Irma Kionka

Irma was a physical education teacher in the Wayne-Westland school system for 29 years. She actually started teaching and coaching in Maywood, Illinois in the 1930’s. In fact, she coached their junior high football team to a state championship in 1933.

Irma taught all the high school girls physical education from 1943-1952 at Wayne High. She moved to Wayne Memorial and then in 1964 to John Glenn. She was a strong disciplinarian, and was involved in all the extra curricular activities at John Glenn.

Irma started one of Michigan’s outstanding Girls Athletic Association programs. She kept it going until 1968 when she helped initiate the girl’s sports program at John Glenn High School. She coached free just to get the program off the ground. Starting with 4 sports - swimming, tennis, track, and volleyball, until Title 9 was enacted and the rest of the current sports were added.

When she retired in 1972, the district officials could not let this exceptional person go unnoticed, so they named the John Glenn High School athletic field and football stadium after her. It is the only football stadium in the country to our knowledge that is named after a woman.

After retirement, Irma moved to Tucson and ran into one of her old students, Cedric Dempsey. He was the Athletic Director at the University of Arizona and recruited her to assist him with the University Athletic Program.