A four-year volleyball standout, Judy (Stutzman ’81) Kanagy was among the great players of the late 1970s and early 1980s that helped turn the volleyball program at Bluffton into a regional powerhouse.
Kanagy led the Beavers to an impressive 74-41 (.644 winning percentage) record during her four years on the court, including Bluffton’s first-ever 20-win season when Bluffton posted a 25-11 record her junior year in 1979. The Beavers would go on to reach that 20-win plateau in 18 of the next 19 seasons.
A native of Normal, Ill., Kanagy served as a captain for head coach Kim Fischer and also played three years of softball and one year of tennis at Bluffton. In 1981 she was honored with the Kathryn E. Little Award, given annually at Bluffton to the top senior female student-athlete.
After graduation Kanagy coached volleyball and basketball at Iowa Mennonite High School for one season before heading to Illinois State University for graduate school, where she graduated in 1983 with a master’s degree in physical education administration. That same year she completed an internship at the Lake Placid Olympic Trainer Center.
She returned to Bluffton and was a member of the faculty in the department of health, physical education and recreation from 1983-86 where she coached softball, track & field and junior varsity volleyball, served as softball coordinator of the Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference and directed the women’s intramural program.
Kanagy has held positions at Camp Friedenswald, America West Airlines, Western Pacific Airlines and most recently Dawn Ministries.
