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athleen Thompson ’91 never intended to play sports in college. She had been a threeseason athlete at Hudson Catholic High School but thought juggling academics with college-level sports might be too difficult. “I graduated with a class of 54 students,” says Thompson of her hometown high school. “Regis seemed huge to me!” To ease the transition, Regis paired first-year students with “big sisters”— juniors who showed them around campus and served as mentors. Thompson’s was Sara Dwyer ’89, a member of Regis’ basketball team. “Sara knew I played in high school and encouraged me to try out,” recalls Thompson, who threw herself into campus life—joining Tower Society (student tour guides now referred to as Pride Guides) and the Yearbook Committee, serving as treasurer of her class, and running cross country. But it was the basketball team— where Thompson was a guard and a captain—that she found most fulfilling.
“KT gave me the gift of life.” —Donna Tanner, EdD (right), on kidney donor Kathleen Thompson ’91 (left).
During her junior year, a new head basketball coach was hired. Donna Tanner, EdD, an elementary school teacher, coached soccer and basketball at Weston High School before making the switch to Regis’ Division III women’s basketball team. “What Donna did for the program was incredible,” says Thompson. “Regis became much more competitive thanks to her coaching style and recruiting skills.” Thompson’s senior season saw the basketball program make its first appearance in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship. The thenRegis Beacons would win in 1991 and return to the CCC finals three other times (1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96). Tanner was named Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1996 and Northeast Division III Coach of the Year in 1996. She credits her players with the team’s
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