2005

Dr. Linda Jean Carpenter

Dr. Linda Jean Carpenter, Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College, is also an attorney, a member of the New York State Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar.  

Her major research topics, with co-researcher Vivian Acosta, center around a longitudinal national survey on the status of women in intercollegiate athletics (now in its 27th year) as well as job stasis among Senior Women Administrators in athletics and perceived causes for the declining representation of female leaders in sports.

Carpenter is the author or co-author of nine books, the most recent of which is Title IX, co-authored with Vivian Acosta and published by Human Kinetics. Carpenter was honored with a Presidential Award in 1992 and 1995, the Honor Award in 1998 and the Rachel Bryant Lecture Award in 2001, all from the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport; the Billie Jean King Award from the Women's Sports Foundation; and the Honor Award from NACWAA.

In 2000, Carpenter became a charter inductee of the North American Society for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. In 2001, Carpenter received the Distinguished Scholar Award—School and Community Safety Society of America. In 2003, the American Bar Association recognized her with its Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyers Award for Outstanding Academic, and in 2004 the Sport and Recreation Law Association presented her with its Leadership Award.

In addition, Carpenter contributed significantly to governance and community service at Brooklyn College as an elected member of the Policy Council, Faculty Council and the Steering Committee of the Faculty Council, and as chair of both the undergraduate and graduate curriculum and degree requirements college-wide committees and the Committee on College Integrity. She currently serves on several Advisory Boards in her community.

Dr. Marya Welch

Dr. Marya Welch came to the University of California, Davis in 1947 after earning her doctorate in motor learning from Colombia University. She was the first woman hired in the Physical Education Department and the ninth woman hired on the UC Davis campus.

Welch was assigned the task of organizing all physical education classes and setting up the intramural and extramural sports programs for women. She was an active official and initiated officiating classes at UC Davis.

In addition to her coaching and teaching responsibilities, Welch was a member of several Division of Girls and Women in Sports Committees (NSW Speedball Committee, l950-54; NSWA California Basketball Chair, 1950-51; Central California Board of Women Officials, Chair, l947-51; NSWA Officials Ratings in swimming, softball, volleyball, basketball and tennis). This would be comparable today to being on the NCAA committees for those sports and being a rated official in all of the sports!

In 1949, Welch organized the Women's Athletic Association (WAA). This organization served as the primary administrative group for women's athletics at UC Davis and Northern California until l973.

As a founding member of the Extramural League of Northern California, Welch served as president and secretary during the l950s. She was the founder of the UC Davis Picnic Day.

Welch's activities were not limited to the Physical Education Department. On the UC Davis campus, she served as Dean Of Women (l952-54) and organized the Prytanean Honor Society for women. From 1942-46, Welch served in the US Navy Waves Division as an instructor in physical training, recreation, and welfare. She continued in the US Navy Reserves until her retirement as a Lieutenant Commander. Without her efforts and energy on the behalf of women in sports programs at UC Davis and in northern California, women's sports at UC Davis would not be where they are today. Dr. Welch is an inspiration and a person ahead of her time.

Elma Neal Roane

Elma Neal Roane is recognized as a pioneer and foremost leader in physical education and sport in Tennessee. Roane was one of the founders and second president of the Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation, formed in 1969, to reinstitute intercollegiate athletic programs and competitions for women. She was also the first recognized women’s athletics director at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis).

Roane was responsible for bringing equity and media attention to women’s athletics at her alma mater when it wasn’t considered fashionable and committed her career to seeing it through—testaments to her athletic and leadership achievements.

When Roane retired, her students and colleagues joined her in establishing The Elma Roane Scholarship Fund at the University of Memphis. That fund has now grown to almost $100,000 and supports education students who aspire to careers in teaching, coaching, sports leadership or athletic training.

Roane served as Chair for Hospitality, Southern Region II AIAW Gymnastics Championships, and Co-chair, Hospitality, Southern District AAHPERD Convention. In the 1980-81 season, she was a Chair of the Women’s Committee, Metro Athletic Conference, and also Director, Metro Volleyball Championships, Memphis. She was a member of the Council of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators and also a member of the American Association of University Women. Roane’s honors and recognition’s are numerous. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Omicron Delta Kappa, Who’s Who of American Colleges and Universities, the University of Memphis Educator of the Year, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, and many more. Roane is truly recognized as a role model and leader for intercollegiate athletics and women in sport.

Jeanette A. Lee

In 1960, Jeanette A. Lee, began coaching and teaching health and physical education at Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville, VA. She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina Central University and was 12 hours from obtaining her doctorate from Indiana University of Bloomington.

Initially, Lee’s mentor and collegiate coach/instructor, the legendary John B. McLendon, sent her to Saint Paul’s College, "to get a little experience and move on to bigger adventures". Lee had over 30 years of adventures at the liberal arts college, and her impact will last for many years to come and reach beyond the hills of Saint Paul’s College.

On the conference level, Lee played a strong leadership role in developing the Women's Athletic division of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). Each year the CIAA recognizes the athletic director who exemplifies these qualities in his/her administration by giving them the Jeanette A. Lee Athletic Administrator of the Year Award.

Beyond athletics, Lee made her home available for students and served as a mentor to over 200 women who currently serve in leadership roles in athletics at both the secondary and collegiate levels. She was directly responsible for 55 women going on to pursue doctorates in their fields. Lee doggedly found scholarship and grant money to assist deserving young people to attend college. Although she passed away in 1992, Lee will be remembered for her words of wisdom and her courage to be first among the sea of men as a SHE-RO.

Joanne “Jo” Kuhn

Joanne "Jo" Kuhn served as Director Of Athletics (1982-92), Assistant Professor (1967-97), and golf, basketball and softball coach over the course of her career in athletics. With more than 30 years of accomplishments as an administrator, coach, and teacher, Kuhn has established herself as an ardent promoter and devoted supporter of women's athletics.

After playing on the LPGA tour for three years, Kuhn was appointed to the kinesiology faculty at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in 1967. She coached the golf, basketball and softball teams to numerous state titles. Kuhn became TWU’s Director Of Athletics in 1982 at a time when athletics had been reduced to a marginal, no-scholarship program with virtually no financial or university support. In ten years, she moved the program from the cellar to a nationally recognized contender.

As an independent school, Kuhn succeeded in gaining TWU’s admission to the Lone Star Conference, a Division II conference for schools with programs in both men’s and women’s sports in 1988. More than $750,000 has been designated for athletics scholarships through the fundraising efforts of the Pioneer Scholarship Campaign, which Kuhn established in 1984.

Kuhn received one of the highest honors of her career in 1992 when the National Association for Sport and Physical Education inducted her into the National Sport Hall of Fame. The award is given to the outstanding individual who has made significant contributions to maintaining sport as an integral part of the total education program. In December 1992, TWU Athletics established the Jo Kuhn Leadership Award to be presented each spring to the student-athlete who has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities. In 2010, she retired from teaching but remains actively involved in the Pioneer Scholarship Campaign in Denton, TX.