Serving up success

Watching her on the court playing racquetball or teaching courses at the Altoona Campus, Fredina Ingold's serious side is as hard to find as a free moment in her day.

Her husband and 1½-year-old daughter mean so much to her because, for many years, the branches of her family tree were nearly bare.

Her grandparents passed away.

Her mother died while she was in high school.

Her father died two weeks before she was to compete in the National Racquetball Championship in 1988.

At first, Ingold was too grief-stricken to make the trip to Houston, but her sister convinced her to still play.

"My sister said, 'Do it for our father, Fredina. If nothing else, keep that in mind'," said Ingold, who is named after her father.

Ingold would cry between matches.

At night, she was so sore from hitting and chasing balls that she could barely walk and would go right to sleep.

After playing more than 10 matches, she won the national title.

Sitting on a couch in her living room, Ingold keeps looking at Taylor as she talks about her only child.

She occasionally wipes the nose of the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl with a tissue.

Before she can say more about her family, Taylor brings her all the remote controls lying around the simply decorated living room, asking to watch The Fox and the Hound.

Normally, Taylor does not get to watch videos, but Ingold gives in because Taylor is fighting an ear infection.

nHaving appeased the toddler, Ingold can concentrate on talking about her family.

n"I don't have any parents. My grandparents have passed on, so (Taylor) was like a gift. That's the serious side of me. She really is a gift," she said as her voice became softer. "I finally feel like I have a family you can't take away from me."

Although Ingold often calls her daughter a gift, her doctors would probably refer to Taylor as a miracle.

"I was 42 when I had her. They said I would never have children . . . because I was so athletic when I was younger," said Ingold who will turn 43 this month.

Not only did Ingold prove them wrong, but in many ways, she broke the mold for pregnant women.

She never missed a day of work and never had morning sickness.

With a bulging stomach, she still taught her aerobic and racquetball classes at the Altoona Campus, where she is director of student marketing and athletics.

"I had this extra 25 pounds behind my swing so I was absolutely killing the ball," said Ingold, smoothing her hair pulled back in a youthful French braid.

The next day at the hospital, doctors tried for eight hours to induce labor because Ingold had carried the baby to term.

"I was playing cards and laughing and saying this is a piece of cake," she said. "I never had any pains."

The only time Ingold worried was when the doctors told her they were going to do a Cesarean section to deliver Taylor.

As the doctors and nurses explained her options, Ingold looked up at her husband with tears in her eyes and at the picture of her father beside her hospital bed.

A few hours later, Ingold had a beautiful 9-pound baby girl.

"I look at Taylor and I get into a self-pity mood every now and then. I think, I have this beautiful little girl . . . and no one is here to see her," she said.

"My father always wanted me to have a child. I just think that maybe they can see her."

And if Ingold's parents could see Taylor, they would see a child who very much resembles her independent, willful mother.

When Taylor started getting cranky, Ingold's husband asked, "Taylor, are you tired? Do you want to take a nap?"

Her answer was immediate and simple: "No."

A family is not the only thing Ingold started late in life.

The former state and national racquetball champion never played the game until she was 28 years old.

Ingold did not learn racquetball from a master, but from a book she bought at a store after the Altoona Campus asked her to teach a racquetball class.

Although she had never played racquetball before, she had always been athletic.

Ingold had danced since she was 3.

But, at 5-feet-2-inches, Ingold never grew tall enough to achieve her dream of becoming a Rockette.

When she attended Penn State, she played volleyball and softball.

Ingold taught the class and the next thing she knew a friend talked her into playing at a tournament in Johnstown.

She found a sponsor and won the National Racquetball Championship in 1988.

She also won two other women's state singles titles, two open doubles state titles and two mixed double championships.

Despite her accomplishments, Ingold said racquetball was never the center of her life.

"I was never the serious-type person on the court. It wasn't my life so I probably didn't go as far as I could have," she said. "I just had fun."

Ingold temporarily stopped playing racquetball after having Taylor.

But she got back into the sport when University President Graham Spanier asked if she would play some matches with him.

"Dr. Spanier has been a big part of me playing racquetball again . . . I was working so much and it just wasn't important any more."

Spanier said he thought Ingold was ready to get back in the game.

"My invitation to her to play racquetball wasn't a very heroic act. I knew I would be challenged to step up to another level, and indeed my play has improved because of her," he said.

"On the one hand, I think it's great that she is again beating everyone from here to Timbuktu. On the other hand, I wish I weren't such a constant victim."

Although she excels at racquetball, Ingold has an equal number of accomplishments off the court.

As director of student marketing, she received the Outstanding Service to Students Achievement Award for increasing student enrollment at the campus two years in a row.

As director of athletics, Ingold wants to make sports at the campus Division III by the fall of 1998.

She also wants to add other sports, including swimming, softball and golf.

Just a few years ago, the campus did not even have varsity sports as they were cut due to budget constraints.

Working with the campus executive officer, Allen Meadors, the two were able to revitalize the sports program.

"He's been very supportive in bringing back varsity sports," she said.

"There are so many positive things here from the campus itself to the wonderful faculty."

As she changes from sweat suits to business suits, students in her classes get to see her lighter side.

She shared with them her pregnancy stories and tales that seem to come straight from an episode of "I Love Lucy."

Once, Ingold was vacuuming her living room.

At the time, her hair reached her waist. She bent down to pick something up and her hair got sucked into the Hoover vacuum cleaner.

"I swear, my whole head was sucked into the vacuum cleaner. I dove to the floor. My eyes were pulled so tight," said Ingold, with accompanying hand motions.

But Ingold's husband is not the only one to remember sitcom-like incidents.

Ingold's co-workers have seen their share.

In addition to long hair, Ingold used to have long nails.

When one of them broke, she decided to get superglue and reattach it.

"I put it in my mouth to get off the cap, but the cap was already off, and it glued by lips together," she said.

"It took cold water and the one other instructor to pry my lips apart," she recalled with a smile.

Although the accidents may seem comical, Ingold says they are the result of her hectic schedule and working both in admissions and athletics at the Altoona Campus.

"I'm usually going 100 mph," she said.

"It's crazy. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful staff that works with me."

Part of her staff is Becky Cates, a freshman who has a work study position in the admissions office.

Cates said after working with Ingold she took up racquetball and changed her major from education to business administration.

"She's just great. I love working for her," Cates said.

"She's my mentor. I look at how she's climbed the ladder at Penn State."

Although Ingold works hard, Cates said she never overlooks the simple things in life.

One day, Cates went with Ingold to the Altoona Area High School to talk to students about college.

At one point, Ingold got up from the table and went to a nearby window.

"She took us one by one from the admissions table and made us watch the sunset," Cates said.

-"She was in awe. She thought it was so beautiful. She wanted us to share the same feelings she had."

-And the sun is still rising on Ingold's career.

She said she does not know in what direction her job will take her in the future, but she does know her top concern.

-"Just to be a good mother. That's my main goal," she said. "To be a good mother and to be there for Taylor as long as I possibly can."

-She pauses for a moment, deep in thought.

"To enjoy life," she adds to her goals. "I'm very thankful for everything I've done and what I've been given . . . When a door closes a window opens. No matter what happens, it happens for a reason. Life is too short not to enjoy it."