Foxcroft School celebrated its athletic tradition with a contrast of old and new Saturday, March 1 when five women were inducted into the School's brand new Sports Hall of Fame at one of its oldest annual events. Head of School Mary Louise Leipheimer presented Jane Forbes Clark, a 1973 Foxcroft School graduate and one of the most influential women in sports today, and Juliet Graham, a 1972 grad and Olympic equestrian, with engraved plaques during halftime of "Fox/Hound Big Game," a basketball game that dates back to Foxcroft's first year a century ago. Nina Fout, an Olympic bronze medalist and 1977 alumna, and pioneers Charlotte Haxal Noland and Teresa Shook were inducted in absentia before a large crowd in the Leipheimer Gymnasium on the School campus.

"I am so proud of these women," said Leipheimer, "One of the few girls' schools with a Sports Hall of Fame, Foxcroft began the initiative a year ago, inspired by the School's growing athletic success and reputation. The inaugural induction was timed to fall during Foxcroft's centennial year. The inductees were elected by a panel of eight voters comprised of Athletic Director Michelle Woodruff, Director of Riding Kate Worsham, former athletic director Joan Eliot, and five alumnae who played and/or coached at Foxcroft: Cricket Bedford '85, Jessi Coil '06, Stewart Chapman Herbert '77, Victoria "Vicky" Howard '71, and Jennifer Sgro Orfield '91. Fred McMane, a coach and unofficial historian of Foxcroft athletics, prepared the ballot of nominees and supervised the election.

Clark, who flew in from Florida for the ceremony, is chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and also is an influential force in the equestrian community, having served as president of the American Horse Shows Association (now U.S. Equestrian Federation) and the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation. She has also been senior vice president of the U.S. Equestrian Team, a director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and a member of the Fédération Equestre Internationale Executive Board.

Fout, a Middleburg resident, is one of the leading performers in United States equestrian history. She helped the U.S. win the team bronze medal in three-day eventing at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and has represented the U.S. at the most challenging CCI four-star competitions in the world. As a 16-year-old Foxcroft student, she earned the title of Junior National Eventing Champion by winning the Peters Trophy at the 1975 Radnor Three-Day Event. At the School, however, she played field hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and tennis, several of which she continued to play at Hollins College, which inducted elected her to its Athletic Hall of Fame.

An Upperville, VA, resident, Graham was born in England and raised in Calgary, Alberta. For 10 years, she was a member of the Canadian Eventing team, competing in three World Championships and earning a team gold medal in 1978. Graham also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics on her mare, Sumatra.

Noland, or "Miss Charlotte" as she was called, founded Foxcroft School in 1914 at the age of 32. She served as headmistress until 1955 and included sports as part of the School's curriculum from the start. She introduced basketball to Foxcroft students, both as the centerpiece of the beloved Fox/Hound intramural tradition and on an interscholastic level.

The other posthumous inductee, Shook, or "Shookie" to the Foxcroft community, graduated from Foxcroft in 1930 and returned to the School shortly after her graduation as a member of the faculty. For 35 years – from 1932 to 1967 – she taught at Foxcroft, serving as head of the athletic program, director of riding, basketball coach, and director of the military drill program.