WOMEN’S SPORTS TIMELINE:
Illinois' Pre-Title IX Era History
1870: Illinois Industrial University (later named University of Illinois) admitted women students.
1896: UI allowed “club sport” competition, including basketball (invented by James Naismith in 1891). UI men began competing in varsity basketball in 1906.
1899: Physical education was required for all UI women.
1900: Women were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time. They competed in sailing, lawn tennis and golf.
1903: The Women’s Athletic Association was formed at Illinois. Field hockey (1913), tennis (1915), bowling (1915), archery (1916) and rifle (1921) were also among the first to be added.
1915: Louise Freer became head of the University of Illinois Department of Physical Education for Women, remaining in that position for the next 35 years.
1941: The American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation organized the first national collegiate championship for women (golf).
May 30, 1943: The first All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game was played. The league existed until 1954.
1950: Laura Huelster named Illinois' director of the Department of Physical Education for Women.
1952: Women’s Athletic Association was changed to the Women’s Sports Association, then to the Women’s Extramural Sports Association in 1964, and finally to the Women’s Intercollegiate Sports Association in 1973.
April 19, 1964: A Special Committee on Women’s Competition is appointed. It ultimately led to the formation of the Commission on the Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
1966: The National Organization of Women (NOW) was created.
1966: Karol Kahrs joined the University of Illinois in 1966 as an instructor in the College of Physical Education.
August 1967: U of I grad and Champaign native Ola Bundy, a great advocate for girls high school sports participation, joined Illinois High School Association as assistant executive director of girls interscholastic athletics. She continued in that role until June 30, 1996.
1971: The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded.
Mar. 22, 1972: The Equal Rights Amendment providing legal equality of the sexes and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, was passed by the U.S. Senate. It had first been proposed in 1923.
The History of Illinois Sports post Title IX
June 23, 1972: U.S. Congressmen passed the Title IX Amendment, providing equal opportunity for women’s athletics. President Richard Nixon made it law later that same day.
Aug. 27, 1972: Urbana native and future Illini gymnast Nancy Thies competed with the U.S. Olympic Team in Munich, Germany. A week later, Palestinian terrorists ambushed the Israeli team.
1972-73: In the first school year under Title IX, 12 times more boys than girls played high school sports. In 2010, while boys’ participation was at a record level, they outnumbered girls by just 29 percent.
March 15, 1973: Diver Dacia Schileru of Wayne State (Michigan) becomes the first female to appear in any NCAA championship when she competed at the College Division Swimming and Diving Championships.
Feb. 20, 1974: A four-member Chancellor’s Task Force on Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics, chaired by physical education professor emerita Laura Huelster, recommended that the Athletic Association incorporate women’s athletics (seven sports). A budget of $82,535 was approved, an increase from the previous year’s allowance of $14,164. The men’s budget was approximately $2.4 million.
Jun. 1, 1974: Karol Kahrs was appointed assistant athletic director in charge of women’s sports.
Jun. 18, 1974: The federal government unveiled regulations to prohibit sexual discrimination in intercollegiate athletics and to broaden opportunities for women in competitive sports.
July 7, 1974: Betsy Kimpel was named as UI’s first-ever women’s coach, charged to oversee the golf program. Her 10-month salary was $2,900. Other inaugural varsity coaches included Kathie Haywood (volleyball), Jeanne Hultzen (swimming), Steve Douglas (basketball), Peggy Pruitt (tennis), Alison Milburn (gymnastics) and Jerry Mayhew (track and field).
Sept. 14, 1974: Illini volleyball won its very first match as a varsity squad, beating host Southern Illinois, 2-0.
Dec. 6, 1974: Rookie Illini women’s basketball coach Steve Douglas led Illinois in its first-ever varsity competition. It played a pair of games, losing to Indiana, 72-16, in game one, then beating Wisconsin, 57-56, in game two.
Jan. 23, 1975: The first-ever Illini female-male basketball doubleheader was held at the Assembly Hall. It was the first time that admission was charged for a women’s varsity sports event.
