Boston University

In an era when participating in athletics was regarded as "not the thing for a lady to do," Gretchen Schuyler participated in numerous sports at Sargent College and excelled in all of them. As an undergraduate she played no less than nine sports and was particularly outstanding in lacrosse, field hockey, basketball and soccer. Following her graduation, she was named 10 times to the U.S. Lacrosse team and three times as a reserve on the U.S. Field Hockey team.

During World War II, Gretchen bypassed the military, since it was not the practice then to send women overseas, and joined the Red Cross. She served 33 months in the European Theatre and 13 months in combat, assigned to Patton's Third Army. She was trapped with the VIII'th Corps at Bastone when General McCaulliff refused to surrender to the Germans and issued his famous reply... "Nuts." For her part, and that of her fellow Red Cross Workers on the front lines, Gretchen received commendations from both General Bradley and General Taylor as well as the Bronze Star from President Truman.

Following the war, she returned to Boston University as a faculty member at Sargent and resumed her competition in sports.