Gertrude Alice Dunn, known as Gertie, was born in September 30, 1933 in Sharon Hill, PA to Victor and Gertude Dunn. After high school, she was a shortstop for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1951 to 1954, and played for the Battle Creek Belles and the South Bend Blue Sox. She was Rookie of the Year in 1952 and was fourteenth among players in the league in career batting average at .261.

After the League folded in 1954, Dunn attended West Chester University, which did not have a women’s intercollegiate baseball or softball team. Instead, she excelled at lacrosse and field hockey. She majored in Health and Physical Education, and graduated in 1960.

After graduation, Dunn played on the US national teams for both lacrosse and field hockey. She also served as an umpire for 20 years in the Philadelphia Women’s Lacrosse Association, and worked as a physical education teacher for many years.

She was inducted into the U.S. Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2012 she was the first lacrosse player inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

She passed away at the age of 71 on September 29, 2004, when the single-engine aircraft she was piloting crashed shortly after take-off.

Ten West Chester co-eds named to All-College Hockey Team. First Row: Gertrude Dunn,
second team; Janet Bickel, second team; Margaret Walter, second team. Second Row:
Nancy Hubbard, forth team; Elizabeth Wolle, second team; Barbara Clyde, second team;
Patricia Melrath, third team. Not Pictured: Joan Waterfield, second team; Marguerite
Crowley, fourth team; Shiela McHugh, forth team.

Updated 8/11/2021 by Christian Sammartino & Jenna Bossert, for accuracy and clarification.