Texas Woman's University Athletics

Donna Terry arrived at TWU in the fall of 1977 to do her master's work and agreed to take the helm of the Pioneer softball program from Jo Kuhn. Terry also played for the Connecticut Falcons of the Women's Professional Softball Association. She was part of the pitching rotation with the renowned Joan Joyce. In the summer of 1978, the Falcons won their third straight world championship. Terry was voted MVP of the league with a 15-2 pitching record and .374 batting average. She also led the league in home runs.

In four seasons as TWU's head coach, Terry compiled an incredible 240-47 (.836) record. Her teams won three state and two Southwest Region titles, and her student-athletes won every conceivable accolade, from All-Conference to All-American recognition, and the Broderick Award. But it was her opportunity to play overseas that kept her from witnessing her team's greatest achievement - winning the 1979 AIAW/ASA Women's College World Series. She played in a series of exhibition games with the Falcons, the first U.S. softball team to tour China, while the Pioneers came from behind to win back-to-back games against UCLA and claim the national title. That year, Terry was named MVP of the International Women's Professional Softball League. She also competed for the Puerto Rican National team in the Central American Games and the Pan American Games in 1979.

When TWU softball was dropped in 1981, Terry went to Puerto Rico to coach their national team. She then enjoyed a successful career at the University of California - Berkeley from 1983-87. While at Cal, Terry's teams compiled a 165-91-1 (.630) record, including two conference titles and a third place finish at the NCAA Championship, the highest ever in the history of the softball program. Terry was honored as the 1987 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year, and a number of Cal players earned All-Conference and All-Region honors under her tutelage. One of the few collegiate coaches to record over 400 career victories, she had a nine-year career mark of 405-144-1 (.737).

Terry passed away June 27, 1988, in Little Rock, Ark., from complications due to hepatitis. Her father, Francis Terry, and sister, Wren Kennedy, were present for her posthumous induction.

In Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, there is a softball stadium named for Donna Terry.