Jackie Tompkins is credited with bringing girls' sports out of the dark ages and into the spotlight of varsity competition during a 34-year career at New Hartford Central School.

More than a successful coach -- Tompkins' overall record in three sports is 445 wins, 95 ties and 101 losses -- she is also a prominent Section III representative.

Tompkins, a native of the Southern Tier, graduated from Liberty (N.Y.) High School. As an undergraduate at Ithaca College in the early 1960s, there were no organized sports teams for women athletes. Nevertheless, Tompkins participated in "sports days," and was a member of the fencing club and gymnastics club.

Tompkins received her bachelor's degree form Ithaca in 1963. She earned her master's in education from Syracuse University in 1966, and a director's certificate from Ithaca in 1967.

She arrived in New Hartford in 1963 and assumed coaching duties of three sports, field hockey, gymnastics and track and field. In the late 1960s Tompkins initiated a grass-roots campaign to develop league and sectional tournaments for female athletes.

She became the first Section III chairman of girls' gymnastics in 1967 and girls' track in1968, and organized the first sectional meets in both sports, She was Central Oneida League (COL) chairman of three sports simultaneously from 1968 to 1975, and was the COL's Section III representative for five years. Tompkins also organized the first fee schedule to pay officials in Section III.

Tompkins has inspired her teams to greatness. In 32 years as the New Hartford field hockey coach, 1970-92 (no records were kept prior to 1970), she compiled a record of 135 wins, 95 ties and 51 losses, including seven COL titles. The Spartans also won the Class B sectional and regional title in 1982 and 1983, and the Western State championship in 1982. Her 1983 team was a North-South State finalist and lost in the State semifinals.

In 34 years as a track and field coach, Tompkins's teams collected seven COL championships. She coached one state champion in pentathlon. The Spartans won 195 of228 dual meets, plus nine league titles and three sectional crowns.

Her gymnastics team never competed in a league, yet posted a 115-17 record from 1970-81. The Spartans won the sectionals in 1971 and twice placed second. They qualified for the state meet five times.

Tompkins, who was a nationally ranked official in all three sports, has served as vice-president of Section III girls sports since 1994.

In 1975, she earned the New York State Coaches Association Honor Award, and in 1982, the Section I II Service Award. She received the Distinguished Service Award in 1986 from the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches Association. In 1992, she was named to both the Ithaca College and SUNY Institute of Technology Halls of Fame.