Jan. 26, 1975: The first televised women’s intercollegiate basketball game was televised. Future Illini coach Theresa Grentz was a member of Immaculata squad that faced Maryland.
Feb. 22, 1975: After posting a 6-0 dual meet record, the first varsity Illini women’s swimming team placed sixth in the Big Ten championship meet.
May 4, 1975: In a banquet sponsored by the Champaign-Urbana Altrusa Club, 52 Illini women’s athletes were presented Varsity I letters. This was the first group to receive monograms.
May 11, 1975: Illini Women’s track and field squad placed second at the Illinois State Championships.
July 28, 1975: Federal regulations banning sex discrimination in the nation’s 2,700 universities and 16,000 school districts became official.
August 1975: A maximum of 76 tuition-waiver scholarships began to be granted to UI women athletes for the first time. Volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, basketball and track received 12 each, while golf and tennis received eight apiece.
Nov. 1, 1975: In its first season of varsity competition, the UI volleyball team placed second in the Big Ten championship tournament.
Dec. 5, 1975: Illini gymnastics captured the Big Ten title, the school’s first ever by a women’s team. Illini freshman Nancy Thies dominated the competition, scoring 36.55 of a possible 40 total points in her four events.
1977: Coach Ann Pollock’s Illini women’s swimming team won the IAIAW state title.
1977: Basketball’s Mary Pat Travnik was rewarded with women’s sports’ first full scholarship.
1977: Illini women’s cross country debuted as a varsity sport.
1977: UI volleyball qualified for the AIAW national tournament.
Feb. 21, 1978: The Illini women’s basketball team defeated highly ranked Illinois State and its star, Charlotte Lewis.
1978: Rookie golf coach Paula Smith began her 28-year career at Illinois.
May 2, 1978: Becoming the first women’s athletes in University of Illinois history to sign full scholarships, Annawan twins Lisa and Lynette Robinson joined the Illini.
March 1979: The first two-year agreement with ESPN is signed to televise selected championships. Programming begins Sept. 7.
1980: Long jumper Becky Kaiser became UI’s first female athlete to win All-America honors, placing second at the AIAW national meet.
1980-81: Women’s athletics’ budget increased to $359,334.
October 1980: The first NCAA women’s sports committees are formed (the Divisions II and III Women’s Basketball Committees are the first to meet).
November 1980: Cross country’s Marianne Dickerson placed first at the AIAW state meet.
Jan. 13, 1981: History was made at the annual NCAA convention in Miami as delegates voted 137-117 to include women’s athletic programs within the NCAA governing structure. The action sounded the death knell for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
February 1981: New NCAA seal with both men and women athletes replaces the original seal with a male athlete used since 1950.
Aug. 15, 1981: With the University of Minnesota remaining as a potential holdout, Illinois and eight other Big Ten schools voted to affiliate their women’s athletic programs with the conference. Minnesota joined the others on Oct. 8.
November 1981: The first NCAA women’s championships are conducted in Divisions I, II and III field hockey and cross country.
December 1981: The first Division I, II and III Women’s Volleyball Championships are conducted.
1982: When the AIAW lost a case against the NCAA, more than 800 colleges and universities who had stayed with the AIAW were forced to join the NCAA’s system.
Jan. 13, 1982: The Illini women's basketball team upset No. 3 and previously unbeaten Long Beach State, 97-91, in triple overtime. Kim Brombolich and Lisa Robinson paced UI with 23 points apiece.
March 1982: The first Division I, II and III women’s swimming and basketball championships are conducted.
Mar. 14, 1982: In Lexington, host Kentucky defeated Illinois’ women’s basketball team in first-round NCAA Tournament action, 88-80. It was UI’s initial NCAA tourney game.
March 26-27, 1982: The first National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships are conducted at Utah, where the host team wins the first of nine team titles extending through 1995 under coach Greg Marsden.
May 14 & 15, 1982: The first Big Ten women’s outdoor track and field championship meet was held at Illinois.
