Terry Dougall was a student-athlete, teacher, coach, principal and president at Stang
Editor's note: Spotlight is the theme for the latest installment in the Buddy’s Best series, which kicked off last year and continues this summer. Former athletes, coaches and pioneers are among the people who will be highlighted.
When Terry Dougall became the first school graduate to be named principal in December of 1987, she was called the “heart of Bishop Stang” by Sister Ann Moore, the Secondary Schools Superintendent for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River.
Terry was 40 years old at the time and had spent almost half of her life at Spartan Village, where she divided her time between the school classrooms and athletic fields.
She was a standout athlete at Bishop Stang in the early 1960s and returned to the high school in 1968 after receiving her undergraduate and master’s degree from Stonehill College and Bridgewater State University, respectively.
She began teaching biology and physiology and when the former high school standout athlete agreed to coach girls sports, she ended up coaching all of them — volleyball, softball, basketball, track and field hockey. Terry couldn’t explain how she did it but she did it and, under her guidance, girls sports flourished at Bishop Stang throughout the 1970s and into the ‘80s.
But with her teaching duties consuming most of the day and her commitment to athletics taking up most after-school hours, Terry eventually burned herself out and after seven, somewhat, stressful years she decided to leave her beloved Spartan Village in 1975.
She left to contemplate her future and thankfully, for the then present and future students of Bishop Stang, Terry was back on campus the following year in her familiar dual role as teacher and coach.
After returning, she led the school’s field hockey teams to four league championships and a second-place finish in 1979. Her combined record was an eye-blinking 53 wins, 5 losses and 11 ties.
Terry’s spotlight season came in 1977 when she guided the Spartans to a regular season record of 16-2-2 — the best in school history — and captured the Eastern Massachusetts South Sectional Div. 1-2 championship with a 3-2 overtime victory over Holbrook. Her Spartans won the state semifinal round game with a 2-1 victory over North Middlesex Regional before losing to Weston, 3-1, in the championship game.
In 1985, Terry earned the title of “Miracle Coach” after leading a team of mostly inexperienced players to a second-place finish in the highly-competitive Southeastern Massachusetts Conference and all the way to the championship round in the South Sectional Tournament. The efforts earned her Coach of the Year honors in the SMC.
According to records kept from 1974 through 1986, Terry’s field hockey teams compiled a record of 150-32-25, qualified for postseason tournament play in 13 consecutive seasons, reached the South Sectional finals four times and competed in a pair of State Championship games.
Terry spent 44 of her 70 years at Bishop Stang, earning several awards in the classroom, including Teacher of the Year honors and, in 1974, was named the school’s first President.
On Dec. 12, 2016, Terry Dougall died following a long and courageous battle with myelofibrosis. She was 70.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dougall was an athlete, teacher, coach, principal, president at Stang
