National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
« back to 2007 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index
Gabel’s legacy is compassion
|
By Dan Stroud
Cynthia Gabel, assistant director of athletics for internal operations and senior woman administrator at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and former NCAA enforcement representative, died August 20 following a lengthy battle with cancer, and was buried August 24. She was 52. The following is republished with the permission of The University News, the student newspaper of the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
The UMKC athletics department’s offices were buzzing with anticipation of the 2007-08 campaign. Soccer, volleyball, and cross country began their seasons immediately, and softball’s abbreviated fall exhibition season was to get underway in mid-September. So much was new, fresh and vibrant about sports on campus. To borrow a hallowed phrase from what is arguably America’s pastime, baseball, “Hope springs eternal.”
Such energy was not so easily found this Friday, however. On what was a rather bleak and cloudy day, the hearts of staff and students alike were heavy as Cynthia Gabel, one of their own, and a vital part of UMKC’s entire Division I history, was laid to rest in Chillicothe, Missouri, after her 2½-year battle with cancer.
Athletics Director Tim Hall spoke wistfully of the school’s assistant athletics director, who was in charge of compliance.
“Words can’t describe what she meant to the department and to our student-athletes,” Hall said. “She had a maternal instinct and was really a stabilizing force in the department.”
Prior to her arrival on the UMKC campus, Gabel served 19 years as a member of the NCAA enforcement staff. She processed secondary rules infractions as well as conducting educational sessions for colleges across the country from 1990-99.
Hall mentioned that one colleague and a former supervisor of Gabel’s with the NCAA, Division I Vice President David Berst, flew in from Indianapolis to pay his respects.
“(Berst) said she was one of the finest professionals that he had ever worked with,” Hall said. “She made very long, deep and lasting friendships.”
Anyone who walks into the athletics offices must usually check in first with Kim Hairston, an administrative assistant for the athletics staff. Having worked with Gabel for six years, Hairston — fighting back her emotions and attempting to remain composed — somberly shared a few insights into her friend and colleague’s demeanor around the department.
“She was always smiling, and always exuded a great attitude, spirit, and an especially strong faith,” Hairston said. “She never wavered in that faith no matter what the circumstances might be.”
Hairston remembered fondly how much Gabel enjoyed encouraging the student-athletes. It didn’t seem that anyone was ever turned away.
“Students could go in and talk to her even if it wasn’t school-related,” added Hairston. “She was a good counselor. One thing (student-athletes) knew was they could always go to her.”
UMKC Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Rick Anderson, who worked closely with Gabel during the period of re-evaluation prior to Hall’s arrival, spoke of the “tremendous loss” to not only her family and to the athletics department but to the university as well.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with than Cynthia,” Anderson said. “I would see so many athletes going in and out of her office. That’s a rare thing, particularly for a compliance officer.”
“Compliance” in the Webster’s New World Dictionary means to give in to a request, wish, or demand. In the world of NCAA athletics, that is no small order. Perhaps the Internal Revenue Service has a more stringent collection of regulations, but one would be wise not to gamble on such a claim.
So many universities have suffered the shame and eventually the demise of being caught stretching, bending, even breaking these rules of perceived fair play. In the 1980s, one prominent institution of higher learning, Southern Methodist University, received NCAA’s dread-ridden “death penalty” for egregious violations found in its football program.
Gabel was a watchdog for universities that sought to do things the right way. She worked alongside her other colleagues in the then Kansas-based NCAA offices to make competition fair and honest for all who chose to participate. Her former boss, Berst, said she was good at what she did.
What was the NCAA’s loss in 1999 when the governing body moved to Indianapolis became UMKC’s gain. As UMKC moved along at the Division I level, someone who knew the score on a variety of levels was there to keep the university on solid footing.
But isn’t there something refreshing about the fact that the greatest legacy Gabel left on this campus is her seemingly undeniable compassion for the students and their livelihood? So often in sports, it’s all about who won the last game.
She posted no won-lost record during her tenure, but Gabel left an irrefutable mark on the lives of more people than most of us will ever know.
If one is still looking for more evidence to support this claim, a good place to start would have been inside the two-plus van loads of students and staff who made the trip to the United Methodist Church on Walnut Street in Chillicothe to offer one last goodbye to their friend and mentor.
