Deborah L Gebhardt is an American scientist focusing on issues related to health, fitness and workplace health safety. Gebhardt was also a college basketball and softball coach. Gebhardt was the first coach for both the softball and women's basketball teams at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. She coached Purdue's first women's basketball team. She was a physical education teacher prior to becoming the head coach in the 1973–74 season. She coached one year and then left Purdue. The Purdue team finished 8–8 and finished third in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

tournament.

Biography

Deborah Gebhardt attended Hazleton High School, and later graduated from East Stroudsburg State in 1969. She earned her Master's degree from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. After earning her master's degree, she started teaching at the

. Gebhardt also officiated basketball for nine years. Gebhardt received her PhD in Physical Education from the University of Maryland Department of Kinesiology in 1979. In the 1980s, she worked as a vice president for the Advanced Research Resources Organization (ARRO), a company that created employment tests. She has been published in ''

American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering scien ...

'', the ''

Journal of Applied Psychology The ''Journal of Applied Psychology'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understandin ...

'', ''Human Performance'', ''

Ergonomics Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

'', and other publications. Gebhardt received a Myers Award in 2006 from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

Coaching career

Cal

Deborah Gebhardt coached the

(Cal) women's basketball team during the 1973–74 season. Gebhardt was the first ever women's basketball coach at Cal. She was the athletic director for women's sports in 1972, and also taught physical education at the university. Gebhardt was also the first coach ever for the softball team, coaching for two years: 1972 and 1973. Her teams finished with a record of 2–4 both years. In 1973, the team finished fourth in the NCIAC.

Purdue

Gebhardt began her career at Purdue University as a physical education teacher in 1973. She coached both tennis and women's basketball when they were still considered clubs. The Boilermakers first win came in overtime against Illinois, winning 78 to 74 on December 2, 1975. Natasha Cender recorded 11.6 rebounds per game, which as of 2001 was still a school record. The team finished in third place in the Big Ten tournament, and ended the season with an 8–8 record.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhardt, Deborah Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Berkeley faculty East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Arizona alumni Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball coaches California Golden Bears women's basketball coaches California Golden Bears softball coaches