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 News
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MFS News April 14, 2008
MFS COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS OF LEGENDARY COACH FLORENCE "FLOSS" BRUDON
Please send us your memories of Floss Brudon. These will be used in a Floss Brudon memory book and some messages may be posted on the MFS website. The Moorestown Friends School community mourns the loss of former physical education teacher and coaching legend Florence “Floss” Brudon, who died Saturday, April 12, at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, at the age of 87. Miss Brudon was a resident of Medford Leas and still an ardent supporter of MFS athletics. She coached four sports at the school: field hockey (1950-1983), girls basketball (1949-1967), girls lacrosse (1958-1982) and girls tennis (1950-1957). She had been a popular interview subject recently as she was the last survivor of the four coaches who brought high school lacrosse to South Jersey 50 years ago. “Floss positively influenced the lives of hundreds of Moorestown Friends students,” said Head of School Larry Van Meter, MFS Class of 1968, who had Miss Brudon as a physical education teacher in the 1950s. “While she and her teams experienced a great deal of success on the playing fields and courts, her impact on young people’s lives went far beyond sports. She provided life lessons that her former athletes and students still carry with them today. Our community is so fortunate to have been the beneficiary of over half a decade of service to the school by such an extraordinary woman.” While she accumulated over 400 coaching victories at MFS, Miss Brudon is remembered by many former athletes for her ability to develop character and teamwork with an unwavering commitment to sportsmanship. “My fondest memories revolve around lacrosse, a sport she taught but never played," said co-founder and executive director of the National Coalition of Girl’s Schools Elizabeth Whitney “Whitty” Ransome, MFS Class of ’63. “‘Taught’ is probably too bland a word to describe Floss’ lacrosse legacy. It is she who brought the sport into the lives of hundreds of young MFS women like me. For many it became a passion and a formative team experience. For Floss it was one of her greatest triumphs as a coach. The playing fields of Moorestown Friends were Floss’ classroom. The lessons I learned there get played out still in my daily life.” Miss Brudon coached the Moorestown Friends girls lacrosse team to seven undefeated seasons, which included a state championship in 1980. Her teams in the 1960s amassed six undefeated seasons in seven years (1961-1963, 1965-1967). MFS won the prestigious Philadelphia Women’s Lacrosse Association Play Day Tournament championship in 1965 – the first New Jersey school to win the tournament which is no longer held. She coached lacrosse players that became collegiate All-Americans and members of NCAA championship teams, along with numerous college, high school and club coaches. In 1985 she was presented with the Bea Markwick Award as the South Jersey Distinguished Coach of the Year. She was inducted into the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame in 1998. Miss Brudon coached the MFS field hockey team to two undefeated seasons, which included a South Jersey Group I championship in 1976. She also coached the school’s girls basketball team to an undefeated season in 1959. After retiring from teaching and coaching, Miss Brudon served for many years as the archivist in the Moorestown Friends School development office. In 2000 she received the Support Staff Distinguished Service Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for her work on the school archives. She also volunteered in the fitness and aquatics department at Medford Leas. In 2002, she received the Moorestown Friends School Alumni Association Service Award. Ms. Brudon was a graduate of West Chester University and Langhorne Middletown High School in Langhorne, PA. She is survived by her nephew and his wife, Chick and Sharon Brudon, of Clearfield, PA. A memorial Meeting for Worship will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2008, at 11 a.m. at the Moorestown Friends Meeting House. Gifts in Miss Brudon’s memory may be made to the Floss Brudon Endowment for Coaching at Moorestown Friends School, established in her honor in 2005, 110 E. Main St., Moorestown, NJ 08057. Recent articles containing interviews and information about Floss Brudon: Click here to read a recent SJ Magazine article tracing the roots of lacrosse in South Jersey. Read about the 50th anniversary of lacrosse at Moorestown Friends School, an article from Among Friends magazine written prior to Ms. Brudon's passing and filled with tributes to her from former athletes.
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110 E. Main Street Moorestown, NJ 08057-2949 Phone: (856) 235-2900 |
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