Friday, June 18
3:30 – 4:00 pm
Celebration of Women Varsity Athletes
Before Title IX, women athletes were not considered “varsity.” While they were later included in the ‘C’ Club, they never received varsity letters. To remedy this oversight, Carleton plans to send letters to the varsity women athletes it can identify from our era.
This virtual event will celebrate classmate and swimmer Nancy Allen Foran’s induction to the ‘C’ Club Hall of Fame and finally recognize the other groundbreaking sportswomen from our class.
Martha Verbrugge, former president of the Women’s Recreation Association (shown taking the ball into the paint here), will give a short history of women’s sports at Carleton.
Women’s Sports Then and Now
What a difference half a century makes
Title IX passed the year after we graduated. While the bill did not specifically mention sports, Title IX revolutionized athletics in colleges, somewhat leveling the playing field for women. Even before Title IX, Carleton had been ahead of its peers. After decades of exercising in a Gridley basement room or being allowed to use the men’s gym for 1½ hours a week, in 1965 women got their very own gym—the Cowling Rec Center. The women’s sports program grew quickly, and in the mid-late ’80s, women started receiving varsity ‘C’ letters.
According to a history by Coaches Ele Hansen and Pat Lamb, the six women’s varsity intercollegiate sports in our era were volleyball, basketball, swimming and diving, tennis, field hockey, and softball.
The ‘C’ Club Hall of Fame recognizing outstanding Carleton athletes began in 1976. The first women inducted were golfer Carole Pushing Burch ’61 and Coach Hansen in 1989. Women who competed before varsity letters were first awarded in 1984 were “grandfathered” in as ‘C’ Club members, but they never received letters retroactively.
We hope to compile a slide show as part of the presentation. Please upload any photos you have of Carleton women’s sports (varsity, club or casual) to the Class of ’71 website.
