BOCA RATON, Fla. — Joan Joyce, a multisport star who once struck out baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, died Saturday. She was 81.
Joyce was the only softball coach in the 28-year history of Florida Atlantic University. The school announced her death in a news release on Sunday.
“This is a terribly sad loss for the FAU family. Joan was a true sports legend, and we are grateful for the 28 years she spent here, modeling the best in personal and professional behavior for our student-athletes,” FAU President John Kelly said in a statement. “Joan’s legacy will live on at the university and across the country through the generations of young women she inspired to play -- and excel at -- softball and golf.”
Joyce had a 1,002-674-1 record as softball coach, the school said. She notched her 1,000th victory on March 18. Joyce led the Owls to 11 conference championships, 11 NCAA postseason tournaments and was named conference Coach of the Year eight times.
Joyce is one of 27 NCAA Division I softball coaches to reach 1,000 wins and the 43rd in any NCAA sport, according to Golfweek. She also coached FAU’s women’s golf team from 1996 to 2014, the school said.
Although Joyce is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for fewest putts in a round by an LPGA or PGA player -- she only needed 17 during a 1982 round -- her signature moment came in 1961, when she fanned Williams during a charity exhibition in Waterbury, Connecticut, in front of 17,000 fans.
“No matter where I go in this world, I always have people coming up to me saying, ‘You struck out Ted Williams,’” Joyce said in 2009, according to The Associated Press. “It always happens.”
Joyce also struck out baseball home run king Hank Aaron during a 1978 exhibition, according to Golfweek.
“She was something else,” Aaron said at the time. “That softball comes at you and rises up around your head by the time you swing at it.”
“I was never gonna let anybody beat me at anything. I was so competitive,” Joyce told MLB.com in 2020. “When I was facing Ted Williams, I was facing Ted Williams. Yeah, he probably should’ve hit me, but he didn’t.”
She spent 19 seasons playing on the LPGA Tour and was inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. Joyce was also inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Joyce also played basketball and volleyball, according to Golfweek. She was a four-time Women’s Basketball Association All-American and set the national tournament single-game scoring record in 1964 with 67 points. She also was a player/coach for the Connecticut Clippers of the United States Volleyball Association.
“We are very saddened to learn of Coach Joyce’s passing,” FAU Director of Athletics Brian White said in a statement. “Joan was one of the pillars that FAU Athletics was built upon. She was a legend in many ways and leaves a legacy at FAU and beyond that is unmatched. We are forever grateful for her nearly three decades of service to FAU and her student-athletes.”
Joyce joined the professional, Connecticut-based Raybestos Brakettes when she was 13 and pitched for 20 seasons, MLB.com reported. She had a 753-42 record threw 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games.
“There will always be great female players in a particular sport -- but there will never be another Joan Joyce,” Tony Renzoni, author of the 2019 book, “Connecticut Softball Legend Joan Joyce,” told MLB.com.