Page and Narda Cotton endow student scholarship and Athletics Hall of Fame at DePauw University
Page Cotton (MA ’71) and Narda Greising Cotton ’72 have made a gift to DePauw University that will endow and name the Page and Narda Cotton Athletics Hall of Fame and establish the Page and Narda Cotton Endowed Scholarship as part of DePauw’s commitment to meet the full demonstrated financial need of incoming students. Page and Narda are both passionate about the student-athlete experience and its lasting impact on alumni.
“Fostering a high-quality student-athlete experience has been at the forefront of my mind throughout my four decades at DePauw,” Page says. “We’ve created an athletic opportunity that develops leaders with a willingness to work hard to achieve a goal. They learn to be team players striving for excellence.”
Narda adds, “The student-athlete experience creates some of the strongest friendships and ties to our alma mater that can’t be experienced any other way. This institutional pride and lifelong friendships keep the gold within ignited for alumni the rest of their lives.”
In making their endowed gift to support the Page and Narda Cotton Athletics Hall of Fame and the Page and Narda Cotton Endowed Scholarship, Page says, “My thought was to make a gift that would affect the athletic department as a whole throughout the years. I have known, taught or coached many of the alumni who are being inducted into the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame. It felt like a way to celebrate that the student-athlete experience is a meaningful and life-changing one. And with the scholarship, we’re able to continue providing opportunities for current and future students as well.”
The gift will be announced publicly during the Page and Narda Cotton Athletics Hall of Fame Weekend at DePauw University on Sept. 19, 2026.
Page and Narda have a long history with the university, beginning during their student years, when Page earned a master’s degree in education and Narda earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. Family members who have attended DePauw include a son, Narda’s four brothers, two sisters-in-law and a niece.
The couple planted their roots in Greencastle and at DePauw. Narda became a schoolteacher in the local community, while Page became the university’s head men’s soccer coach and a professor of kinesiology. In 1996, Page was named DePauw University’s director of athletics and recreational sports, a position he held for 15 years before being named a special adviser to the university president.
Page served as head coach of the men’s soccer team for 39 seasons, amassing a 390-190-33 record and posting a .500 or better record in each of his final 26 seasons. He also served as men’s basketball head coach for three seasons (1978-79 through 1980-81), men’s tennis head coach in two stints covering seven seasons (1974-75 through 1976-77 and 1981-82 through 1984-85) and women’s basketball head coach for the final eight games of the 1992-93 season. A respected professor of kinesiology at DePauw, Page received the Medora C. Adams Distinguished Professor Award in April 2004.
During Page’s tenure as the university’s director of athletics, DePauw teams won 94 conference team championships, including 76 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Tigers won the SCAC President’s Trophy, the conference’s all-sports award, seven times in their 13 years in the conference. Nationally, DePauw placed in the top 40 of the Division III Directors’ Cup standings nine times. In all 15 years, the Tigers finished as the highest-ranked Indiana Division III institution.
Page oversaw the hosting of nearly 30 NCAA Division III championship events, including three national championships. Athletic facility upgrades completed under his leadership included the Lilly Center fitness center expansion, Blackstock Stadium renovations and construction of the softball field, all in 1997, as well as completion of the DePauw Indoor Tennis and Track Center in 2001. “Page and Narda Cotton have been integral members of the DePauw community, our athletic culture and our philanthropic tradition for nearly 50 years,” said DePauw University President Lori S. White. “They have been dedicated to the success of thousands of DePauw students, student-athletes and alumni. It is beautifully appropriate to have the iconic Cotton name gracing the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame, as well as an endowed scholarship, which will empower and celebrate the DePauw experience for generations to come.”