Power of Persuasion: With a Little Help, Nancy Stewart Sott Decides on Hometown Hillsdale College
Written by Doug Goodnough
A college visit to Wayne State University ironically led to Nancy Stewart Sott, ’88, to attend Hillsdale College.
Growing up in Hillsdale, Sott was a standout high school basketball and volleyball player who was getting recruited by several Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools.
But not Hillsdale.
However, that quickly changed when she was on a recruiting visit to Wayne State in the heart of Detroit. She happened to run into then-Hillsdale Athletic Director Jack McAvoy.
“Coach Mac saw me there and said, ‘What are you doing?’” Sott said. “I said, ‘Touring the school and talking to the basketball coach.’ He said, ‘I don’t want you playing for a competing school. You need to come and tour Hillsdale.’”
That tour quickly happened, and Hillsdale offered her a volleyball and basketball scholarship.
“I can’t beat that with a stick,” said Sott, who quickly accepted. “It was one of the best schools out there.”
She said attending college in her hometown worked out well both personally and professionally.
“My mom would not let me live at home,” said Sott, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Hillsdale football coaching legend Frank “Muddy” Waters and attended many Chargers athletic events. “She wanted me to embrace the college atmosphere and not go back and forth.”
Being a two-sport college athlete was demanding, especially when the seasons overlapped.
“It was tough,” Sott said of the schedule, which also included a rigorous business and finance course load. “I don’t think people realize that playing college sports is a job. I was in the gym at least six to eight hours a day. I was praying for games (to be played) so I wouldn’t have to go to one of the practices. It was difficult, but you make it work.”
She played power forward and center for most of her basketball career, and earned the team’s Sixth Woman of the Year Award during her freshman and junior seasons.
“I just hustled and knew all the plays at whatever position I played,” said Sott, who was known for her defense and rebounding. “Lord knows they wouldn’t let me dribble.”
Although the team didn’t experience much success on the court, she said the camaraderie of her teammates made it a memorable experience.
“That was key for a small school,” she said.
That small school experience helped her land her first job with Federal Mogul in the automotive industry. After graduation, Sott was one of 26 new hires in the company’s management training program that focused on recruiting small-school student-athletes.
Her career took her out east, where she worked in Syracuse and Albany in New York, then Philadelphia, before finally settling in the Boston area. Earlier this year she accepted a position with NTN International in the regional logistics department.
Sott met her late husband, Larry, in 1994, through a wrong number phone call. They married in 1995. He passed away in 2018. She has one daughter, Gabi, three stepdaughters, and three grandchildren. Residing in Litchfield, New Hampshire, the “soccer grandma” said she is an hour away from the beach, the ski slopes, and Boston.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” said Sott, who is back on the slopes after a successful double hip replacement. “It’s a lot like upper Michigan.”
She said she remembers her Hillsdale experience fondly. One of the best decisions she made at Hillsdale was joining the Chi Omega sorority.
“It broadened my friendships,” Sott said. “It helps you grow as a person instead of just being pigeonholed into the sporting part of college.
“I got a fabulous education. Even all the way out here in Boston, the Hillsdale name is known as prestigious and elite.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in October 2023