A Guiding Light

The host was Dick Kemper, the Saints’ longtime athletic director who had conceived the idea several years earlier and discussed it informally but with single-minded focus and passion with counterparts at other schools.

 

Karen Doxey, then a co-athletic director at Collegiate, was among the 13 hardy souls who braved the cold, snow, and ice that had closed schools throughout the state that day to begin building in earnest the foundation for what would become the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA).

 

Creating consensus and uniformity was no smooth, easy task, but Kemper and those involved with this new, exciting start-up never lost sight of the myriad possibilities that lay ahead.

 

Over the next couple of years, the executive committee (of which Doxey was a charter member) developed mission and vision statements, wrote by-laws, and created competition guidelines that would be fair to all member schools.

 

In January 2000, VISAA became an official entity.

 

The organization now includes upwards of 100 member schools and supports state championships in 24 sports. Importantly, it stresses the values of fair play, competitive spirit, and academic-athletic balance.

 

On May 5, VISAA observed its 25th anniversary with a celebration at the Short Pump Hilton, where Doxey was among 25 recipients of the organization’s Silver Anniversary Legacy Awards.

 

She was honored, of course, but in typical it’s-not-about-me Dox fashion, she was just happy to be part of the team that created the grand plan and helped it flourish into a successful and well-respected entity.

 

“It was really nice,” she said of her honor. “On the one hand, it’s nice that people recognize your work, but it was just part of the job. That’s what ADs and coaches do.

 

“Probably one of the greatest benefits of being on the committee and being involved was that you got to know so many people from around the state. It was so awesome to reunite with so many of the people you worked with over the years.”

 

Doxey spent the first eight years of her 43-year career in education at Norfolk Academy and the rest at Collegiate, where she coached field hockey and lacrosse and served as assistant AD, co-AD (with Charlie McFall), and athletic director from 2013 until her retirement in 2022.

 

Her hockey and lacrosse teams compiled a record of 882-239-40. Her hockey teams’ 641 victories rank third all-time on the National Federation of State High School Associations record list. Her hockey teams won 19 League of Independent Schools and eight VISAA championships.

 

In 2000, Doxey was named Athletic Director of the Year by the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (VIAAA). In 2018, she was inducted into the VISAA Hall of Fame. In 2022, the hockey field on Collegiate’s Robins Campus was named in her honor.

 

To say she earned the abiding esteem of those with whom she served, both at Collegiate and around the Commonwealth, is an understatement of the highest order.

 

“Karen had a tremendous influence on the VISAA in its early stages,” said Chad Byler, athletic director at Norfolk Academy. “She was a trailblazer and a pioneer who was well respected by everyone in the room.”

 

“She’s always been someone I’ve looked up to and learned from. She’s a voice of reason who always had a great perspective and saw the big picture. When she spoke, she always said something productive and worthwhile, and people listened.”

 

Doxey was one of four women whom Kemper invited to that inaugural meeting.

 

“Karen was instrumental in helping to create the mission and vision of the VISAA,” said Kemper, the organization’s executive director until his recent retirement. “She worked behind the scenes to [advocate for] girls sports. She was thoughtful and she spoke her mind on her core values and stood up for them. She wanted everybody to succeed, and she would do anything she could to help them succeed.

 

“Karen was caring and loving and mentored people to help them understand that this job (as a coach and AD) is about developing relationships and keeping those relationships. In so many ways, Karen was a guiding light.”

~Weldon Bradshaw