Nov. 23, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Boilermaker athletes and coaches are honoring a mentor and friend who passed away two weeks ago with uniform patches and helmet stickers.
Chris Ribnek had been academic support services director since joining Intercollegiate Athletics in mid-2000. Before that, she was director of counseling for the School of Liberal Arts from 1995 to 2000.
She died Nov. 9 after a two-month battle with cancer. She left a husband, two sons and two stepdaughters. She also left a corps of student-athletes who had become accustomed to her good humor and wise counsel.
A former field hockey team captain at Indiana, she graduated in 1977 from that school and went on to earn a master's degree from Eastern Kentucky.
"Because Chris was a former student-athlete, she related extremely well to the people she worked with," said Ed Howat, assistant athletics director for student services. "Even though her work was of a serious nature, her sense of humor and ability to have fun in everything she did made her ideal for her role.
"Our student-athletes and coaches wanted an opportunity to honor Chris because her contributions through her hard work and dedication will be felt for years to come."
Among her duties was working one-on-one with members of the men's and women's basketball and volleyball squads. She also monitored the academic progress of all Purdue student-athletes.
Stickers with Ribnek's initials are affixed to football helmets for the Old Oaken Bucket game today, and patches will be in place on women's basketball uniforms for the WBCA/Basketball Travelers Classic to be held on Nov. 28 and 29. For the men's basketball game against Miami (Ohio) on Friday, Nov. 22, patches honoring Ribnek and Gary McQuay were in place. McQuay, who played forward for the Boilermakers from 1997 to 1999, succumbed to leukemia this fall.