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March 6, 2020
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
Jo Ann Momono is retiring after three decades at the helm of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory athletic department.
Momono, whose career distinctions include serving as the first female athletic director in the Western Catholic Athletic League and as its longest tenured athletic director, will retire at the end of the academic year.
“I am humbled by Jo Ann’s leadership experience and service, especially earlier in her career, when being a female athletic director was not the easiest or most well-trod path,” said Principal Gary Cannon in a Feb. 24 announcement. “Ultimately, her perspective as a female leader served our school, the league, section, and state athletics in ways that improved them all.”
In announcing her retirement, the school acknowledged Momono’s role in shaping an athletic program as committed to girls as it was to boys while helping WCAL to become a league for both girls and boys sports.
Momono began her career as an athletic director, coach, and physical education instructor at San Francisco’s St. Rose Academy. After the school’s closure in 1990, she moved to SHC, which had just gone coed and served as head volleyball coach for two years, winning two league titles. She was subsequently became director of athletics. In 1993-94, she was named Athletic Director of the Year by the California Interscholastic Federation’s Central Coast Section.
SHC teams racked up the wins on Momono’s watch: seven California Interscholastic Federation team titles and two individual titles; 18 Northern California titles, 43 Central Coast Section titles and 24 league titles.
“While winning championships is always fun, the most rewarding thing for me personally is when alumni come back and tell me how much participating in SHC athletics helped them to become better adults,” Momono told Catholic San Francisco.
Momono expanded SHC athletic programs over her tenure and helped establish its athletic training and weight and conditioning programs and new sports such as boys and girls lacrosse. She had a lead role in the expansion and improvement of the school’s athletic facilities, including the practice field, Student Life Center, batting cages, and the use of the USF baseball field for home games.
Annually, Momono and co-athletic director Phil Freed, Class of 1980, oversee more than 700 student-athletes participating on 56 teams with a coaching staff of 104.
Students, former students and faculty and staff posted messages of respect and affection for Momono on the school’s Facebook page when her retirement was announced.
“An incredible coach and motivator!” said Carolyn Kelly Quilici. “So lucky to have played for Jo Ann.”
Alicia Garate-Golembiewski offered congratulations that spoke to the future.
“Those are some big shoes to fill,” she said.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory is a private Catholic college preparatory school in San Francisco shaped by the Daughters of Charity and the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Its mission is to “prepare our students to become service oriented leaders with a commitment to living the Gospel.”