Since women's sports gained varsity recognition in 1971, Elon has claimed more than 30 regular season or tournament championships, as well as earning 13 national postseason appearances.
The Elon University Department of Athletics will celebrate the rich 50-year history of women’s intercollegiate athletics throughout the 2021-22 academic year. Since women’s sports gained varsity recognition in 1971, Elon has claimed more than 30 regular season or tournament championships, as well as earning 13 national postseason appearances.
While Title IX was signed into law in 1972, Elon was a trendsetter in college athletics, beginning intercollegiate play even earlier. Naismith Hall of Famer Kay Yow, the first female inducted into the Elon Sports Hall of Fame, guided the early women’s basketball and volleyball teams as the University continued to develop women’s programs. Women’s teams flourished as the Athletics Department added programs in cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball at different times throughout the past 50 years.
Elon Athletics will celebrate and recognize 50 years of women’s intercollegiate athletics throughout 2021-22, including uniform patches, alumni reunions and feature stories/videos on ElonPhoenix.com.
“Throughout my 15 years at Elon, women’s intercollegiate sports has played a pivotal role in the development of our department,” Director of Athletics Dave Blank said. “We look forward to commemorating 50 years of intercollegiate women’s athletics during our sport seasons this year, remembering the early pioneers who helped elevate Elon and those who have more recently impacted our department as student-athletes.”
Female students organized their own sports at Elon as early as 1913 and the official beginning of the women’s athletic program occurred in 1922 with the forming of the Girls Athletic Association. In 1971, basketball became the first women’s intercollegiate sport at Elon.