Glass Ceiling-Breaker Runner Inducted Posthumously In MVCC Hall

OAK LAWN, IL — A former Oak Lawn Spartan who broke through glass ceilings as a runner was inducted posthumously into the Moraine Valley Community College Athletic Hall of Fame. Lisa Pollard ran cross-country as a freshman and was the only female on the team in 1989.

While at Moraine Valley, Pollard was named NJCAA Region IV Runner of the Year, the only runner in the college’s program to earn this honor, after winning the Region IV Championship race in 17:55. She ran the NCJAA championship 5K race in 18:19, placing 14th overall, the highest placement by any Moraine Valley runner at nationals. It is still the college’s 5K record today. For her efforts, Pollard was named to the NJCAA All-American second team, the first cross county runner to receive such as honor.

“I’m thankful to our current cross-country coach, Dimitri Dimizas, for digging up the history on Lisa, so we can appropriately honor her in our Hall of Fame. She earned her place among our illustrious group,” said Bill Finn, athletics director for Moraine Valley. “The Hall of Fame inductions really affirm that Moraine Valley and the south suburbs of Chicago are very rich in athletic tradition and talented high-level athletes.”

Pollard died in 2010 at the age of 39. Her mother, Patricia Pollard, called her daughter’s induction into the hall a great honor for their family.

“After the first year they dropped the program because there wasn’t enough interest,” her mother said. “Now here she is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. They didn’t even have a team for her until years later.”

Patricia said her daughter liked the competition of running with the men “because she thought they made her work hard.”

Pollard’s daughter, Olivia Bukowski, is running in her mother’s footsteps and got into cross-country and track to continue Pollard’s legacy.

“Usually before every race or practice or time trial, I know she’s with me,” Bukowski said. “When I’m running, I do it for her and with her.”

Pollard was inducted into the Moraine Valley Athletics Hall of Fame along with baseball coach Al Budding, soccer players Alex Duncan and Erin Duncan, football player Harvie Herrington and basketball player Shane O’Donoghue.

Interview with Patricia Pollard and Olivia Bukowski

~ Video courtesy of Moraine Valley Community College