NAMPA, Idaho – Picture a pair of elementary age girls rushing home from school along the dusty streets of 1960s Nampa.

The girls – Sandy and Barb – are eager to get home, drop off their books (for Barb, a huge tenor saxophone as well) and get over to the baseball diamond across the street where their dad, Elmore Vail, was busy managing a baseball doubleheader.

Nampa was different then. Smaller, more tight-knit. There was no Costco or Target and the freeway only offered three exits for the Boise suburb. The campus still had active roads across it, Chapman Hall was standing and the baseball diamond was where the gym parking lot is now.

Sandy and Barb, along with older sister Marilyn and younger brother Jay, basically grew up on campus. Their dad was a basketball coach, baseball coach, athletic director and campus administrator, eventually having the baseball diamond at the school named after him. Their mom, Jeanne, worked in Admissions and the Registrar's office, before working as the secretary at College Church of the Nazarene for many years.

The Vail family is synonymous with Northwest Nazarene's campus and community and for that reason, Sandy Cudmore and Barb Robertson are the two honorees for the 45^th annual 'The Legends' Golf Classic presented by RW Investment Management on May 29 at Ridgecrest Golf Club in Nampa.

"Like her dad, Barb's enduring love and care for NNU's students, faculty and staff, is littered throughout campus and is one of the reasons that NNU is so special," said Kelli Lindley, NNU vice president for external relations and former athletic director. "As long as I have been at NNU, Sandy has been a constant fixture in the Johnson Sports Center or out at the Elmore Vail baseball field.

"Her unwavering commitment to showing up and giving back to NNU has been a significant source of inspiration for our coaches and student-athletes. She has modeled what it looks like to persevere and find joy, regardless of the wins and losses that life brings our way."

Sandy and Barb both attended Northwest Nazarene in the 1970s, with Sandy being a four-year club tennis star (this was before women's athletics were varsity sports) and Barb playing the sport for one year.

Sandy graduated in 1974, while Barb got married near the end of her freshman year and moved to Moscow, Idaho, with her husband, Dick.

Here the tales of these sisters and best friends diverged, as Barb eventually settled in Denver, Colorado, for a decade. Sandy became a school teacher and coached tennis at Capital and Boise high schools and eventually taught high school in Idaho Falls.

While visiting her parents for Easter in 1983 with her daughter, Sandy had a cerebral hemorrhage, which ended up paralyzing her on the right side of her body.

The Cudmores immediately moved back to Nampa and Sandy became a season-ticket holder for Northwest Nazarene teams that fall.

Season tickets she has renewed every year since.

"Going to the basketball games was a no-brainer for us, because it meant we could spend more time with my parents," Cudmore said. "Then when my dad died in December 1985, we felt like it was natural to keep going to the games. I was lucky to have a husband who loved sports as much as I did."

Dick and Barb, meanwhile, returned to the Treasure Valley in 1989. Eighteen years later, athletic director Rich Sanders had an opening for an assistant athletic director in charge of compliance and hired Barb for the role.

"While working together in the athletic department, her care and concern for each and every member of the staff and each student-athlete was apparent," Sanders said of Robertson. "She helped in the development of many athletic department policies. She is very organized and developed procedures and documentation for the many requirements needed in the transition to NCAA Division II."

Following in her parents' footsteps at Northwest Nazarene was something Robertson had always hoped would happen.

"Being hired at NNU was one of my life goals realized," Robertson said. "I never dreamed it would be in athletics – I figured it would be in admissions or the registrar's office. It was one of the most fun periods of time in my life and it was good timing to finish out my career."

While in her role, Robertson mentored Lindley, who was then the school's women's basketball coach.

"I always tell Kelli, it's not that I helped her get the job (as AD), I helped you see that you could do it," Robertson said. "It is a great privilege to be able to have stayed close and stayed in contact and feel like you have contributed to the school a little bit."

While Cudmore never worked for the school, her involvement in the old Crusaders Family Program during the 1980s and '90s impacted many student-athletes, as she – and Barb – welcomed athletes into their homes.

One of those athletes was Jennie (née Fowler) Devore, who played four years for the women's team from 1992-96 and is now a teacher and athletics director at Eagle Middle School.

"Sandy was such an encouragement to me during those college years," Devore said. "It meant so much to me, the kind notes that she wrote. She really did make me feel like we were family, because she was always so supportive whether I was struggling or if things were going well. I will always be grateful."

The athletes would receive home cooked meals and generally just have fun at the houses of the Crusader Family program sponsors. One Sunday, the sisters combined their meal and had everyone over to ride horses and shoot guns. The basketball players lost to the Vail granddaughters at clay pigeon shooting, much to the delight of everyone involved.

"Our mom had opened our home to NNC basketball and baseball teams as far back as I remember," Cudmore said. "It seemed natural. Looking back on it, it was our way of honoring her. We had a lot of fun times."

Fun times from when they were young girls idolizing their parents to present day as they continue the lifetime work of the Vail family on our campus.