The life lessons Kathy (Kappel) Meagher learned during her time at NDSU are now the distinctive building blocks that form the foundation of her life, specifically in her family and in her career as President and CEO of Special Olympics North Dakota (SOND).

 

As a student at NDSU, Meagher first encountered Special Olympics through a training program that worked with people with intellectual disabilities. “The founder of the program was my advisor, and my instructor for adaptive PE was the local coordinator of the program,” she explained. “We had a field experience requirement to train these students for a Special Olympics event which we did in the parking lot of a school! Needless to say the importance of what we were doing for those individuals was seen immediately – the excitement of participation, the smiles and the appreciation. And what was so fascinating was our ability to improve their fitness and self esteem through training.”

 

Meagher originally made the decision to attend NDSU when she was offered a scholarship to run and participate on the first women’s cross country team. “I also had a brother who was attending there who had strong Bison fever that was contagious,” she shared. Kathy went on to become the first Bison track All-American in 1981 when she finished fifth in the 1,500-meter run at the AIAW (Association Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) nationals. She also qualified for the 3,000-meter run at that national meet. She captured the North Central Conference championship in the 1,500 meters in 1980 and finished her career in the school's Top 10 in the event, according to her NDSU Hall of Fame biography. “The memories I cherish center around the time spent with the men and women on the track and cross country teams, with Dr. Isrow and all the student athletic training staff, the athletic administration and all the coaches from all the sports,” Meagher recalled fondly.

 

Meagher received her degree inphysical education and elementary education from NDSU in 1981. While some athletes hang up their towel once they leave college, Meagher carried her athletic experience with her into her professional life. When Special Olympics North Dakota created a director of sports position, Meagher was ready and willing to accept the role. In due course, she became the executive director for the state program. At that time, she was the youngest ever state executive director, being under the age of 30, and in what she felt was a very male-oriented environment. “The program has afforded me so many professional and personal growth opportunities,” Meagher conveyed. “I have traveled to several countries as a volunteer and worked in several different cultures from Arabic to Asian and more. I met and stayed in homes of people who I had never met and who now are friends.” 

 

Meagher feels that the role college sports played continues to motivate her and is the driving force in her life, career and family. “I’m in the career I’m in because of the positive impact that a sport has on a person’s life,” Kathy explained. “We encouraged our own children and exposed them to sports when they were very young because of the life lessons we could teach, the friends that they would meet and the self-discipline that they would need to learn to be an accomplished athlete.”

 

Meagher and the love of her life, husband Jerry, make their home in Grand Forks. Jerry is a commercial broker for Goldmark Commercial and a UND grad. The couple has two children, daughter Marie, a freshman at the University of Dallas, and son Nicholas, a junior at Red River High School in Grand Forks. Though she has had many opportunities to relocate through business opportunities, Meagher chooses to stay in North Dakota for the people. “After having the opportunity to travel outside the U.S. and to several other states, I liked the warmth and hospitality of the people of N.D.,” she explained. “The people here are very genuine, hard working and generally pretty appreciative.”

 

Meagher continues to enjoy sports both as a parent spectator and as a coach for high school girls soccer team, along with various summer youth programs. The enthusiasm and energy demonstrated by these kids provides motivation and inspiration in other aspects of her life. “The lifelong friends and acquaintances I have met through my involvement, my children’s activities and the athletes that I coach are great,” Meagher said.

 

In 1997, Meagher was inducted into the NDSU Hall of Fame and currently serves on the Alumni Board for the college. She was also twice named as Outstanding Young Woman of America and helped organize the first Special Olympics Gulf Games in Bahrain for the six Arab nations in the Persian Gulf. This year she will lead efforts as the Soccer Technical Director for the 2010 Special Olympics National Games in Lincoln, Neb.

 

With triumph comes trial. In retrospect, Meagher recalls how the flood of 1997 challenged her both personally and professionally, trying to manage her family with two small children while temporarily displaced from their home. She also shared how she traveled to Belfast, Ireland, on her own in October 2001, during the height of terrorism. “I had no idea where and who I would be staying with. I went over to set up a host town experience for more than 1,200 Special Olympics athletes in the U.S. that would be attending the 2003 World event,” she recalled. “I also went to Japan and China by myself without an interpreter to do the same thing I did in Ireland.”

 

With all of her success athletically and professionally, Meagher’s perspective on what is important has changed slightly. “I used to measure my success with personal accomplishments,” she expressed. “I don’t know at what point things changed, but I now measure my success in the success of others that I can either influence or work with - my children, employees, the athletes I coach and the organizations with which I work.”