Cynthia Gabel left this world, left this university even, for a better place. Though she’ll be missed, it’s time for those touched by her to pick up the baton she left behind and keep running the race that she aspired to in her lifetime.
Dan Stroud is sports editor of The University News.
The UMKC athletics department’s offices were buzzing with anticipation of the 2007-08 campaign. Soccer, volleyball, and cross country began their seasons immediately, and softball’s abbreviated fall exhibition season was to get underway in mid-September. So much was new, fresh and vibrant about sports on campus. To borrow a hallowed phrase from what is arguably America’s pastime, baseball, “Hope springs eternal.”
Such energy was not so easily found this Friday, however. On what was a rather bleak and cloudy day, the hearts of staff and students alike were heavy as Cynthia Gabel, one of their own, and a vital part of UMKC’s entire Division I history, was laid to rest in Chillicothe, Missouri, after her 2½-year battle with cancer.
Athletics Director Tim Hall spoke wistfully of the school’s assistant athletics director, who was in charge of compliance.
“Words can’t describe what she meant to the department and to our student-athletes,” Hall said. “She had a maternal instinct and was really a stabilizing force in the department.”
Prior to her arrival on the UMKC campus, Gabel served 19 years as a member of the NCAA enforcement staff. She processed secondary rules infractions as well as conducting educational sessions for colleges across the country from 1990-99.
Hall mentioned that one colleague and a former supervisor of Gabel’s with the NCAA, Division I Vice President David Berst, flew in from Indianapolis to pay his respects.
“(Berst) said she was one of the finest professionals that he had ever worked with,” Hall said. “She made very long, deep and lasting friendships.”
Anyone who walks into the athletics offices must usually check in first with Kim Hairston, an administrative assistant for the athletics staff. Having worked with Gabel for six years, Hairston — fighting back her emotions and attempting to remain composed — somberly shared a few insights into her friend and colleague’s demeanor around the department.
“She was always smiling, and always exuded a great attitude, spirit, and an especially strong faith,” Hairston said. “She never wavered in that faith no matter what the circumstances might be.”
Hairston remembered fondly how much Gabel enjoyed encouraging the student-athletes. It didn’t seem that anyone was ever turned away.
“Students could go in and talk to her even if it wasn’t school-related,” added Hairston. “She was a good counselor. One thing (student-athletes) knew was they could always go to her.”
UMKC Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Rick Anderson, who worked closely with Gabel during the period of re-evaluation prior to Hall’s arrival, spoke of the “tremendous loss” to not only her family and to the athletics department but to the university as well.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with than Cynthia,” Anderson said. “I would see so many athletes going in and out of her office. That’s a rare thing, particularly for a compliance officer.”
“Compliance” in the Webster’s New World Dictionary means to give in to a request, wish, or demand. In the world of NCAA athletics, that is no small order. Perhaps the Internal Revenue Service has a more stringent collection of regulations, but one would be wise not to gamble on such a claim.
So many universities have suffered the shame and eventually the demise of being caught stretching, bending, even breaking these rules of perceived fair play. In the 1980s, one prominent institution of higher learning, Southern Methodist University, received NCAA’s dread-ridden “death penalty” for egregious violations found in its football program.
Gabel was a watchdog for universities that sought to do things the right way. She worked alongside her other colleagues in the then Kansas-based NCAA offices to make competition fair and honest for all who chose to participate. Her former boss, Berst, said she was good at what she did.
What was the NCAA’s loss in 1999 when the governing body moved to Indianapolis became UMKC’s gain. As UMKC moved along at the Division I level, someone who knew the score on a variety of levels was there to keep the university on solid footing.
But isn’t there something refreshing about the fact that the greatest legacy Gabel left on this campus is her seemingly undeniable compassion for the students and their livelihood? So often in sports, it’s all about who won the last game.
She posted no won-lost record during her tenure, but Gabel left an irrefutable mark on the lives of more people than most of us will ever know.
If one is still looking for more evidence to support this claim, a good place to start would have been inside the two-plus van loads of students and staff who made the trip to the United Methodist Church on Walnut Street in Chillicothe to offer one last goodbye to their friend and mentor.
Cynthia Gabel left this world, left this university even, for a better place. Though she’ll be missed, it’s time for those touched by her to pick up the baton she left behind and keep running the race that she aspired to in her lifetime.
Dan Stroud is sports editor of The University News.
© 2010 The National Collegiate Athletic Association
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy