Gratitude for the Win

Reflecting on her four-year experience at George Fox, Alison Takamiya doesn’t dwell on her golf accomplishments, as impressive as they are. Rather, she chooses to talk about the impact the university – and her beloved coach, MaryJo (“MJ”) McCloskey – made on her life.

“MJ is always telling us, ‘If you can be anything in the world, be grateful,” Takamiya says. “Looking back, I don't think I could have had a better coach than MJ, because she’s done so much for me personally, my teammates, and just our program in general.”

A Champion’s Resume

Takamiya graduated with a degree in business administration last spring after winning an individual title at the 2024 NCAA Division III National Tournament, earning her PING WGCA Player of the Year honors. Previously, she was the 2024 Northwest Conference Woman Athlete of the Year, a D-III Inkster Award recipient – given to the highest-ranked women’s collegiate golfer in her final year of NCAA eligibility – and a key member of the Bruins’ 2023 NCAA national-title-winning team.

Perhaps most impressively, Takamiya was an Academic All-American all four years of her career, finishing with a cumulative GPA just shy of 4.0.

As she sees it, her successes can be directly attributed to the coaching she received, the quality facilities that allowed her to hone her game, and what she describes as the “positive small-college atmosphere” that allowed her to thrive thousands of miles away from her native Hawaii.

“I wish I could just be a freshman and do it all over again,” she laughs. “It’s just really nice that we have such a tight-knit community. That’s one of Fox’s biggest selling points – the Be Known promise. It’s a good place to be when it’s your first time living away from home. You get to know so many people around you, even if it’s just saying hi. So many familiar faces.”

Takamiya was adopted from China as a 1-year-old. Raised as an only child in a supportive family, she developed a love of golf by playing with her father, who introduced her to the sport when she was 4. She enjoyed other activities, including volleyball, violin and piano, but the golf course is where she felt most at home.

Mentor of Champions

When seeking out a college to play the sport she loved, she discovered George Fox through friends who had played in the program. She was sold when McCloskey enthusiastically recruited her.

“MJ was just so eager and excited to have me on the team,” she says of McCloskey, a seven-time NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year and a 10-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year in her 18 seasons at George Fox. “I was talking to maybe three or four other coaches at the time, but no one was as excited about me as MJ was.”

Once she arrived, she thrived, thanks in part to a coach who was as dedicated to the development of her character as much as her game. And a top-notch facility – the Bob and Peggy Fowler Training Center in the Wheeler Sports Center – allowed her to work on her swing during Oregon’s wet falls and springs.

Although she graduated, Takamiya continues to suit up for the Bruins – she has an extra year of eligibility as a result of the pandemic – while taking online classes and doing graphic design work for the athletics department. Ultimately, her goal is to play golf professionally after college.

“If you get a chance to play your sport at a higher level, you might as well, if you have the opportunity to do so,” she says when posed with the question of advice she would give a younger player. “You might as well try new things, because life is too short, so just enjoy the opportunities you get.”

The Peggy and Bob Fowler Golf Training Center, located in the Wheeler Sports Center, provides a state-of-the-art indoor facility for our golf teams to train year-round. The facility includes a putting surface, chipping areas, a launch monitor, and a simulator for playing top courses and analyzing performance metrics.