Edelman Reflects on Big Ten Championship Teams, Children at IU
7/16/2020 1:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind.– Indiana women's tennis alum and IU Athletics Hall of Famer Deborah Edelman met her husband Chad at IU.
When it was time for the first of their three kids to pick a school, their daughter Sarah looked at 17 different schools.
When it came time for her to visit IU, Edelman told her husband, I'll go on that trip with her.
"I told my husband, 'I'm going to take Sarah on that trip myself, because I don't want you in her ear saying how awesome it is. Isn't this great. This is where you should go'," she said.
Eventually Sarah chose IU and Deborah moved her into Foster Harper, which she had lived as a freshman at IU in 1990.
Her daughter Ally and son Jack followed and they knew immediately they wanted to attend IU as well.
"It's really fun to come back and see them enjoying it as much as we did," Edelman said. "Doing a lot of the same things we did and new things and learning a lot about campus from them."
For Edelman, a native of Oswego, Illinois, she grew up hitting tennis balls with her Dad and traveling to tournaments with her Mom.
She knew she wanted to play collegiate tennis at the age of 12. That was her goal.
Edelman visited Notre Dame, Texas and Michigan, but it was Indiana that made an impact on her, especially head coach Lin Loring.
Loring, who retired in 2017 as the all-time wins leader in collegiate tennis with 846 wins over his 44 year career, showed he cared about his players and wanted them to get along.
"I could tell it was very important to him that everyone on the team could mesh," Edelman said. "Obviously, he wanted to win, but it was important to have a team that got along and had fun together."
And win they did. Loring guided the Hoosiers to 16 Big Ten Championships, including nine in a row from 1987 to 1995. Edelman far left front row with 1990-91 IU women's tennis team.
Edelman was a three-time All-American and won 136 singles matches and 119 doubles matches in her career. In her freshman season she was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year as well as Big Ten Player of the Year. She played on four Big Ten Championship teams.
Loring recalled what he remembered the most about Edelman.
"Deborah was a great teammate," Loring said. "All the girls loved her. She was a great leader. She led by example and was very appreciate of everything given to her. She didn't take things for granted." Edelman with Lin Loring.
Edelman said the team was competitive with each other, but didn't recall rivalries between teammates and they got along really well.
"That is probably where a lot of our success came from," she said. "We got along well and had fun and that makes you want to work harder."
In her sophomore year the team had a record of 19-6 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten heading into the last week of the regular season. It was then that they fell against Wisconsin, 6-3 (they played 6 singles matches and three doubles matches for nine points).
That match represented the only Big Ten dual match Edelman and her teammates would drop in her four years. The next week the Big Ten tournament was at Wisconsin and the No. 1 seed Badgers and No. 2 seed Hoosiers squared off for the championship.
On the day of the match Edelman and her teammates could see Wisconsin and their fans were optimistic. She recalls seeing a cake that read Congratulations Badgers.
The Badgers got out to a hot start and led 4-2 after singles. Deborah won her singles match and Gretchen Doninger, playing on a non-repaired ACL injury, in front of her father Clarence, soon to be named the Athletic Director at IU, won her match to keep the Hoosiers alive.
As they got ready for doubles, needing to sweep all three matches to win, Edelman remembers Coach Loring telling Deborah and teammate Stephanie Reece to win the match as fast as they could to put pressure on Wisconsin.
Deborah and Stephanie would win their match and the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles would follow to give the Hoosiers the Big Ten Championship.
"That was the most exciting college match I've ever played," Edelman said. "It was so great to be in Madison and winning that match and knowing they thought they had it in the bag."
Other memories included going to the All-American Championships in Los Angeles and finishing second in doubles and meeting basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain. In her senior year at indoor nationals in Minneapolis, Edelman reached the semifinals in singles and doubles.
One of the most important things about her time at Indiana, Edelman said was earning her degree in accounting. She learned time management, how to work under pressure and graduated with a job offer from KPMG.
In 2005, Edelman received a letter in the mail.
"I saw the IU in the corner and I thought it must be from Coach Loring, because he would send randomly updates on the team," she said.
She opened it and found she was going to be inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame.
"I was surprised," she said. "I called my Dad and told him and he started bursting into tears."
The three time All-American and Indiana Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 shouldn't have been surprised. She said it was especially meaningful to share the experience with family and have them at the ceremony.
Reflecting back on her family, she met her husband Chad at IU.
Chad swam for legendary IU coach Doc Counsilman and the two bonded through sports and 8am classes in the business school.
Now their children, all in the Kelley School of Business, Sarah (23 and a recent Indiana graduate), Ally (21 and going into senior year) and Jack (19 and going into sophomore year) get to experience IU. Ally and Jack are active in IU Dance Marathon. Edelman with her family in Bloomington.
"I never thought, especially living in Wisconsin that we would have three kids going to IU," Edelman said. "It has been super fun and they all have truly loved it."
Edelman recalls her time in greek life as a member of Delta Gamma. She recalls trips to Nick's, Crazy Horse, Irish Lion, ordering Pizza Express, football tailgates and spending time with friends in the Arboretum.
Her message to the current Indiana women's tennis team would be to enjoy the experience.
"Enjoy it as much as you can," she said. "It can seem like a grind, but it is so worth it. It is an experience that people would kill for, to be able to play a college sport. To be in that position is such an amazing experience and to realize how lucky they are to do that."
"Take advantage of the degree," she added. "You are there to go to school. You will always have that. And you will always have memories of playing on your team. Appreciate the opportunities you have been given."
