Alabama’s Sarah Patterson and Marie Robbins Honored as SEC Trailblazers Wednesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama's Sarah Patterson and Marie Robbins were honored as Southeastern Conference Trailblazers Wednesday at halftime of the Crimson Tide's first round game at the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, being played in Nashville, Tenn., this week.

The recognition of distinguished individuals from all 14 SEC member institutions comes in conjunction with the SEC's 50th anniversary of Title IX celebration. Known as SEC Trailblazers, this group has contributed to the advancement of women and the growth of women's athletics at their universities and within the Southeastern Conference.

Sarah Patterson

During her legendary 36-year career leading the Crimson Tide gymnastics program, Patterson became the first coach in SEC history, regardless of sport, to win NCAA Championships in four different decades, leading Alabama to six overall
Patterson, along with her husband and career-long assistant coach David, also led the Crimson Tide to eight SEC titles, an NCAA-record 29 regional championships and more than 1,000 wins
Individually, Patterson's gymnasts earned 25 individual NCAA titles, one Honda Cup, eight Honda Awards, 18 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, five NCAA Elite 89 Awards, 302 All-America honors and 201 Scholastic All-America honors
An Associate Athletics Director during her Alabama career, Patterson's Tide tenure included a stint as Senior Woman Administrator as well as several NCAA and SEC committees
In 2005, she created the Power of Pink initiative to raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer, which started with gymnastics before being adopted by all women's programs at Alabama

Marie Robbins

Both a student-athlete and administrator for the Crimson Tide, Robbins retired in December of 2019 as Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator
During her 25-year tenure in Tuscaloosa, the teams she oversaw won four NCAA team titles, 13 Southeastern Conference championships as well as 23 individual or relay NCAA titles and posted 37 top-10 national finishes
As a two-year captain of The University of Alabama gymnastics team, Robbins led the Crimson Tide to an SEC and NCAA title in 1988 as a sophomore and another SEC title in 1990 as a senior
She earned four All-America honors, an SEC all-around title, three SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades and an SEC Postgraduate Scholarship
She also worked in the SEC office, working with championships as an intern following law school, before moving into the compliance department, serving as Director of the NLI Program and Assistant SEC Commissioner for Compliance before returning to the Capstone in 1996

Each trailblazer will be honored on court this week during halftime of their school's first game of the tournament, with the full group being honored on semifinal Saturday.

The SEC will have a year-long celebration of the anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation enacted half a century ago that has had a dramatic and lasting impact on opportunities for women in collegiate athletics.

Under the banner of "50th Anniversary of Title IX: Creating Opportunities," the SEC's celebration will include recognitions at Conference championship events, commemoration of achievements through online and social media channels, commemorative memorabilia and a collaboration with the SEC Network highlighting the advancement of women's sports.

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