Donna DeMarino Sanft (2020) - Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame

Donna DeMarino Sanft

Induction:
2020
Class:
1974

Sanft made an indelible impact at Pitt, first as a gymnastics student-athlete, then as the program’s head coach, and later as a longtime athletics administrator. As a Pitt gymnast (1970-74), Sanft was a three-time Most Valuable Performer and three-time captain. She was selected Pitt’s 1974 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year (now the Blue-Gold Award), a year prior to women’s recipients joining their male counterparts in having their names inscribed on the famed Varsity Walk. In 1974, women’s gymnastics was launched as an intercollegiate sport at Pitt under the direction of the athletic department. Reflective of her impact as a student-athlete, Sanft was hired as the first women’s varsity gymnastics coach in Pitt history at the age of 22. Leading that program for the next 12 years (1974-86), Sanft posted an 86-57-1 record and was twice selected as Eastern Collegiate Coach of the Year. She directed the Panthers to a Top 10 national ranking in 1979 and Top 20 rankings in 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1986. Sanft also coached Pitt's only NCAA champion in women's gymnastics, Lisa Shirk (1982). Sanft then went on to a highly impactful and wide-ranging career as an administrator for Pitt Athletics from 1986-2014.