BYU Athletics mourns passing of Lu Wallace

PROVO, Utah — Former longtime BYU administrator of women's athletics, women's gymnastics coach and first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee Lu Wallace passed away at the age of 93 on Easter Sunday.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 17, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 155 West 1600 South in Orem, Utah. A viewing will take place prior to the services from 10:00-11:00 a.m. at the Church. Use the following link to view her obituary and share condolences with the family.  

Through 39 years of dedicated service to BYU, Wallace demonstrated a quiet efficiency and an unwavering determination to improve and provide new athletic opportunities for female student-athletes.

Wallace came to BYU as a physical education teacher in 1956 and continued to teach a wide variety of classes through the early 1990s. She also coached the women's gymnastics team from 1963-76, leading the Cougars to eight Intermountain Conference for College Women in Physical Education titles.

A national judge of local, state, and regional U.S. Gymnastics Federation meets, she designed numerous judges' tests for national certification in gymnastics. She also served on several committees at conference, regional, and national levels, including the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee and the USGF Test Administrator and Certification Committee.

Administrator of women's athletics from 1972-95, Wallace became the chief architect in building BYU's women’s athletic program to national prominence. From the early 1970s, when Title IX began its impact on intercollegiate athletics, she helped to lead and develop BYU's emerging program with discernment, integrity, and humor.

“Lu is the founder of [women's] intercollegiate athletics at BYU,” said the late Elaine Michaelis, who passed away a year ago on April 2 and had worked alongside Wallace as the head coach of BYU women's volleyball during Wallace's career. “She led the program from the Sports Day era (when the women’s sports season lasted all of one weekend) to the complex era of NCAA national championships.” 

During her administration, BYU dominated the Intermountain Athletic Conference, the High Country Athletic Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. Each of the nine sports under her supervision placed in the nation's top 15 at least once, with several teams regularly placing in the top 10.

The coaches Wallace supervised during her time at BYU received national, regional, and league honors; more than 100 athletes were named to athletic and academic All-America teams or won national academic awards or scholarships; and eight athletes won national individual titles.

Wallace herself received many honors and accolades. In 1965, she received the Utah Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Service Award. In 1980, 25 years of volunteer service brought her the Red Cross commemorative pin. In 1994, she was inducted into the Utah Summer Games' Hall of Honor.

In the spring of 1995, shortly after announcing her retirement from BYU, she was honored with the prestigious Dale Rex Memorial Award for her contributions to amateur athletics in the state of Utah. Later that year, she was inducted into the Utah Network for Girls and Women in Sport Hall of Fame and was named the District IV Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators. In 1998, she was a first-ballot inductee into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame.

A desire for accuracy and organization led Lu to compile historical records for each women's sport at BYU. In 1999, she published a 900-page historical volume entitled 100 Years of Women’s Sports at Brigham Young University–1899-1999, which is still referenced often by BYU's athletic communications team.

Each year, the senior female student-athlete at BYU who most clearly demonstrates high athletic and academic performance, as well as sportsmanship, is honored at the annual Y Awards with the Lu Wallace Outstanding Senior Award. This award recognizes the individual's exceptional achievement, named in honor of the great legacy Wallace created at BYU. 

An Idaho native, she received a bachelor's degree from Utah State University and an MS from Washington State University before completing postgraduate work at the University of Nevada, Reno. She held the rank of full athletic professional at BYU, a title that describes Lu Wallace perfectly.