Sue Bury knew exactly what it meant when she was told she was going to be inducted into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame.

“It really takes me back to the roots, the genesis of who I am today,” Bury says. “Field hockey brought me so much in so many ways.”

Bury was a two-time NFHCA All-American first-team selection in 1981 and 1982, helping lead the Hawkeyes to regular-season titles in those seasons. She was a member of three teams that played in the AIAW national championships and two that played in the NCAA tournament.

Bury was a four-sport athlete in New Jersey—field hockey, basketball, tennis, and softball—when she was discovered by Iowa coach Judith Davidson. How Davidson discovered her, though, had nothing to do with sports.

“I was Homecoming queen, so there was this big write-up in the Burlington County Times,” she recalls. “They went pretty prolific into all my accomplishments as an athlete. And so that article somehow got to Judith, and then when she came to recruit, she said, ‘Can you come try out?'”

Bury looks back fondly on being a part of the early years of Iowa’s field hockey program; she arrived in 1979, two seasons after the program started, under Davidson.

“When Judith started growing the field hockey brand at the university, the level of women’s sports really started taking a rise,” she says. “And you can see the footprint for women’s athletics really changing. So it’s interesting to watch the program, how it’s evolved. The program at Iowa has always been very strong in field hockey, and it has continued to attract top-level players.”

Bury tried out for the U.S. national team, playing in the Olympic Festival in 1981, 1982, and 1985. She stayed in Iowa City in the summers to train. “Culturally, it was different, just because being in the Midwest has a different feel than the East Coast,” she says. “I really enjoyed being there.”

Bury, who today lives in Texas with her husband, describes herself as a “serial entrepreneur.” She is president and CEO of 1STWEST Background Due Diligence, president and owner of Sue Bury Equestrian Sports, and a nationally competitive equestrian.

“As a woman CEO and 100 percent owner of my business, I’m a champion of women and the evolution of women as athletes,” she says. “I think as a Big Ten college and program, there’s so much opportunity for a woman that’s being offered by the University of Iowa.”

It’s why her induction into the Hall of Fame means so much to her.

“It took me back to my roots, made me appreciate how much the University of Iowa gave me,” Bury says. “I had a full-ride scholarship. I had a great education. I met great people. I had great coaches. I went to an institution that’s one of the best in the country. So I’m very proud.”

By John Bohnenkamp