W.U. Women in Athletics

 
 

 
1911 Women’s Athletic Association
Started four years after women’s athletics formally began at WU.

 
 

 
1916 Senior Class Basketball team
Class basketball was the first official sport offered to women at WU.  By 1916, though, the best athletes played on the intercollegiate varsity team besides their individual class teams.

 
 
 

 
1922 Sophomore Field Hockey Team
Field Hockey was the most popular women’s sport at this time with years where there were as many as four freshmen class teams alone.

 
 

 
1925 Senior Soccer Team
Soccer was a late addition to women’s athletics and went in and out of fashion variably, however, during its popular year it had an honorary club called the “Cleats.”

 
 
“W” Women
These women received varsity letters at WU, which started in 1919 and ended in 1947.  One could receive a “W” if one earned 1000 points in one’s career.  One earned a 100 points every time one participated in a “major” sport such as basketball, baseball, hockey, or soccer and one could receive 50 points for participation in a “minor” sport such as swimming, hiking, rowing, or archery. 

 
 
 
1935 Archery
Though Washington University had financial difficulties during the 1930s, due to the Depression, women’s athletics still were strong, including lesser sports such as Archery pictured here.

 
 
WUMS
These are the Washington University Mermaids.  They were more than a swim team, they were divers and synchronized swimmers, and one of the most popular women’s teams in the 1940s at Washington University.

 
 
1958 WRA
In 1948, after WU became a Division III athletics school, the WAA changed its name to the WRA, Women’s Recreation Association, to add bridge to their dominion and to change their motto to “Sports for Sport’s sake.”  In 1956 all intercollegiate athletics for Women would stop, however the WRA helped the Pan-Hellenic Council control all intramural athletics for a time.  This is the 1958 WRA, one of the last.

 
 

 
1958 Cheerleaders
Cheerleading was the first coed sport at Washington University.

 
 
 
1966 Pi Beta Phi Softball Champions
During the 1960s, the sororities took full control of all intramural athletics and the program was thriving.  This is a picture of Pi Beta Phi Softball players in 1966,  the year they one the championship. 

 
 

 
1972 Men's Tennis Team
Though Title IX had passed, Washington University had several years to comply.  At this time the only way women could play varsity athletics was to win spots on men’s teams like these three women.

 
 

 
Elli Richardson 1974
Won a  spot on the 1974 men’s cross country teams. Her coach, Coach Lowter was very supportive of her running, however she could still have no female team of her own since Washington University would not comply with Title IX for another year and a half. 

 
 
1982 Women’s Basketball
Seen here playing against Principia in 1982, right after the UAA conference in the NCAA was established.  By the early 1980s, Washington University had established a women’s intercollegiate athletics program and women finally had their teams back.

 
** Submitted by Hannah Grossman