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Hall of Famer Polley recovering from illness

Maurene Polley sits at her kitchen table beside a bowl of Chex Mix, paging through an album of her newborn granddaughter as an NFL game plays on a television near the window.

Maureen Polley. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)
Maureen Polley. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)Read more

Maurene Polley sits at her kitchen table beside a bowl of Chex Mix, paging through an album of her newborn granddaughter as an NFL game plays on a television near the window.

Throughout the house are photos and other memorabilia that celebrate Polley's 45-year coaching career with Villa Maria Academy's field hockey program.

Near the kitchen hangs a decorative sign inscribed with the word hope - an emotion Polley said she never lost during the last year and a half, a time in her life when she needed it most.

In April 2013, while visiting some of her former players in Maryland, Polley suffered a seizure. She was rushed to a hospital and soon after flown to Penn Medicine, where she underwent surgery. Doctors diagnosed her with multiple burst aneurysms and strokes.

Polley remembers none of it.

The illness sidelined her for the entire 2013 season and ended her career as field hockey coach and athletic director at Villa Maria, the school from which she graduated in 1964.

"I couldn't walk, and I couldn't talk," said Polley, a member of the National Field Hockey Hall of Fame. "I didn't even think about field hockey at that time. I thought about getting better."

Polley's recovery was difficult, she said, but an outpouring of support made it more bearable. There were so many flowers in her hospital room at Bryn Mawr Rehab, she said, that it looked more like a florist's shop than a medical facility. Through the entire experience, her husband said, Polley never lost her sense of humor.

"We were all devastated and shocked," said Alexa Ostoich, a senior on Villa Maria's field hockey team. "But then once we visited her, you could tell she was still herself. Her smile was the same smile. It was an amazing feeling. . . . We still felt like she was with us."

"To see her come sick and rebound the way she did was inspiring to everybody," said Erika Miller, who played under Polley at Villa Maria for two seasons.

Stepping down at Villa Maria wasn't easy, Polley said, but doing so was the only realistic choice because of her medical situation. Villa Maria hired former Colorado Academy coach Daan Polders to take over its field hockey team. Polders said he hopes he can put his own mark on the program that Polley built for nearly a half-century.

As Polley's recovery continued, first-year Great Valley coach and Villa Maria alumna Claire Emplit called Polley and asked if she would be interested in volunteering as an assistant coach this fall.

Polley, 67, gave the possibility some thought and consulted her husband.

"Go for it," Ron Polley told his wife of 45 years. "You know you want to."

Polley accepted the offer. She assists Emplit a few days a week at Great Valley and said she has loved the renewed challenge of working with athletes.

"It felt so good to be on that field again," Polley said. "I felt so at home."

This fall, Polley will be inducted into West Chester University's Athletics Hall of Fame. Emplit said she wasn't surprised at how her former coach bounced back from her illness.

"I know that field hockey is her heart and soul," Emplit said. "I am glad to be able to give her the opportunity to be back on the field. . . . She can help me, and we can help her."

Polley said once she is 100 percent recovered, she wants to be a head coach again. Still, despite her determination, Polley admitted to having a few moments during her recovery when she considered quitting coaching for good.

They were short-lived.

"It crosses his mind every day," she said with a laugh, looking at her husband. "Retire, retire."

As Polley's chuckle faded into a mischievous grin, her voice hardened.

"I'm not sure I'm the retiring type," she said.