-athletes to ever compete at Augsburg, as a three-sport star (volleyball, basketball and softball) during her Auggie career. She helped lead the Auggie volleyball team to a 52-25 record her last two seasons, reaching the AIAW regional semifinals in 1975. During Augsburg's 40th Anniversary of Women's Athletics celebration in November, she was named to the 10-member 1970s All-Decade Team.

Outside of Augsburg, Pearson Florian has served on the board of the Minnesota Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and has lobbied at the State Capitol for increased time requirements for health and physical education in the public schools.
Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories