Stockton, Calif.
- Pacific Athletics will honor distinguished
alumni Patty Berg-Burnett ('80), Morrison England ('76) and Gene
Nyquist ('52) at the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award of Merit Recognition
Luncheon on Saturday, Jan. 28.
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award of Merit was established
in 1981 by former Graduate Manager of Athletics Bob Breeden,
Pacific Alumni Director Kara Brewer, and Director of Athletics
Elkin Isaac. The award recognizes alumni who participated in
athletics at Pacific and achieved distinction in their professional
lives through the notable examples of integrity, dedication,
idealism, and team spirit that Mr. Stagg personified and to which
Pacific is dedicated.
Patty Berg-Burnett ’80
Patty was a three-year star for the Pacific Tigers
women’s volleyball program under Dr. Taras Liskevych, earning
varsity letters in 1977, 1979 and 1980. After her stellar
senior season, she was awarded the NCAA’s esteemed Broderick
Cup, an award given annually to female athletes in a nationwide
vote by more than 1,000 collegiate athletic directors.
Broderick Cup winners are selected by sport for their superior
athletic skills, and for their leadership abilities, academic
excellence and eagerness to participate in community service.
Patty was born in Lodi and grew up there. A
1976 Lodi High graduate, she was a volleyball, basketball and
softball standout for the Flames. She attended San Joaquin
Delta College for one year and graduated from the University of the
Pacific with a Bachelor’s degree in physical education in
1980, completing her teaching credential at Pacific in 1981.
Patty earned AIAW All-American honors in 1980 after the Tigers
finished second in the nation. In March 1987, she was
inducted into the Lodi Sports Hall of Fame and, in November 1989,
she became Pacific’s first female athlete to have her number
retired by the University as her #14 jersey hangs on the wall
inside the Alex G. Spanos Center. Patty was also
Pacific’s first women’s volleyball student-athlete
inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame, receiving that
honor during the 1990-91 school year.
Patty has taught physical education in the Lodi
Unified School District for 30 years and has had two separate
coaching careers. She coached volleyball for eight years and
badminton for four years at Tokay in the 1980s, guiding the Tigers
to their only Sac-Joaquin Section volleyball title in 1986.
After an 18-year break from coaching, Patty returned to coach
volleyball at McNair High School, which opened in 2005. In
2008-09, she was honored with a Model Coach Award by the California
Interscholastic Federation (CIF) as one of thirteen recipients that
year who was honored for being positive role models in their
schools and communities, and who exhibited the traits apparent in
the CIF’s 16 principles of Pursuing Victory with Honor.
Morrison England ’76
Morrison was named to the Board of Regents at
University of the Pacific in April 2006. Born in St. Louis,
MO and moved to Sacramento at the age of 5, he attended McClatchy
High School and Sacramento City College before accepting a football
scholarship at Pacific. He earned his Bachelor’s degree
in Pre-Law from Pacific in 1976, and his Juris Doctor degree from
Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in 1983. A member of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Morrison was a standout performer
at offensive guard and tackle on the Pacific football
team.
The recognition he received as a Tiger on the Pacific
Football team earned him an invitation to join the New York Jets
training camp. Instead, after graduating from Pacific,
Morrison decided to begin his career as a football coach at Cal
State Fullerton and then Sacramento State, where he coached
part-time during the day and attended McGeorge School of Law in the
evenings. Morrison currently is a member of the Criminal
Rules Advisory Committee of the United States, and since 2009, has
traveled overseas (Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and India) in his
capacity as a federal judge on behalf of the United States Commerce
and State Departments.
On March 21, 2002, Morrison was nominated by
President George W. Bush to the position of United States District
Court Judge, Eastern District of California. He was confirmed
by the U.S. Senate and received his commission and assumed the
office on August 2, 2002. Previously, Judge England was
appointed by Governor Pete Wilson as a Sacramento Municipal Court
Judge in 1996. He was elevated by Governor Wilson to the
Sacramento Superior Court in 1997 and also spent time in the
Juvenile Division of the Superior Court, presiding over both
dependency and delinquency matters. He was formerly a partner
with the Sacramento firm of Quattrin, Johnson, Campora &
England where he practiced transactional, corporate and real estate
law. Judge England has been an instructor for new judge
orientation, advanced criminal procedure, and was a member of the
Judge Advocate General’s Corp for the United States Army
Reserve from 1988-2002.
Gene Nyquist ‘52
Gene was born in Rockford, Illinois, before his
family settled in Sacramento before the start of his senior year of
high school. Gene attended Grant High School in Sacramento
and swam on their high school swim team introducing the backstroke
flip turn to the west coast as he went on to win the CIF 100-yard
backstroke title. Upon graduating from high school, Gene
began swimming for the famous Arden Hills Swim Club under the
coaching of Sherman Schavor, who would later go on to coach Olympic
champions Mark Spitz and Debbie Meyer. Gene earned a swimming
scholarship at University of the Pacific and, in 1949, he helped to
pioneer a new sport, water polo, as he played goalie and field
during Pacific’s second year of water polo coached by Bill
Anttila. Gene was an active member of the Omega Phi Alpha
fraternity and later served as president of Delta Upsilon. He
earned his Bachelor’s degree in physical education from
Pacific in 1952.
After graduating from Pacific, Gene enrolled at
Sacramento State to obtain a teaching credential which was received
in the spring of 1953. In 1953, during the Korean War, Gene
was drafted into the Army and after his Army discharge in May 1955,
he moved back to Sacramento and taught math at a local junior high
school and coached swimming at his alma mater, Grant High. In
July 1956, Gene went on to teach physical education and coach
swimming and water polo at James Lick High School in San Jose from
1958-1967, winning 8 swimming titles and 5 water polo crowns and
producing 13 swimming All-Americans and 4 water polo
All-Americans. Gene earned his Master’s degree in
Education from San Jose State in 1963.
Gene went on to have a remarkable 22-year association
with West Valley College in Saratoga from 1967-1989. During
his tenure at West Valley, his teams won 7 conference swimming
championships from 1973 to 1986, never finishing lower than sixth
in the state. In water polo, he coached 12 All-Americans and
had an overall record of 109 wins and 68 losses. During his
last season in 1989, he led the West Valley water polo team to the
NorCal Championship with a record of 20-0-1. Overall, he was
selected NorCal Coach of the Year four times and he was named
California Coaches Association (CCA) Coach of the Year in 1980.
