Joanna Gail

As a student at Poway High in California Joanna Gail played soccer and softball, with her focus being on the latter winning the league title in her first year. Gail had a chance encounter with Ohio State coach Linda Kalafatis where she asked if she was Greek. Kalafatis said she was, with Gail saying that she had Greek heritage through her maternal grandmother who was born in the country. Gail was then signposted to Linda Wells, the coach of the Greek national women’s softball team. After getting a try-out she was selected to play for the Greek team at the 2004 Athína Olympics. Despite the home advantage, the Greek team finished seventh out of the eight teams that competed.

After the Olympics Gail represented the Oregon Ducks from 2005-08 and later played in the National Pro Fastpitch League. In her junior season with the Ducks she was named their defensive MVP, and was one of five players to start in all the team’s matches that year. Sadly, in July 2023, Gail was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and died just a month later after developing bacterial meningitis. She was 37.