THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Patty Stewart was ‘the backbone of the athletic department’ at NIC

Earlier this week, Patty Stewart received a smile during an ordinary stop at Costco in Coeur d’Alene.

“A lady turned to me, smiled and said, ‘I think I know you from somewhere,’” Stewart said. “‘I know, you’re the one that’s always running around at all those North Idaho College games.’”

After 18 years, first as a student-athlete, then again as the coordinator of athletics for the past 16 years, often times Stewart was all over the place, either at Christianson Gymnasium, Eisenwinter Field or Memorial Field.

Now, she’s really going to get that chance to be all over the place.

STEWART’S LAST day at NIC was Friday. She’s going to work at Allegra, a marketing company based in Coeur d’Alene.

“Patty has been the backbone of the athletic department since I’ve been here,” said NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons, who was an assistant for 10 years before taking the head coaching job in 2014. “She’s had her hands in everything. It’s crazy. Her entire family lives and breathes Cardinal athletics. (Patty’s husband) Roger has kept the books at our basketball games for years. She’s the backbone of the athletic department for sure.”

Taking money at the gate, helping at the scorer’s table and organizing things in the hospitality room during home games are just some of the tasks that Stewart took care of.

“I spent a lot of time with her and game management, and she was definitely helpful in that end,” said NIC volleyball coach Kelsey Stanley, who was an assistant for two years before becoming the head coach in 2014. “She was our go-to with a lot of monotonous stuff that she was really helpful with. It’s definitely going to be different without her.”

Stewart played basketball at NIC, graduating in 1980 and moving on to Central Washington University.

“It’s been a good run,” Stewart said. “There were some great people that have worked hard and always gave that extra little bit. Even as a player, there were just some people that were always looking out for you when worked there.”

Before working at NIC, Stewart, 59, operated a property management business in Coeur d’Alene.

“I sold it when my kids were really small,” Stewart said. “It’s a hard business because there’s a lot of weekends. It was just hard with Roger (a football official for the Big Sky Conference and District 1 football commissioner) doing football. Someone asked me if I could work somewhere else, I told them NIC and ended up getting a job there two months later. I worked in the physical plant for a few months, then this job opened up. Those people that knew me knew that it was perfect for me, and that was that.

“I didn’t want to miss out on watching my kids play and traveling to watch them,” Stewart said of selling the property management business. “Sometimes, you just know when it’s the right time.”

OVER HER time at NIC, Stewart has grown many friendships with players and coaches as well.

“When students are here from out of town, they don’t have a lot of family that go to their games,” Stewart said. “But I’ve had work-study students that are now married and had kids that I’ve remained friends with for years. When I was younger, my parents divorced and my mom worked nights, so I didn’t have a lot of family that came and watched me play. Other people have been so good hearted, it just has meant a lot to me.”

Leaving now gives Stewart the opportunity to enjoy some other parts of her life.

“There’s a lot of really good people here,” Stewart said. “There’s a lot of changes going on here, and it’s time to have some flexibility and time with my grandkids. Natalie (Patty’s daughter) has two kids, and being a grandma is fun. I’ve missed out on a lot of those Big Sky trips (with Roger) and now can do that a little more often.”

While at NIC, Stewart was also vital in fundraising efforts for the booster club.

“She was a big part of the booster functions and a lot of the fundraising stuff,” Stanley said. “She was the go-to and worked her tail off a lot of long hours. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that she did. She always went the extra mile for all of our programs.”

“She’s got a lot of ties to the community,” Symons said. “Her love of the Cardinals is second to none.”

And that included all of the sports, from soccer to wrestling to softball.

“I was the biggest fan of all of our teams,” Stewart said. “I’d be in the stands during volleyball, but could never sit still. I just loved all of the teams. We had a lot of success and I’m proud of all the coaches. It’s a lot of work and dedication, and our coaches were just good with that. Being able to recruit, and get high-quality kids, they were able to get some great players.”

But it was on a rare occasion that Stewart got to see it in person.

“If we had more than one sport going on, I didn’t get to go to nationals,” Stewart said. “When we hosted nationals in wrestling in Spokane (2011, and 2014), it was pretty cool to have that in our back yard. But it was a ton of work.”

WITH HER departure, NIC athletic director Bobby Lee and athletic event and information supervisor Felicia Kolb will take some of Stewart’s responsibilities.

“She’s the glue that keeps this place together,” Lee said. “She knows so much, whether it be if they need help at concessions, or the hospitality room, she made sure things ran smoothly. I’ve tried my darnedest to track her, but you just can’t duplicate that. She’s so hard working and loyal that I just hope to emulate that work ethic.”

“It’s going to take three people-plus to replace her,” Symons said. “All of us in our department and teams, she’s been a big part of all of our game management. It’s going to be hard to get along without her. It’s going to be weird.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email @jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.