Lorene Ramsey, among the most recognized contributors to women's athletics, is one of the most successful college coaches of all time. In 1969, Ramsey started the women's basketball program at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois, and the school's softball program in 1970, coaching both Cougars' programs until her retirement in 2003. In 1974, Ramsey also started the institution's women's volleyball program. Ramsey has the distinction of being the only coach in NJCAA history to win a National Championship in both women's Basketball and Softball, in the same year in 1998.   

On the basketball court, Ramsey led the program to five NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Championships (1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, and 2003) and amassed 887 wins, with just 197 losses for an .818 winning percentage. She also had great victories on the softball diamond with the Cougars, collecting 840 career wins, with 309 losses and a pair of NJCAA Softball National Championships in 1982 and 1998, when softball was all Division I. Ramsey has been inducted into 14 Halls-of-Fame, including the Fast Pitch Softball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1991, the NJCAA Softball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1998, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, and the NJCAA Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2004. Ramsey most recently joined the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame alongside her final women's basketball national championship team of the 2002-2003 season.  

Ramsey is responsible for mentoring hundreds of young women, many of whom went on to earn scholarships at four-year colleges. In addition to the NJCAA, Ramsey served as an assistant coach for the United States women's softball team in the Pan Am Games, assisting the late Ralph Raymond and winning a gold medal in 1979 and a silver medal in 1981. Coach Ramsey is also the namesake of the gym at Illinois Central College, Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium. Her name is also tied to the award for the NJCAA's Division II Softball Coach of the Tournament each year at the National Tournament. The five-time National Coach of the Year is still seen frequently around Illinois Central College athletic events, never turning away a chance to go back on the many memories made over 33 seasons as a collegiate head coach.