Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Title IX being signed into law.
The 37 words in the statute changed the course of women’s sports as colleges across the country increased their spending on the development of women’s teams. No longer were intramurals considered “enough” to foster the growth of women’s sports. It was now the law for schools who receive federal funding to create equal opportunities in extracurricular activities between men and women, including intercollegiate sports.
At Texas State (called Southwest Texas State in the 1970s), women’s sports did exist before June 23, 1972. However, the sports were limited and there were no scholarships offered to women’s athletes.
That would change over time – there are more than 120 female athletes with the Bobcats currently and hundreds of women’s scholarship athletes in the last 50 years – but to get to this point took efforts of many.
The Start
The first ever sport played by a team from Southwest Texas State Normal School (one of the seven names Texas State has used in its existence) was a basketball game in 1903.
But much to what many may not believe, that first basketball game was not between men. It was a women’s basketball game.
The first athletic group organized on the now Texas State campus was an intramural women’s team called the Gypsies.
Of course, men’s athletics soon followed and teams in basketball and baseball followed in 1904.
However, according to Ronald Brown’s Beacon on the Hill, for the first decade of “the Normal in San Marcos,” women’s basketball and tennis athletes outnumbered men’s athletes. On the campus of 300-500 students, the most popular of early women’s sports was basketball. It grew from an intramural program to an intercollegiate one and won back-to-back Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships in 1923 and 1924 under the direction of head coach Berta Lowman. The Gypsies played against the likes of Southwestern University, SMU, Texas Women’s College, Hardin-Simmons and North Texas State.
In 1925, though, the women’s athletic program was reorganized and established as the Women’s Athletic Association. It moved back to an intramural organization, following a national trend that limited competitive sports for women at an intercollegiate level.
Forty years later, the tide began to shift.
Intramural to extramural to intercollegiate
While the Texas State men’s teams grew, including being a charter member of the Lone Star Conference in the NAIA in 1931, intercollegiate opportunities from women were nonexistent. Women’s teams remained at the intramural level.
But as the country entered its progressive era after World War II, more conversation around intercollegiate athletics for women came to the forefront. Several organizations existed to create athletic opportunities for women on college campuses, such as the Women’s Recreation Association (WRA), the Texas Recreation Federation for College Women (TRFCW), and Division for Girls’ and Women’s Sports (DGWS).
The WRA would conduct intercollegiate tennis tournaments at first on the district and state levels. By 1967, other intercollegiate women’s sports in Texas included badminton, bowling, golf, tennis and volleyball. Basketball and track and field followed in 1968, swimming and gymnastics in 1969, and softball in 1970.
However, after years of fragmented organizations, spur-of-the-moment intercollegiate competitions, and lack of resources, women’s athletics took shape in the form of the Commission of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW). Led by mostly female instructors of physical education, its goal was to unify women’s intercollegiate sports, oversee competitions, and establish national championships.
The CIAW did not want to be a part of the NCAA, though. So much in fact it forbade athletic scholarships. The intent – centered on an education-first model – meant there was no competition for athletic scholarships by women and off-campus recruiting was not allowed. The organization ran by PE instructors wanted to focus on exercise and team-building. It also did not want to make the same mistakes some men’s teams in the NCAA were making.
The CIAW was stretched thin on its budget, meaning it needed to restructure as it sought to create national championships. A new organization was born: the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
San Marcos: The Birthplace of Modern-Day Intercollegiate Women’s Athletics
While the AIAW became the national body for women’s intercollegiate athletics, Texas – a state rooted with an independent mindset – created its own localized organization with the same intent.
The Texas Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (TCIAW) was created on October 5, 1968 in San Marcos.
A group of nine representatives met in San Marcos to formalize the by-laws and officially establish the new body overseeing women’s college sports in the state.
The commission put into place the Texas Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (TAIAW) to create opportunities for colleges to play one another in defined districts.
It also established a foundation – called the Texas Foundation for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (TFIAW) – to help fundraise for the commission. A key member of the group that oversaw the foundation was Southwest Texas State faculty member Dr. Jean Smith. Her goal was to provide scholarships for women athletes who graduated and then wanted to go to graduate school.
In 1969-70, Southwest Texas State saw its varsity teams in women’s basketball and volleyball find success at the district level. Coached by Phyllis Bigby, volleyball won the District IV title and advanced to the state tournament. Women’s basketball, under Judy Rinker, finished second in District IV.
Women’s basketball went on to win district championships four years in a row in the early 1970s but was facing teams that were offering scholarships while Southwest Texas State was not.
The volleyball program even went on to finish fourth at the AIAW nationals in 1972 despite being a non-scholarship program playing against teams that offered scholarships.
Athletic Scholarships and Key Leaders
By the 1975-76 academic year, Southwest Texas State began offer athletic scholarships for women after an increase in the women’s athletic budget. This was also the time where then Athletic Director Bill Miller oversaw both the men’s and women’s intercollegiate programs for the first time in school history.
University president Dr. Lee Smith took office at Southwest Texas State in 1974, two years after Title IX was signed. A staunch supporter of athletics, especially tennis, he believed participation in athletics built character and promotes good health (Beacon on the Hill). He eventually played an instrumental role in Texas State moving from the NAIA to NCAA.
With Smith’s leadership and the work of Dr. Allan Watson, the Vice President of University Affairs and Athletic Director, Southwest Texas State leadership worked towards a “harmonious consolidation of the men’s and women’s athletic programs under a plan which has been studied by other schools,” according to team media guides.
The first six women’s varsity teams after Title IX was signed into law at Southwest Texas State were basketball, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
The role of women’s coordinator within the athletic department was also established. Dana Craft was the head coach of the women’s basketball team after Rinker, and she served in the role of women’s coordinator. She helped lead the program to district championships while also overseeing all of the women’s programs.
Sue Sharp was the women’s coordinator at Southwest Texas State following Title IX. The school’s track and field coach from 1972 to 1976 oversaw the women’s programs during a transformative time, including when the first women’s athletic scholarships were offered.
Karen Fredenburg followed Sharp as the women’s coordinator. A 1969 graduate of the school, she was the volleyball and track and field coach in addition to her role overseeing the women’s intercollegiate athletic programs.
