Sept. 11, 2014 BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Former Western Washington University student-athlete Jo Metzger-Levin has been named the first recipient of the Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award. The announcement was made Thursday at the 25th Annual Key Bank Viking Night Dinner and Auction held at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

Funds raised from the annual event are used for scholarships and support of the WWU Athletics program.

Metzger-Levin was selected from a number of nominees for best exhibiting the attributes of passion, strength, courage and leadership personified by Goodrich during her 25 years as WWU athletics director. Goodrich, who also coached women's basketball 19 seasons for the Vikings, retired in May of 2013.

During a 33-year teaching career at Everett High School, Metzger-Levin has coached basketball for 17 seasons and been director of athletics for four.

Metzger-Levin, who was coached by Goodrich, was arguably the best women's basketball player in WWU history. An Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division II All-American in 1980 and 1981, Metzger-Levin was a finalist both seasons for the Wade Trophy which goes to the nation's top women's collegiate basketball player. She finished her four-year career holding 15 school records and was named the school's Female Athlete of the Century in 1999.

A member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, WWU and Snohomish County Hall of Fames, Metzger-Levin scored 1,990 career points for the Vikings and was a four-time all-league and all-region selection. Last spring, she was named recipient of the Larry "Go Vikings!" Taylor Alumni Service Award.

Metzger-Levin funds a scholarship for women's basketball and is working to build the Goodrich-Carmen Dolfo Endowment for Excellence in Women's Basketball, which will boost the next generation of Viking female hoopsters.