Restrictions on Access
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Pat Nordell papers
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2143
Physical Description:
4.8 Linear Feet
(6 document boxes, 6 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1957-2000
Abstract: Pat Nordell is a Los Angeles-based lesbian sports coach and photographer. Nordell was a star athlete and popular personality
through her high school years and afterwards in amateur and intramural sports in the Midwest. After finishing a teaching degree
at the Illinois State Normal University and a bachelors of science at the University of Arizona at Tucson, she made the shift
to California in 1960 to start her teaching career. The bulk of this career was spent at Westchester High School where her
outstanding record as coach of Varsity Girls Basketball, Girls Softball, Women's Track and Field and ultimately Men's Track
and Field, gained her considerable recognition and made her one of the first women coaches of men's athletic teams in Los
Angeles. As a strong advocate against gender discrimination in sports, Nordell initiated and won a protracted law suit against
the Los Angeles Unified School District for equal pay for women coaches. This collection, comprising of comprehensive scrapbooks
and photographs, provides a record of the professional public life, feminist advocacy and private life of Pat Nordell.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Pat Nordell papers (Collection 2143). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Provenance unknown, 2013.
Processing Information
Processed by Pallavi Sriram in 2013 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian
Cuellar.
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
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Collections.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
Patricia Nordell is a Los Angeles based lesbian sports coach and photographer. Nordell was born in May 1932 and raised in
Wheaton, Illinois. As is evidenced in the collection, she was a star athlete and popular personality through her high school
years at Wheaton Community High School, from which she graduated in 1950. Nordell stayed in the Midwest after high school,
playing amateur and intramural sports in Wheaton and Chicago, excelling in a number of sports including basketball, volleyball,
baseball and bowling. Nordell completed a teaching degree at the Illinois State Normal University from September 1956 to June
1957. She continued her college education at the University of Arizona at Tucson from which she graduated with a Bachelor
of Science in 1960. Both in Illinois and Arizona, Nordell continued her engagement with sports, playing namely intramural
volleyball and basketball.
Nordell entered her first teaching position almost immediately upon completion of her undergraduate degree. She made the shift
to California in 1960 to start her teaching career at Coachella Valley Union High in Southern California where she taught
Physical Education for three years. By 1972, she had moved to Los Angeles and began teaching at Westchester High School (WHS),
where she continued for the remaining 16 years of her career. Nordell coached Varsity Girls Basketball, Girls Softball and
Women's Track and Field from 1973 onwards, leading the basketball team to their first-ever California State championship win
a few years later. In 1980, she received recognition from both the California Coaches Association and the National High School
Athletic Coaches Association as Track & Field 'Coach of the Year' for her outstanding record at WHS: a 45-1 dual meet record
including 6 Western league titles, 2 LA city titles (1977 and 1979) and the State championship (1979). The same year, Nordell
started coaching Men's Track and Field at WHS, making her one of the first women coaches of men's athletic teams in Los Angeles.
Perhaps due to her own experience playing women's sports in school, college and otherwise, Nordell was highly invested in
combating gender discrimination in sports; she fought against the notion that girls shouldn't play sports considered to be
"unfeminine" and was an advocate for women teachers and coaches, whom she felt were trivialized. She publically spoke out
against gender bias in pay scales and most importantly, initiated a law suit in the 1970's against the Los Angeles Unified
School District for equal pay for women coaches. She ultimately won the suit in the late 1980's.
Scope and Content
This collection gives a view of both the professional public life and private life of LA-based lesbian sports coach, Pat Nordell.
The collection is comprised of scrapbooks and photographs. The scrapbooks provide a comprehensive record of Nordell's long
sports, teaching and coaching career, while the photographs provide a view into Nordell's personal life especially after her
retirement in 1988 – relationships, love for outdoor activity, and her involvement in gay and lesbian communities in Southern
California. Together, these materials provide a multi-dimensional view of Pat Nordell's life and career.
Organization and Arrangement
Collection is arranged into two series:
- Series 1: Scrapbooks, 1952-1987
- Series 2: Photographs, 1968-2000
Series are arranged chronologically.