SUU Hall of Famer reflects on 40 years competing in Utah Summer Games

CEDAR CITY — In 1986, Paula Jenson was a former Southern Utah University athlete who still wanted a chance to compete with fellow athletes. Lucky for her, that was the inaugural year of the Utah Summer Games.

Every year since then, Jenson, now 63, has found a way to participate in the games, with an ever-evolving purpose.

"As college athletes, you go from competing, and then suddenly you graduate and you don't have that," she said. "In the beginning, participating in the Utah Summer Games was a way to still compete after college, and now it's a way to keep active and connect with people."

The Utah Summer Games, now known as the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer games, is held each summer in Cedar City. The Olympic-style event is celebrating 40 years this year and has a wide range of events anywhere from track and field to arm wrestling. For Jenson, volleyball is her chosen sport.

In fact, she is an Athletic Hall of Fame inductee both at Southern Utah University and Cedar High School, where she played both basketball and volleyball.

At SUU, which was then named Southern Utah State College, Jenson played middle blocker and led her team to four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships and two District VII Titles. She also helped her team finish fourth in the nation at the NAIA National Tournament in 1981. As a basketball player at the college, she received honorable mention All-RMAC from 1981-83 and earned Academic All-American status in 1982.

"Back then, it was pretty new for girls to participate in sports, and so my exposure was more just PE classes in middle school and high school," she said. "They didn't have the opportunities they have now."

She is also a newly retired administrator for Iron County School District who has spent years coaching and officiating. She said that it was rewarding to watch the younger generation be able to participate in the sports that made her who she is today, adding that the Utah Summer Games offer a unique opportunity for athletes of all ages and abilities a chance to compete in a fun environment.

"I think the games are a good thing to have in the summer when all the high schools and all of the clubs are not going," she said. "For adults, it's a way to get together and reconnect with former players. For me, that's what it's about. It's not really about winning; it's more just playing with your friends and connecting.

"The volleyball competitions are't divided into age rankings, so I get to be the old lady against all these young athletes," she added. "It's something I look forward to every year."

The Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games run through June, with the Opening Ceremonies Friday night at the Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City.

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