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Olana “Tick” Hedrick-Sheaffer
In the fall of 2003, when retired women’s volleyball coach Olana “Tick” Hedrick-Sheaffer learned that Penn State Altoona was planning a Homecoming celebration for the first time in more than 20 years, she immediately began organizing a social for her former players and their families. She created and mailed dozens of personalized invitations and secured food and beverages, all at her own expense.
Hedrick-Sheaffer neither expected nor requested compensation. That’s just the type of person she is. So when she created an endowed enhancement fund to benefit women’s athletics at Penn State Altoona, with women’s volleyball as a first priority, the act of benevolence surprised no one who knows her.
Hedrick-Sheaffer explained that the enhancement fund in her name represents appreciation for nearly three decades of positive experiences at Ivyside Park and an effort to ensure that the needs of Penn State Altoona’s women’s sports programs are addressed in perpetuity.
“I’ve spent a lot of good years here,” commented Hedrick-Sheaffer. “Penn State Altoona has been good to me. I just want to show my appreciation.”
Hedrick-Sheaffer said she selected the endowed enhancement fund as her gift to the College because it will provide discretionary funds on an annual basis to be used for unbudgeted expenditures. These funds can be used to purchase court shoes and practice apparel for members of the volleyball team, items that always have been out-of-pocket expenses for the players.
Hedrick-Sheaffer’s coaching career began in 1973 when Penn State Altoona athletic teams competed at the junior college level. Through her final season at the helm in 2002, her teams captured eight State Junior College Championships, 13 Commonwealth Campus titles and eight Western Pennsylvania Conference titles. In five seasons of competition at the Division III level under Hedrick-Sheaffer, Penn State Altoona won 52 percent of its matches against opponents with rosters laden with considerably more experienced juniors and seniors. Hedrick-Sheaffer was selected Coach of the Year eleven times, earned 497 victories and posted a .748 winning percentage.
Hedrick-Sheaffer continues to serve on the Penn State Altoona faculty as an instructor in Kinesiology and faithfully supports the volleyball team from the stands at home matches.
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