May 1982: The first National Collegiate Women’s Golf and Lacrosse Championships are conducted. Also, the first Division I, II and III Softball and Tennis Championships are conducted.
May 16-23, 1982: Stanford wins the first of 13 Division I Women’s Tennis Championships titles between 1982 and 2004.
May 27-30, 1982: UCLA, featuring shortstop Dot Richardson and pitcher Debbie Doom, wins the first of 10 Division I Softball Championship titles between 1982 and 2004.
May-June 1982: The first Division I, II and III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships are conducted.
Sept. 18, 1982: In its first official Big Ten match, the Illini volleyball team defeated Wisconsin.
March 11-12, 1983: The first National Collegiate Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships are conducted in Pontiac, Michigan.
1983: Gretchen Grier earned UI’s first official Big Ten track title in the 600-yard run.
1984: UI gymnast Karen Brems became the first Illini women’s athlete to be named the school’s Athlete of the Year award and win the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor in the same season.
Oct. 4, 1985: A Big Ten volleyball attendance record crowd of 2,632 watched Illinois sweep Iowa.
Oct. 26, 1985: Mike Hebert’s Illini volleyball team improved its record to 30-0 with a 3-1 win against Ohio State.
Mar. 12, 1986: Angie McClellan scored the game-winning basket with 17 seconds left to give Illini women’s basketball a 69-68 opening-round NCAA Tournament victory against Ohio University. Three days later, No. 2 Georgia routed Illinois, 103-64.
March 1986: Kelly McNee became UI’s first Big Ten mile titlist.
Nov. 29, 1986: Illinois volleyball won its second straight Big Ten title with a 3-0 sweep of Michigan to complete a perfect 18-0 record. UI’s season ended at 36-3 on Dec. 13 with a loss in the NCAA Tournament at Nebraska.
Mar. 11 & 14, 1987: In NCAA Tournament play, Coach Laura Golden women’s basketball team beat Bowling Green in the first round, then lost to No. 3 Auburn.
Feb. 22, 1988: Champaign’s Bonnie Blair won her first speed skating gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
1988: Heather Singalewitch became the first Illinois women’s athlete to be honored as the Big Ten’s Gymnast of the year
May 22, 1988: Celena Mondie-Milner paced the women as both Illini track and field programs captured first-place finishes at the Big Ten Championships.
Nov. 26, 1988: With a 3-2 victory at Iowa, Illini volleyball finished a perfect 18-0 Big Ten record. It advanced to the Final Four, but once again lost to Hawaii in the NCAA semifinals.
May 20, 1989: UI’s women’s track and field squad racked up a record-setting 169 points at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis.
Apr. 16, 1990: Champaign’s Jean Driscoll won the women’s wheelchair division of the 94th Boston Marathon in a time of 1:43.17. She went on to win six more Marathon titles.
1990: Laura Busch earns first-ever Dike Eddleman Award for women.
Sept. 4, 1990: Huff Hall debuted as the home of Illini volleyball. On hand for the special occasion were UI basketball’s famed “Whiz Kids”.
May 5, 1991: Sophomore Renee Heiken won medalist honors at the Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships.
May 18, 1991: Freshman Tonja Buford was named the top athlete at the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning the 100 hurdles and running legs on the winning 400 and 1,600 relay units.
Oct. 18, 1991: Illinois’ volleyball team sold out Huff Hall for the first time, packing in 4,050 fans to see its match against Ohio State.
March 1992: The Gender-Equity Task Force forms in response to the first NCAA gender-equity study showing disparities in the treatment of male and female student-athletes.
May 23, 1992: Tonja Buford won three individual events and ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team, leading Illinois to victory at the Big Ten Women’s Track and Field Championships.
Aug. 2, 1992: Buford competed in Barcelona’s 1992 Olympics, just missing the finals in the 400-meter hurdles event. Illini Volleyball’s Kirsten Gleis also competed for Holland.
1992-93: A conference-record four U of I women’s stars earned Big Ten Athlete of the Year honors during the 1992-93 season. The honorees included volleyball’s Kirsten Gleis, track and field’s Tonja Buford, golfer Renee Heiken and tennis’s Lindsey Nimmo.
