Gardner and Carr Were Pioneers, Planners … and Painters

Fern Gardner and Norma Carr didn’t exactly paint the town red. Well, at least not all of it. 

As women’s athletics began to grow at the University of Utah in the mid-1970s, the duo bought some brushes and paint and went to work on a new locker room for women’s intercollegiate athletics. 

The tight space, located in the East HPER building, had some small lockers in it from the room’s previous use as a sauna for male coaches. They were soon replaced with some larger football lockers that had seen better days.

Installation wasn’t enough, though.

Gardner and Carr, who served as both administrators and coaches at the time, had additional plans.

“We wanted it to look like a Ute locker room. So we painted the fronts and sides of the lockers red,” Carr recalled. “There were some spills, you know, where it went through the grill areas and would drip down on the inside. But, for the most part, the women athletes were excited—above and beyond—to have these full lockers that were painted red.”

Carr added that the transformation was pretty amazing, even if the room (configured to also house an equipment room, showers and restroom stalls) was shared by a majority of the women’s programs. It was quite crowded at times. Even so, it was a place to call home—an early headquarters for a growing program.

“We were pretty proud and we were happy, obviously, at the reaction of the athletes,” Carr said.

Since those days, the facilities have changed and student-athletes are being provided with more and more support, both on the field of play and in the areas of personal development. Nutritional programs, mental health guidance, and career development through programs like the Ute Academy are now available to them. 

Five years ago, Utes with Wings was formed by Utah Athletics as a way for supporters to provide funding directly to women’s programs for team building exercises and retreats, foreign and domestic travel, facility enhancement and overall program development. The program has been embraced by the community, with financial support coming from numerous donors, including America First Credit Union, which has donated $100,000 annually to Utes with Wings.

And to think it all may have started with a paint job by the bosses back in the day.

“We were excited,” Carr recalled. “We finally had big lockers and a place for the athletes, and that was such a big deal then. But it is awesome to see where things are going.”

utahutes.com article