Jean Yale (Honorary Inductee)
For 22 years, Jean Yale served as Northwestern’s donor relations and special events coordinator, becoming the face for the Wildcats Department of Athletics and Recreation at the more than 40 NU-sponsored functions she organized each season prior to her retirement in 2014. The relationships she built with student-athletes, their families and Northwestern’s donors made her part of the very fabric of the Department.
A 1957 Northwestern graduate with a degree in education, Yale taught school in Winnetka and continued to cheer on the Wildcats as her oldest son, John, played linebacker for Northwestern’s football team in the 1980s. In 1992, with her four children grown and seeking part-time employment, it was John who suggested that Yale explore an opportunity to work for her alma mater. That suggestion spawned a Hall of Fame career that has touched thousands of Wildcats.
Yale has been a fixture in the Ryan Field Stadium Club for parts of three decades, has been present at every bowl game Northwestern has played during her tenure and often wears a special pendant commemorating NU’s 2013 Gator Bowl victory—a gift from Pat Fitzgerald and the football program—around her neck.
Yale has been honored before and after her retirement with the Northwestern N Club’s Honorary N, the NGN Service Award (twice) and was the football team’s honorary captain for a game in 2014.
A 1957 Northwestern graduate with a degree in education, Yale taught school in Winnetka and continued to cheer on the Wildcats as her oldest son, John, played linebacker for Northwestern’s football team in the 1980s. In 1992, with her four children grown and seeking part-time employment, it was John who suggested that Yale explore an opportunity to work for her alma mater. That suggestion spawned a Hall of Fame career that has touched thousands of Wildcats.
Yale has been a fixture in the Ryan Field Stadium Club for parts of three decades, has been present at every bowl game Northwestern has played during her tenure and often wears a special pendant commemorating NU’s 2013 Gator Bowl victory—a gift from Pat Fitzgerald and the football program—around her neck.
Yale has been honored before and after her retirement with the Northwestern N Club’s Honorary N, the NGN Service Award (twice) and was the football team’s honorary captain for a game in 2014.
