Laurel School Inducts Four Alumnae Into Athletic Hall of Fame

Ann Daniels Marks '54, grew up in Cleveland Heights and at Laurel played a variety of sports including tennis, field hockey and figure skating. She was a catcher on the baseball team, played center on the varsity field hockey team, was a guard in basketball and was in the dance club. The 1954 yearbook noted that Ann Daniels “plays a fierce game of tennis and has a large collection of trophies to prove it.” At graduation she was honored with the All-Around Athlete award. Mrs. Marks went to Colorado College and went on to teach tennis and play professionally before moving into a 33-year career of coaching for the Upper Arlington girls tennis teams in Columbus, where she lives.

Kelly Schumann Styne '80 grew up in Shaker Heights and began playing tennis at age 11. A year later, she took home the girls age 12 title at the 1974 Plain Dealer Junior Tennis Tournament, the fourth junior tournament title she had won that year. At Laurel, she initially played singles in the Upper School until she was partnered with Patricia Hannon ’82. The 1978 Laurel team won the divisional title its first year in the AAA Division of Northeastern Ohio tennis league and had a 9-0 season. And the following year as a Senior, she won the 1979 doubles Ohio Class A-AA championship with Patricia Hannon and the team won the Ohio Athletic Association Coaches Tournament, and the Northeastern Ohio Tennis League title. The team finished with a 21-1 record and Kelly was named the team’s MVP. She went on to attend Northwestern University. Following graduation she worked in film, was an editor at GQ magazine, started her own clothing line and is an artist. Mrs. Styne currently lives in Los Angeles.

Patricia Hannon '82 was already playing at the tournament level at age 10 and was ranked number one in the district by the time she was 12. Coached by her mother all four years on the Laurel varsity tennis team, she played first doubles before eventually playing the number one singles position in her Junior and Senior years. She qualified for the state tournament in doubles all four years and in 1979 won the doubles state championship with her partner, Kelly Schumann. That same year, she helped the tennis team win the first and only team tennis state title in Laurel’s athletic history. Patricia continued her tennis career at Dartmouth College where she set the school record in winning percentage for a doubles team, a record that still stands today. After graduating from Dartmouth, she attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins University. A runner now as well as a tennis player, Dr. Hannon and her family live in Chicago where she is a pediatrician.

Brittney Jackson ’10 discovered a love and talent for both track and volleyball that never waned. A three-season athlete in Upper School she played volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and ran track in the spring. Success at states came in Ninth Grade when Brittney ran her way to gold as the fastest girl in Ohio, competing in Division 3 and clocking in at 12.4 seconds in the 100m dash with a 1.7 wind speed. She continued to run track the next three years and was recruited by Grand Valley State University in Michigan where she played volleyball her first year and ran track all four years. After college Ms. Jackson returned to Laurel for one season as the assistant track and field coach and interned with Athletes in Action, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to give athletes a greater sense of their purpose physically, mentally, and specifically spiritually. She lives in Cleveland and works at Early Steps Learning Center. 

Today’s Hall of Fame Induction ceremony takes place in the newly renovated Tippit Gymnasium at Laurel School's Lyman Campus and includes an official ribbon cutting to mark the occasion. Made possible by generous donors, the $3.5M renovation project includes a new air conditioning unit, flooring, Kalwall roof panels that bring in a flood of natural light, newly renovated locker rooms, workout facilities and office space.

“Not only is the Tippit Gym home to Laurel’s basketball and volleyball teams and our PE program, it is in many ways the heart-center of our School,” said Ann V. Klotz, Head of Laurel School. “It is where the Laurel community gathers to have all-school assemblies, a space in which we invite parents and alumnae to join us for beloved events like Song Contest and the Winter Concert, and where we are one, together. The ribbon cutting and inductee ceremony will be a joyous opportunity for us to celebrate being a proud member of the Laurel community.”