Nov. 28, 1992: Illini volleyball topped No. 22 Ohio State at Huff Hall, 3-0, extending UI’s Big Ten winning streak to 18 straight. Illinois went on to win its first two NCAA Tournament matches before losing to No. 2 Stanford in the regional semifinals.
Mar. 6, 1993: Victories in the 55 dash, the 55 hurdles and the 200 dash by Tonja Buford led Illini women’s track and field to a 41-point team victory over Wisconsin at the Big Ten Championships.
May 9, 1993: Renee Heiken shot a final-round 73 and captured medalist honors for the second time at the Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships.
1993: Illinois volleyball won the NCAA attendance title for the second consecutive year.
December 1994: The NCAA and CBS agree to a $1.7 billion, eight-year television contract; ESPN agrees to expand its coverage of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.
May 15, 1995: Theresa Grentz was named as the new Illini women’s basketball coach.
May 21, 1995: The Illini women’s track and field squad won eight of the Big Ten Championships’ 19 events and crushed runner-up Wisconsin in the final team standings, 163-112. UI went on to place fourth at the NCAA outdoor championship meet.
May 31, 1996: Illinois’ Tonya Williams won the NCAA 400-meter title.
Jillian Ellis was named as Illinois’ first women’s soccer coach.
Jan. 8, 1997: Ashley Berggren’s 23 points and Alicia Sheeler’s 20 helped Illinois blitz No. 10 Arkansas, 100-81.
1997: The Illini women’s basketball team won the Big Ten title, its first ever, and battled its way to an NCAA Sweet Sixteen finish.
Sept. 5, 1997: Illini soccer’s first-ever game ended with a 4-0 shutout against Loyola.
Dec. 12, 1997: Illinois’ women's basketball team reached a No. 5 national ranking.
July 12, 1999: Terri Sullivan was named Illinois softball’s first coach.
Jan. 2, 2000: Women’s basketball romped over No. 5 Georgia, 82-65, at the Assembly Hall.
2000: UI’s softball team made its varsity debut.
2000: At the Olympics, Illini swimmer Ilkay Dikman (Turkey) and track and field star Perdita Felicien (Canada) competed for their home countries.
Aug. 31, 2000: Karol Kahrs retired after 36 years of service.
Mar. 27, 2001: UI’s Eichelberger (softball) Field was dedicated.
Mar. 30, 2001: In its first-ever Big Ten games, Coach Terri Sullivan’s Illini softball team swept Michigan State, 4-1 and 10-2. Illinois finished with a 12-8 conference record.
Apr. 27, 2001: UI’s 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay quartet of Jenny Kallur, Camee Williams, Susanna Kallur and Perdita Felicien set a world record at the Drake Relays.
May 15, 2003: The Illini softball team captured the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, a 5-3 win over Georgia Tech.
June 26, 2003: Illini athletes swept both the Big Ten’s Jesse Owens Male and Suzy Favor Female Athletes of the Year awards. NCAA tennis champ Amer Delic and wrestling titlist Matt Lackey shared the prize for the men, while NCAA hurdles champ Perdita Felicien was the women’s award winner.
Nov. 9, 2003: The Illini prevailed over Michigan, 2-0, to win the Big Ten Soccer Tournament.
2004: Women’s gymnast Cr Pomeroy scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars in NCAA regional action.
2004: Illini track and field’s Jenny and Susanna Kallur competed in the Olympics for Sweden.
Sept. 11, 2004: Coach Don Hardin’s Illini volleyball team upset No. 1 Southern California in five sets at the Illini Classic.
May 15, 2005: Illinois won the Big Ten Women’s Track and Field Championships, the fifth in its history.
Oct. 30, 2005: Women’s cross country’s Cassie Hunt won the 2005 Big Ten title with a time of 21:00.
Feb. 18, 2006: Illini swimmer Barbie Viney won UI’s first individual Big Ten title in 24 years, posting a record time of :49.06 in the 100 freestyle.
