Focus on contributing to team success paid off in two venues for Camie Loudenbeck ’83, who helped lead North Central College to the national level in the earliest days of NCAA-sanctioned competition for women’s sports.
Initially attracted to the College by the opportunity to continue following multiple athletic pursuits, Loudenbeck was part of teams which won 90 games in softball and 97 in basketball, including the 1983 Division III National Championship.
“I remember hearing about (North Central) from my church,” Loudenbeck said. “There was a meeting in Rockford that my parents and I attended, and then I took a trip to the College, so it was a gradual thing. I knew I wanted to play college sports, and the opportunity to play multiple sports was important to me.”
As a junior, Loudenbeck became the third Cardinal women’s basketball player to top the 1,000-point mark after teammates Brenda Sanders ’83 and Kim Wallner ’84 as North Central posted a still-standing school record of 29 wins and made the quarterfinals of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division III national tournament.
“I was a role player, and my role was weakside rebounding,” Loudenbeck recounted of how the bulk of her scoring opportunities came about. “We knew after that season that we had a chance to really be successful because we had a good inside and outside game.”
The following season, the Cardinals went 26-6 and lost only one game to Division III opposition all year. In the first Division III national championship tournament sponsored by the NCAA, North Central hosted Central College in the regional championship and Loudenbeck stepped forward to lead the way to an 82-79 victory, scoring 32 points (just four shy of the program’s single-game record at the time) on 11 of 15 shooting from the floor and 10 of 11 accuracy at the free-throw line.
“That game was something I won’t forget,” Loudenbeck said. “I remember (head coach) Wayne Morgan saying before the game, ‘if we don’t win, we’re done.’ I was a senior and hadn’t even thought about being done, and that was not okay with me.”
After the Cardinals’ championship victory, Loudenbeck also helped lead the Cardinals to a fourth-place finish in the NCAA Tournament in softball. She remains the fourth-leading scorer in the history of the women’s basketball program with 1,541 points while ranking second in rebounds (964) and third in free throws made (343).
The relationships forged in the fires of competition, however, comprise the most vivid memories and lasting impressions of collegiate sport.
“There were times in practice when it would get heated, just because people cared about winning, but it didn’t last,” she said. “We all hung out together in our off time as well, and those relationships are still really special.”
