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Basketball scholarship honors the late Anne Paye

Gift from husband Edward Storm supports Stanford women on the court and in the classroom.

Erica McCall, ’17 (Number 24), is the first to receive the Paye scholarship.

She was passionate about education, women’s empowerment, and sports. To honor the memory of Anne Paye, MA ’70, and her lifelong commitment to student-athletes, her husband, Edward Storm, has endowed a women’s basketball scholarship at Stanford.

“Anne saw education as a way up for people,” says Storm, a real estate developer. He pledged $1 million to establish the Anne M. Paye Athletic Scholarship in June 2013, shortly before his wife died of cancer.

Anne Paye, ’70

Educator, Leader, Parent

Paye spent most of her 43-year career as an English instructor in the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. There, she was instrumental in developing coursework for freshmen that promoted critical thinking and rigorous reading. She was known as a vibrant and natural leader who engaged students in lively debate. She particularly enjoyed helping young women rise to their full potential—including her two daughters.

Edward Storm and Anne Paye

Outside her professional life, Paye was the consummate sports fan. All three of her children were involved in a host of athletic activities, and all three attended Stanford.

Her son, John, ’87, played both football and basketball for the Cardinal and later played for the San Francisco 49ers.

Her daughter Amy Paye Venuto, ’91, is a current member of the board of the Buck/Cardinal Club. Kate Paye, ’95, JD/MBA ’03, played basketball at Stanford prior to playing professionally for the American Basketball League and Women's National Basketball Association. She is now the assistant coach for Stanford women’s basketball.

“Anne believed in having both a strong mind and a strong body,” says Storm. “Meeting the young women on the Stanford women’s basketball team over the years, all of whom were smart and athletic, she saw that the combination of those two things helped one achieve success in life with a little more ease. For all of these reasons, Anne felt that supporting women student-athletes was something she wanted to be remembered by.”

In Her Name

Erica McCall, ’17, a freshman forward from Bakersfield, Calif., is the first recipient of the Anne M. Paye Athletic Scholarship. McCall earned numerous accolades in high school, where she served as team captain for three seasons, received multiple All-American awards as a senior, and earned California Gatorade Player of the Year in 2013.

“I feel blessed to be living my dreams at Stanford by doing what I love,” says McCall. “I’m playing for a legendary coach and wonderful team and studying for a degree from the best university in the country. The scholarship is a bonus that makes it all so much easier. Having gone to her memorial this summer, I’ve learned that Anne was a truly great woman. I’m honored to have this gift in her name.”