Jackie Cipollini

Softball/Volleyball
Shortstop/Hitter
(1976-78)

Inducted 1986

Jackie Cipollini may be one of the most talented athletes to ever don the Blue and Gold in the University of New Haven’s illustrious athletic history.   The junior college transfer was the Most Valuable Player for the softball team in the 1976 and 1978 seasons, and won the Most Improved Player award for volleyball in 1976, her first season.  She was a superb shortstop in every sense of the word.  She could hit, run, field, and basically do anything on the field because she was such a fine athlete.  The only reason she didn’t play basketball for UNH was because she played semi-pro hoops with the All-American Chicks, a team that played many male teams on the East Coast and also made trips to Alaska quite often.  Jackie played amateur softball with the Raybestos Robins, and made her debut at the tender age of 15.  After school, she became the first female police officer in the town of Guilford.  Indeed, Jackie Cipollini always was and still is a professional in the true sense of the word.