Jackie Hufnell attended West Chester State College, now West Chester University, where she was a three sport letter winner in field hockey, basketball and softball. She was inducted into West Chester University’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She’s also in the Pennsylvania and National Lacrosse Halls of Fame. Hufnell has also been recognized by the Chester County commissioners as an inspiration and role model for young women and girls. As an umpire, Hufnell has been running up and down hockey fields for 41 years and is still doing so. In lacrosse, she has served as an umpire for 27 years and is one of just 33 women in the world who can officiate at international lacrosse competitions. After graduating from West Chester in 1966, Hufnell coached girls’ basketball at Downingtown High School from 1966 to 1974. A physical education and health teacher at Lionville
Junior High from 1978 to 1997, Hufnell was back at Downingtown as assistant coach to the school’s girls’ basketball team when it won state titles in 1991 and 1992. “It was really special . . . cutting that net down at Hershey. It doesn’t get any better than that, let me tell you,” she said. She’s worked the final four of the NCAA championships in lacrosse 12 times and was an umpire at the 1993 World Cup of lacrosse in Scotland and the 1997 World Cup in Japan. She served as a technical delegate for the 2001 World Cup in England, was selected to tour with the U.S. team in 1992 in Australia, and officiated and assisted with clinics in Europe, including the 2004 Prague Cup in the Czech Republic.