Auburn Game Face

Written by: Amy Weaver

“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere come the Tigers!!!”

You’ve heard her voice.

But you may not recognize her face, let alone know her story.

Susan Nunnelly, best known as “Nun” or “the Nun,” has been the voice of Auburn Women’s Basketball since 1976. Her Auburn story, however, started in 1966, when the Hueytown, Alabama, native came to the Plains as a wide-eyed freshman.

That same year, she garnered a nickname, and it’s been her moniker ever since. Picture this: Two lifelong friends from Hueytown, both named Susan, are roommates in Alumni Hall. There were two phone extensions for the entire building. When someone called, the desk girl would answer and use the intercom in each room to notify a girl of a call.

As Nunnelly recalls: “It never failed! They would say ‘Susan has a call on line 1.’ If I went down the hall to answer, it was for Susan Rhodes; if she went down the hall to answer the phone, it was for Susan Nunnelly. The desk girls began calling us ‘Rhodes’ and ‘Nun.’ And the rest is history.”

Nun came to Auburn as a lifelong fan, who, like many of the Auburn faithful, grew up saying, ‘War Eagle.’ She not only wanted an Auburn education, but also to be a member of the Auburn Marching Band.

As a proud member of that band, Nun remembered interacting with legendary football coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan. She said he would walk past the football practice field behind Petrie Hall—the band practiced there every day at 1 p.m.—and, on most days, he would stop and watch practice before returning to his office.

“He would always tell us how much he appreciated our contribution to the Auburn Tigers,” she said. It was a simple sentiment that stuck with her to this day.

Nun was also a member of the pep band and got to experience basketball in Auburn’s Sports Arena—the precursor to Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum and Neville Arena—including the first time, future NBA All-Star “Pistol” Pete

Maravich and the LSU Tigers came to town.

She remembered the arena as an ideal setting for basketball, as the atmosphere was intimate, with the crowd almost on the court.

A health, physical education and recreation major, Nun earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1970, her first Auburn degree. She would go on to receive a master's degree in education two years later.

That same year, 1972, the federal government enacted Title IX of the Education Amendments.

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

For Nun, Title IX literally changed the game. Girl’s or women’s basketball wasn’t considered a sport in Alabama when she was a child. Her own playing experience was limited to pick-up games in elementary and junior high school, wherever there was a hoop.

When women began playing collegiate sports, the demand for sports officials for their games grew tremendously. Nun was officiating intramurals and helping Campus Recreation at Auburn at the time.

“The need for trained collegiate officials in volleyball and basketball became overwhelming,” she said. “In the beginning, most officials were men. They were already trained and available, but it did not take long for more women to become interested.”

Auburn would establish a National Association of Girls and Women in Sports College Board of Officials to train and assign officials—both men and women—for women games played by colleges in Alabama and other states.

A year later, Nun became the second women’s basketball coach in Auburn history, post-Title IX, succeeding Aletha Bond who, according to Nun, wanted to return to full-time teaching. As bewildering as it seemed, Nun believes the new role was the result of a “God wink” or just being at the right place at the right time.

“It was a challenge for me,” Nun humbly admitted, “but I wanted to make sure Auburn continued to give those student athletes the opportunity to play, compete and make Auburn proud.”

Nun said she learned to coach by talking to Auburn’s men’s coaches—Coach Bill Lynn (1962-73) and Coach Bob Davis (1973-78), as well as former players and “anyone who would take time to talk basketball with me. It’s the same game, no matter if the players are male or female.”

In 1974, she coached the first Auburn women’s basketball game at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, but preferred playing in the Sports Arena because of its wooden floor and the impact students and fans could have on the game.
Nun believes Neville Arena is similar. The coliseum was built to be multi-purpose, which makes it difficult for a basketball crowd to be a factor in a game. Neville Arena hosts more than basketball, but Nun considers it a “true basketball arena” since the crowd—especially Auburn’s student section, known as The Jungle—lends so much support and adversity to the game.

Nun’s coaching career was brief—1973-76—but she boasted a 43-20 record. She could have continued coaching, if she wanted, but opted to devote her time to other roles at Auburn: teaching, running intramurals and serving as the public address, or PA, announcer for women’s basketball.