2006: Softball star Jenna Hall ended her record-breaking season with a .481 batting average, lifting her career average to .357.
May 13, 2007: Illinois tied for the Big Ten women’s outdoor track and field title.
Mar. 7, 2008: Clutch free throw shooting by Lori Bjork and Rebecca Harris clinched a 68-64 Illini women’s basketball win over top-seeded Ohio State at the Big Ten Tournament.
2008: Susanna Kallur (Sweden) and Emily Zurrer (Canada), competed in track and field and soccer, respectively, at the Olympic Games.
2009: Angela Bizzarri won the NCAA individual cross country national championship, earning her the Honda Award.
May 15, 2010: With a 10-0 victory over Minnesota in the regular-season finale, Illini softball extended its Big Ten winning streak to 13. Illinois went on to split four games in the NCAA Regional tournament.
Sept. 24, 2010: Illini volleyball broke No. 2 Penn State’s winning streak of 65 straight matches against Big Ten foes, winning 17-15 in the fifth and deciding set.
Oct. 19, 2011: Straight set victories over Northwestern stretched top-ranked Illini volleyball’s record to 20-0. Three days later, host Nebraska stopped the streak.
Dec. 15 & 17, 2011: At the Final Four in San Antonio, Illini volleyball used a breath-taking rally in the fifth set to defeat Southern California, 3-2. Two nights later, UCLA denied Illinois a national title by winning three out of four sets.
June 8, 2012: On her 19th birthday, Ashley Spencer won the 400-meter title at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Later that evening, Andrew Riley won the 100-meter dash, becoming the first Illini to win that event since Willie Williams in 1954.
Aug. 9, 2012: Former Illini soccer standout Emily Zurrer received a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London. She and her Canadian teammates beat France, 1-0. UI track and field’s Gia Lewis (USA) and Nikkita Holder (Canada) also competed.
Feb. 22, 2013: Junior pole vaulter Stephanie Richartz won her first indoor Big Ten crown with a school-record leap of 13-11 ¼.
May 22-27, 2013: The University of Illinois’ Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex hosted 35 men’s and women’s teams for the NCAA Tennis Championships.
2013: UI soccer’s Jannelle Flaws scored 23 goals and 23 games to set an Illini single-season mark.
Oct. 11, 2014: Illini volleyball upset defending national champion Penn State, 3-1, thanks to 19 kills and 12 digs from Jocelynn Birks.
2015: Stephanie Richartz won her fifth Big Ten pole vault title.
Feb. 23, 2017: Administrator Karol Kahrs, gymnast Nancy Thies Marshall, track and field’s Tonja Buford Bailey and Perdita Felicien, golfer Renee Heiken Slone and volleyball’s Mary Eggers Tendler were named to the inaugural class of the University of Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.
Dec. 6, 2017: Thanks to a $7 million gift from alums Richard Demirjian and Kara Demirjian-Huss, Josh Whitman announced plans for the construction of new soccer and track and field facilities.
Feb. 22, 2018: Women in Illinois’ Hall of Fame Class included track and field stars Tonya Williams and Celena Mondie-Milner, volleyball's Nancy Brookhart Cherin, and soccer's Tara Hurless.
Fall 2018:
Mar. 6, 2019: Illini legends chosen to UI’s 2019 Hall of Fame included basketball’s Ashley Berggren, track and field’s Angela Bizzarri Pflugrath, softball’s Jenna Hall, and tennis’s Lindsey Nimmo Bristow.
Apr. 7, 2020: Women in UI’s Hall of Fame Class included volleyball’s Michelle Bartsch-Hackley, soccer’s Vanessa DiBernardo, track & field’s Gia Lewis-Smallwood and basketball’s Jenna Smith.
Nov. 1, 2020: Illinois women's athletics pioneer, Dr. Karol Kahrs, passes away.
Apr. 6, 2021: Student-athletes for soccer and men’s and women’s track & field and cross country got their first look at the newly completed Demirjian Park facility. UI’s new Gary Wieneke Track hosted its first home meet on April 23 and 24.
