Xavier’s Sister Lynn Winsor announces retirement

PHOENIX – Few have done more for girls high school sports in Arizona than Xavier College Prep pioneer Sister Lynn Winsor. 

While on her path to becoming the most dominant high school golf coach in the nation, Winsor also opened doors which were previously shut for aspiring Arizona female athletes in all sports.

After 52 years with the private Catholic school in central Phoenix, and with a mountain of championships and memories, the longtime Title IX advocate announced her retirement on Jan. 26 through a simple campus press release. 

It was fitting for a woman with a larger-than-life personality, who took little credit through the years for Xavier’s success. 

Winsor has served with Xavier for the majority of her life as the athletic director, vice principal and golf coach. The local legend holds a national record 40 state championships from her 47 seasons at the head of Xavier’s girls golf program, and throughout her tenure, Xavier has won  163 state titles in all sports.

In 2018, Winsor was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. She has also been named national high school athletic director of the year, National Federation Coaches Association golf coach of the year twice, and was named the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s golf coach of the decade. 

“I have never been a great golfer, never was,” Winsor said. “I’m a motivator. I get kids excited about it. I’m a lot of fun, but when it comes to the skills you always have somebody with you who’s better. I will not take the credit for that.”

Over the years, Winsor has coached some of women’s golf’s best talents to come out of Arizona, including Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, Grace Park, Amanda Blumenherst, Heather Farr and Missy Farr-Kaye, who is now Arizona State’s women’s golf coach. 

Winsor was also a founding member of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s girls equity and sports committee and she cofounded the Arizona Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. She created opportunities for girls to play soccer, flag football, beach volleyball and other sports. 

“Boys had soccer, but we had nothing for girls here,” Winsor said. “So myself, Phoenix Country Day, Orme Ranch and another (school) said ‘Let’s start our own little league.’ All we had were old shorts and old T-shirts but people found out about it. That was in ‘85 and now everybody has freshmen, JV and varsity teams.”

“Sista,” as Winsor is known around campus, isn’t officially retiring until June, but students and staff alike have already begun paying tribute to her time with the school.

“Since we heard Sister Lynn is retiring, all the captains from all the sports did a little tribute to her and then we sang the alma mater,” said Xavier senior Zoie Alexander. “It was really sweet and she started tearing up. You could really see how much Xavier means to her.”

Winsor’s time at Xavier began as a student in 1958. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State in 1965 and her master’s from Iowa in 1972. Winsor became Xavier’s athletic director in 1977, and 48 years later, the school renamed its activity center the “Winsor Activity Center.”

“When somebody names something after you, I think ‘Oh, no, that means you’re getting old,’” Winsor said. “It’s funny, they put it up and I didn’t even know they did it. It’s a nice tribute, because I remember way back when we had nothing.”

As she steps down, Winsor is passing the baton over to Xavier’s current athletic director and golf coach, Tui Selvaratnam, who has been with the school for 20 years. 

“Sister Lynn is kind of an energizer bunny,” Selvaratnam said. “She’s very active, and she’s always promoting women’s sports. She’s always wanted to give young women the opportunity to play.” 

Filling Winsor’s shoes won’t be easy, but watching her in action over the last couple decades has given Selvaratnam all the motivation she needs to follow in her footsteps. 

“I’ve seen how hard she has worked to build this school,” Selvaratnam said. “She’s given almost all her life to this place, and what she has done for all her student athletes and the alumni that have gone before her has just been amazing. I just want to give that same experience to everyone else that comes through.” 

Once she has officially retired, Winsor plans to move to Iowa in July. 

Her presence will be missed on Xavier’s campus, but Winsor intends to carry the school and its principles with her for the rest of her life. 

“I’ve been blessed for fifty-two years, and I’m going to continue the cause of Xavier wherever I go,” Winsor said. “I always say, ‘Go Gators, and God bless.’”

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