Molcak reflects on time at University of Lethbridge after seeing number retired

By Lethbridge Herald on August 19, 2022.

Shawna (Molcak) Kolaczek (middle) visited with current Pronghorns players and staff on Tuesday while getting to see her retired uniform up in the rafters of the 1st Choice Savings Centre gym.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

While Cardston’s Shawna (Molcak) Kolaczek missed the official jersey banner-raising ceremony for her No. 10 jersey retirement at the University of Lethbridge late last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was able to come to the city and enjoy seeing her uniform hanging in the rafters of the 1st Choice Savings Centre on Tuesday.

“It was very impressive,” said (Molcak) Kolaczek.

“Like I said, we came into the gym and they said look there it is and my daughter was also with me and my niece was at the thing. It was pretty impressive to see your number and your name up there in the rafters and know that it’s going to stay there forever … It makes me proud to know  I was there at the university and they thought I did so well at the university that they put the uniform up there in the rafters.”

(Molcak)Kolaczek donned the blue and gold from 1986 to 1991 and was the first U of L female athlete to have her jersey retired in school history.

Her accolades as a basketball player included  Canada West Player of the Year for the 1988-89 season, a four-time Canada West All-Star, three-time CIAU All-Canadian and the U of L Female Athlete of the Year four years running (1987-91).

(Molcak) Kolaczek is still the program’s all-time leader in points with 1,551 and assist 368 and point total is still among the top 15 in Canada West history.

“But like I said, I had a very successful career at U of L and I attributed a lot to the coaching I had,” said she said.

“I had Cal O’Brien starting out and he was well known in southern Alberta and all of Alberta as a great coach and the players that came out of Catholic Central were always some of the best players in Alberta and a lot of them were already on the U of L team there. And when I got there, I had some good players.”

(Molcak) Kolaczek grew up in a household with four brothers and two sisters who all played sports.

“My parents gave us every opportunity in the world,” she said.

“The weekend was spent driving from a gym or sports field and I think that helped me going into the university because my brothers didn’t take it easy, saying oh you know you’re just my little sister, you’re a girl. If  you want to play with us, you’re going to play like the boys play.”

She  went on to plat Division I basketball in Germany and Greece and was always at the top of the top of statistics charts.

“It (was) an experience,” she said.

“(And)a lot of things that I would have never seen or done had I not been a basketball player. I would never have gone to Russia, I would never have gone to Australia,  I would never have never been in Japan playing basketball. Basketball gave me a lot of opportunities that I never would have  had, had I not been playing basketball.”

Kolaczek resides in Germany with her two girls and plays some non-competitive basketball, softball and golf.

Lethbridge’s Perry Mirkovich’s No. 24 was also retired in the initial ceremony  lasy year for his efforts on men’s basketball team from 1975-1980.

Mirkovich was named to the Canada West All-Star team in each of his final three seasons and won back-to-back Canada West scoring titles in 1978-79 and 1979-80.

He also wrapped up his university career by being named to the CIAU All-Canadian team in his final season, and was honoured as the U of L Male Athlete of the Year in 1980.

He held the school’s all time-scoring record with 1,690 points, which has been a record in place for 20 years, and remains second on the all-time scoring list and is third in career rebounds with 757.

At the end of his Pronghorn career, Mirkovich held the school’s all-time scoring record with 1,690 points, a record in place for nearly 20 years. He still remains second on the all-time scoring list and is third in career rebounds with 757.