Joan Marie Niccoli Campbell
Oliver H. Woods
1934 – 2011
1923 – 2011
Joan Campbell, a longtime Gunnison resident and graduate of Western State College, died March 1, 2011 after a lengthy illness. Joan is survived by her three children, two sons and a daughter, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Joan grew up on her family’s ranch south of Crested Butte, attending Glacier School, Crested Butte High School and Western. While attending WSC, Joan was involved in the Delta Sigma Epsilon sorority and the marching band. She was voted Miss Western State in 1956. Joan served as Cattlemen’s Days Attendant in 1954 and Cattlemen’s Days Queen in 1956. After receiving her degree from Western in 1956, Joan was hired to teach Biology at Gunnison County High School. It was during this time she met the love of her life, John “J.W.” Campbell, and they married in 1958. J.W. was named Assistant Professor of English at Western in 1961, and was appointed Western’s Director of Information in 1973 and served as Assistant to the President of the College until 1987. For 25 years he was also the Director of Sports Information at Western, earning a respected reputation for his College and for himself. J. W. and Joan developed a special bond with Western’s Wrestling Team and had a sincere appreciation of the wrestlers and their coaches. The members of the Wrestling Team helped with projects around their home and ranch property, and J.W. and Joan often traveled with the wrestlers to watch the tournaments. When J.W. died in 2000, Joan created the J. W. Campbell Wrestling Banquet Fund to hold annual banquets to celebrate the wrestling team in honor of J.W. Family and friends also created the J.W. Campbell Memorial Wrestling Scholarship at Western to celebrate J.W.’s memory and assist student-athletes participating on the Wrestling Team. The Scholarship has now been changed to the J.W. and Joan Campbell Memorial Wrestling Scholarship, to honor Joan’s memory as well.
Western State College of Colorado is mourning the loss of a former Hall of Fame coach, Ollie Woods, the RMAC Men’s Golf Coach of the Century who also led the Mountaineers to a conference championship in football. He died at the age of 88. Ollie was the head coach for the Mountaineers in football, golf, track and field and wrestling. He is the only coach in school history to coach teams to conference championships in two distinct sports. He was inducted into the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in the fourth class of 1998. Ollie’s greatest success and passion was on the golf course, where he led the Mountaineers to the men’s RMAC golf championship eight times in his 20-year coaching career. The Mountaineers threepeated twice, from 1976-78 and 1988-90, and Western still holds the conference record for team championships. Ollie was a well-respected golf instructor, and was one of the first to promote video for swing analysis and the use of nets for indoor practice. He established the successful Rocky Mountain Family Golf School and was also an associate professor of physical education at Western. Family and friends have established a memorial scholarship in Ollie’s name at the Western State College Foundation.
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– From the Gunnison Times
– Story by Jared Verner, WSC Sports Information Director