“Serving as the PA announcer for Auburn women’s basketball has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had,” she said.

Nun respectfully admits that the most challenging part of the job is pronouncing the names of each player correctly. Names like Aicha (aye-EE-sha) Coulibaly (coo-li-BALL-ee), a junior guard from Mali, roll off the tongue now, but Nun will not hesitate to use her new nickname—AC—when applicable.

The most rewarding part is seeing former players now coaching in the SEC and other conferences. Earlier this season, when the Tigers hosted Georgia Tech, Nun made sure the crowd not only welcomed back Auburn’s former head coach Nell Fortner—head coach of the Yellow Jackets since 2019—but also Auburn alumna and four-year letterwinner Blanche Alverson, Fortner’s associate head coach.

At the 2008 Big 12 Conference Tournament, Nun called a game featuring Damitria Buchanan, now the associate head coach of Auburn, who played for Gary Blair at Texas A&M. Auburn women’s basketball coach Johnnie Harris was an assistant coach on his staff.

Also, at a recent SEC Conference Tournament, Nun called the name Ketara Chapel, now an assistant coach under Harris, who played for Vic Schafer at Mississippi State. Harris was an associate head coach on Schafer’s staff at the time and again when Schafer led the Texas Longhorns. Chapel was a part of that staff as well, before joining Harris on the Plains.

When Nun wasn’t calling games, she found additional roles to give back and support women’s athletics. For instance, she served as a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and became the first SEC Women’s Basketball Officials Coordinator.

“It was a demanding job,” she recalled of the latter, “but since I was the first to ever ‘run the show,’ I could develop the procedures, requirements, protocol, training and evaluation I felt like the officials in the SEC would need to be a successful group the conference, the coaches and the players would be proud of.”

In 1984, Auburn named Nun the director of campus recreation.

“The reason I gave up coaching was to return to teaching and recreation,” she said. “Teaching has always been my first love, even though I was full-time administration in campus rec.”

Nun called SEC women’s basketball tournaments from 1987 until 2020, when she started to see signs of a possible health problem. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May 2020, and after surgery and chemotherapy, was deemed cancer-free in October.

Auburn women’s basketball has a long tradition of hosting a pink game, now deemed a Play4Kay Pink Game to raise awareness in the fight against all cancers affecting women.

“The pink game has always meant a great deal to me,” said Nun. “Both my dad and mom had colon cancer. The medical advancements in cancer have certainly come a long way. Early diagnosis and treatment have extended the lives of many people, including mine.”

Nun officially ‘retired’ from Auburn in 2008, but that didn’t change much. She still teaches The Art of Sports Officiating course in the fall semester, still has an office in the kinesiology building, and still hosts ‘Fun with the Nun’ at Camp War Eagle every summer.

Nun’s involvement in Camp War Eagle, Auburn’s first-year student orientation, started at the first session when Auburn invited 150 in-state students to the 4-H Camp in Columbiana, Alabama. She said, “It was such a success, the Auburn president said, ‘every incoming freshman must experience this.’” Camp War Eagle was moved to campus the next summer.

Nun has found the most success in her career—spanning 50-plus years and counting—when others do well.

“I was an only child. My parents were older than most of my friends’ parents growing up, and I did not really appreciate their wisdom until much later in my life, but they taught me discipline, to appreciate what I was fortunate to have, to share and to be kind and to love everyone,” she said.

“You can make a difference, if you work hard and count your blessings every day.”

In 2022, as part of the SEC conference’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, Nun was one of three Auburn women recognized as SEC Trailblazers. The other honorees were administrators Jane B. Moore and Meredith Jenkins, who were recognized posthumously.

“I was very honored and blessed to have received the award along with Dr. Moore and Meredith. I have had so many people to lead, guide and direct me on my life’s journey. I will always be thankful for their love and friendship.”
Since first arriving on the Plains 56 years ago, Nun has seen or been part of a lot of changes.

“The growth of women’s athletics has been a joy to be a part of over the years,” she said. “I am thankful for the leadership at Auburn who made sure we made progress as a leader in athletics, and I am confident we will continue to play a role in the future.”

And as, she puts it, “as long as the good Lord keeps me going,” Nun plans to be there, every step of the way.