Tammy Panich - Outstanding Athletic Achievement

In 2006, GCC Hall of Fame inductee Mike Haney challenged the school to not only bring men's golf back in to the program but to establish a women's team at the same time. He could not have envisioned that it would take less than five years for the team to be not only competitive, but produce the first women's individual state champion in school history in that sport.

That distinction belongs to Tammy Panich, who won the state title in 2010 in a card-off after playing 36 holes at Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino. She said she expected here to be a playoff after the tie, but was shocked to learn that she had won the title based on her better score on the back nine during the final round.

"Thinking about it now, it seems just like yesterday. I felt sad for the other player because she had finished second the previous year," said Panich from her home in Michigan. "But winning the state championship was a great thrill, playing golf for Glendale College. Of all the schools I attended, I had the best experience at Glendale and playing for Head Coach Greg Osbourne."

Panich graduated from Glendale High in 2009 and had a difficult year at Cal State Northridge in the fall before reaching out to Osbourne who was taking over the women's program in 2010 at GCC. Osbourne was already the men's golf coach for the Vaqueros and he was looking for a solid, cornerstone type of player for the Lady Vaqs and targeted Panich as soon as he got the job.

"Tammy Panich was the face of Glendale College Women's Golf five years ago and I believe she still is. To accomplish what she did that first year and the adversity she faced is still unbelievable to me," said Osbourne, who coached the GCC women to state runner-up team finishes in 2011and 2012. "She was exactly the type of player Glendale College needed at the time and her success was a beacon for us to recruit tother good players and help the program become among the best in the state."

That magical 2010 season for Panich was almost derailed from the beginning after she had an appendectomy before the season started that caused her to miss the first match of the season and play the second in pain with bandages still covering her wound.

But she battled through her health issues to win the Western State Conference title, finish second in the Southern California Regionals and then win state and earn All-American honors. She transferred to Texas A & M International University and won her first tournament there, but her playing career was basically over before she completed a semester at Cal Baptist and then graduated from Northwood University.

For a girl who said she reluctantly played golf as a junior player and didn't start enjoying it until her junior year at Glendale High when she earned all-league honors playing for the boys team, Tammy Panich can look back on the solid career that she had culminating in a state championship and induction into the GCC Athletic Hall of Fame.