Smith College Athletics

Jackie Blei enters the 2019 Hall of Fame holding the highest winning percentage for any field hockey coach in Smith history. Blei coached field hockey from 1980-1986 where she solidified a record of 60-46-9, obtaining a .561 winning percentage. Her notable record correlates with the success of her teams as she led the Pioneers to their first Northeast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NIAC) Championship in 1983 and their first bid to the NCAA tournament where they advanced to the second round. Blei also coached two-time All-American, Paola Prins ’86, who led the team to a second place finish in the 1984 ECAC Tournament. Blei also served as the head lacrosse coach from 1980-1986. In 2015, she took over the reins as the interim lacrosse coach because of all she could bring to the program - passion, a winning attitude, and years of experience and success as a head coach. In addition to her coaching career at Smith, Blei was an instructor in the Exercise and Sport Studies (ESS) Department, where she established a fencing program and taught tennis, squash and badminton. She also supervised graduate students and coordinated the ESS Graduate Student Coaching Practicum, while mentoring well over 100 graduate students. Her 1983 field hockey team was inducted into the Smith Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2017. Blei is still a member of the Smith community as she continues to work as a mentor in the ESS Department.