Alumni
No Contest
A look back at the evolution of women's sports shows female athletes enjoyed success before and after Title IX.
By Mike Conklin
In the Stentor of January 1966, a headline over a feature in the sports page read: "A Coed's Guide to Ice Hockey - Read It if You Dare, Fellas." The article was, as you might guess, a patronizing piece and indicated Lake Forest College's women needed extra help in understanding the fast-moving sport.
Today, it might be fun to interview the anonymous author on a typical winter night at Alumni Memorial Field House, where women are readily found in uniform on the ice as well as in the audience. The 2007-08 season was the eighth for Forester female hockey.
This sport is only the latest in a line of growing athletic opportunities for women unimaginable as little as 35 years ago on the campus. Prompted by Title IX, the 1972 U.S. legislation guaranteeing equal rights in school programming, there are presently nine fully-vested varsity programs involving approximately 175 women at the College every year.
Before Title IX, competitive intercollegiate programs existed only in basketball, field hockey, and tennis for the College's women. These have been joined, and in one case supplanted, by volleyball (1976), softball (1979), swimming and diving (1979), handball (1980), soccer (1986), cross-country (1995) and ice hockey (2000).
The competition draws as much, and sometimes more, attention than that of the male counterparts, and sports including basketball and softball can be followed live on the Internet (www.lakeforest.edu/foresters). Furthermore, two weeks in June sees the campus become an additional magnet when close to 400 pre-college girls participate in Forester Athletic Director Jackie Slaats' annual One Step Closer basketball and volleyball camps.
"I know I couldn't be more thrilled because of all these chances women have today," said trustee Marian Higginbotham Niles '66, an active athlete as a student. "The facilities and programs now are a healthy thing for everyone. We were real grassroots when I played sports. I was born at the wrong time."
Building a Foundation
Niles was part of a core group of women in the 1960s, including future Hall of Famers Martha Alderman Cochrane '66 and Evelyn Dye Gill '63, who built a strong foundation playing the few sports offered.
"We had a field hockey team and didn't even have a field," Niles recalled. "We went to Northwestern once, and they didn't have one either. We just played on a grassy area near Sheridan Road. I can't believe the differences now."
In an interview with Danielle White '05 for a senior research project, Jauch recounted that her teams typically had to wait for men to finish before gaining access to facilities. Sometimes,
tennis-playing faculty members expressed dismay over use of the courts for her tournaments.
"Teams took box lunches from the Commons at no expense to the athletic department and drove the College van and my car to events," Jauch said. "I can remember only one time, when the women's tennis team was undefeated, that we went to a restaurant for dinner."
Winning Records
The evolution in women's athletics for Lake Forest College is not unlike that of most U.S. schools. Few institutions paid attention to, or invested significant resources in, intercollegiate programs before Title IX, relegating competition to intramural or club status, or to be run by the Women's Athletic Association.
The NCAA itself did not sanction women's sports until 1982, or 10 years after the Federal mandate. The student activism of the 1960s, which permeated most U.S. campuses, was a catalyst for much of this change.
What does separate Lake Forest's evolution is the continued success it's women's teams have enjoyed. Dating to the point when the athletic department kept meaningful records, almost every women's sport has achieved benchmarks that would be envied by other colleges.
Of the six teams dominated by head-to-head, single-game competition, five have maintained solid win-loss records since their inception. Basketball tops the list with an overall mark of 421-254 since 1972. The others are soccer, 196-121-14 since 1986; volleyball, 505-389 since 1976; tennis, 247-194-7 since 1962; and softball, 402-381 since 1979.
The tennis program became the first to win a Midwest Conference championship after Title IX, taking the 1979 crown under coach ÔCille Ramsey. The program produced an all-American in 1983 in Rachelle Steele '83, who is one of a growing number of females to be inducted into the College's Athletic Hall of Fame.
In fact, Lake Forest women athletes have earned legitimate all-American status 62 times in the eight sports that are NCAA sanctioned. There have been 31 conference championships accumulated by the eight programs, and six sports have won league titles at least three times.
When coach Mike Dau's national powerhouse handball program is added to the mix, a sport yet to be sanctioned by the NCAA but treated as an equal at Lake Forest, the number of individual accolades is almost doubled. His handball teams have won six national titles since 1987 and contributed to seven combined championships.
Handball star Megan Mehilios '04 is unsurpassed. Mehilios was a national collegiate champion all four years in singles and doubles, an unprecedented feat made more remarkable by having a different doubles partner each year.
The volleyball program had a 14-season winning streak, mostly under coach Beth Pier, that ended only two years ago. In its 21-season existence, the soccer team had losing records only six times.
