Laurel Brassey Iversen

In 17 years as UNM’s head women’s volleyball coach from 1983-2000, Iversen compiled a 280-193 record, the most successful in school history. The Lobos advanced to the NCAA Championship six times and won a pair of Western Athletic Conference titles, including a perfect 12-0 mark in 1991. Iversen was named WAC Coach of the Year in 1990 and ’91.

At the age of 19, Iversen (Brassey at the time) was the first woman to play on a men’s intercollegiate team (volleyball) in any sport at San Diego State. She was inducted into the SDSU Hall of Fame in 1988. That same year, Iversen was a member of the U.S. Olympic volleyball team at the Seoul Olympics. She played in more than in more than 350 international matches, including World Cups and in the Pan American Games.

Iversen kept her ties to the Olympics by serving as president of the International Olympic Academy of Participants Association and on various committees. She carried the Olympic torch in Greece and in her hometown of San Diego.