TItle IX; Tragedy or Triumph: Before Title IX

Early college sports for women have been largely unrecognized by historians because competition was within college between students rather than between the institutions. Women were not active in intercollegiate sport until basketball was introduced at Smith College in 1892. Basketball quickly spread to other colleges, and students began to seek intercollegiate play.
As more women sought to become involved in physical activity, they became more competitive. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women began to form informal athletic clubs in sports such as tennis, croquet, bowling, and archery.

Competitive events for college women increased in the early 1900s. The women's suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and twentieth century resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. The right to vote for women renewed emphasis on women's freedoms. The 1940s brought war to the United States and millions of men and women entered the military. The self-esteem and self-confidence gained by women during these critical times propelled the movement for women's equal rights. Many women believed that if they could compete successfully in the work force, then they could certainly compete on the athletic fields.

Landmarks Pre-Dating Title IX Legislation

Gertrude Ederle became the first woman and only the sixth person to swim the English Channel. In rough seas, she swam 35 miles in 14 hours and 31 minutes, setting a world record. In the 1924 Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias became the first woman to make the 36-hole cut to qualify to play against men in a PGA Tour event. One of the founding members of the L.P.G.A., she was also an all-American basketball player and Olympic track and field medalist.

At the Rome Olympics, Wilma Rudolph was the first woman to win three gold medals in track and field. As a child she wore a brace on her leg and overcame her disabilities though years of arduous physical therapy.