"As I travel around and talk to students, our women's programs really look good compared to other schools," said Diane Kanney, who left as Forester softball coach after the 2003 season to become an admissions director. "It's a selling point. There has been consistent improvement on every front and we need to keep the momentum."
In 2002, Kanney coached the softball team to second place in the Division III World Series, which is the highest finish ever for a Lake Forest women's team in NCAA competition. Two players from that team, Nancy Findeisen '04 and Allison Mildebrath '05, earned all-American status during their careers.
Historical Legacy
Slaats will remain athletic director, a role she added in 1992, but the 2007-08 season was her final one as a coach. She takes on assignments in a new role as Senior Advisor to President Stephen D. Schutt. The tasks will involve fundraising for the proposed expansion of the Sports Center and ice rink renovation to provide new athletic facilities for students, faculty, and staff - a goal of the 150th Anniversary Campaign. This will keep sports for everyone moving forward at Lake Forest.
The momentum for women began on the campus long before the 60s, Title IX, and the current administration. Even earlier that, it would be hard to imagine Rose Farwell Chatfield-Taylor, Class of 1890, and Florence Raymond, Class of 1891, both of whom went on to make marks as pioneers among women golfers, not exhibiting demonstrations of their athleticism.
Chatfield-Taylor distinguished herself after school by playing in one of the first national golf tournaments for women and authored an article on participation. Raymond was a dominant player in Chicago circles, winning numerous club titles available to women.
"The school has a great legacy when it comes to sports and the women have a history of taking advantage of their opportunities," said Slaats. "We should be proud and continue to move forward."
Freelance writer Mike Conklin, a 35-year journalist with the Chicago Tribune, currently teaches full-time at DePaul University.
 |
|
Pictured here on a tennis court, Harriett Jauch '40 was instrumental in the development of women's athletics at the College. She was the coach and director of women's programs from the 1960s until 1974, when she was the lone female on a six-member, full-time athletic department. She taught four daily physical education classes and served as head coach for field hockey, basketball, and tennis at the start of the Title IX era. |
 |
| After 22 seasons as head coach of the women's basketball team, Athletic Director Jackie Slaats will step down from her coaching duties after this year to help the College raise funds for a new athletic facility and become a senior advisor to President Stephen D. Schutt. Last season, Slaats' team got to the second round of the NCAA Regional Tournament for the first time in four national tournament appearances. Her Foresters set numerous records in 2007 with a final 24-3 record that included an 18-game winning streak. Entering the 2007-08 season, she had a 21-year record of 365-129 for a .739 winning percentage to rank among the top 20 coaches in NCAA Division III history. |
 |
| Alison Grubbs '01, a four-time all-American, was named in 2001 the winner of the Josten Trophy, which goes annually to the nation's most outstanding Division III women's basketball player. She was recently named to D3hoops.com's All-Decade Basketball Team. |
 |
| Lake Forest women have a long history of participating in sports, as shown in this photo from the 1896 yearbook. Historians cite a women's basketball game between Mitchell Hall, the school's dormitory for women, and Ferry Hall Academy played in 1896 in the old Gymnasium, now Hotchkiss Hall, as the first intercollegiate game for women in the "west." This occurred before the men on campus took up the sport and only five years after James Naismith is credited with the game's invention. |
Team Highlights
1972
Title IX passes
1974
Tennis team starts longest winning streak in College history with 21 straight wins until 1977
1982
NCAA sanctions women's sports
1984
Swimming and diving wins its first conference championship and goes on to win eight more, including four straight from 1994-98
1989
Soccer wins its first of two conference championships
1995
Cross country becomes a varsity sport
1997
Volleyball team wins its first of five Midwest Conference championships, including three straight from 1999-2001
2000
Hockey becomes a varsity sport, defeating the UW-Whitewater club team 10-2 in its first game
2000
Handball wins five straight national championships through 2005
2002
Softball team wins five straight Midwest Conference titles through 2006, the longest conference championship run in any sport in College history
2007
Basketball team scores first-ever NCAA victory and is consistently ranked in the top 25 Division III teams throughout the season
2008
Women's sports carry on a tradition of excellence with a cumulative 62 all-Americans, 31 conference championships, and 36 Alumni Hall of Fame inductees
Recreation, Sports, and Fitness Center Project Underway
In summer 2008, Lake Forest College will break ground on a major expansion and renovation of its recreation facilities.
Located on South Campus, the complex will feature new weight and fitness rooms, recreational basketball and volleyball courts, ice hockey rink improvements, a golf and batting cage, aerobic and dance studios, and a four-lane indoor running track.
The building, scheduled for completion in 2009, will improve the College community's health and well-being and attract and retain the best students and faculty.
The project is part of the 150th Anniversary Campaign for Lake Forest College.