2006

Dr. Katherine Saunders-Nordeen

Dr. Katherine “Kit” Saunders-Nordeen has been an advocate of girls and women’s athletics all of her life. A native of Teaneck, N.J., Saunders earned her Bachelor’s degree in physical education at Trenton State College in Trenton, N.J.

The University of Wisconsin recruited Saunders in 1964, where she worked as a teaching assistant in physical education while earning her master’s degree in the same field. After receiving her degree in 1966, Saunders served as a lecturer and instructor in physical education while also coaching the women’s tennis club team.

Her career as an administrator began in 1966, as the coordinator of the Women’s Recreation Association, the recreation and competitive sports program for women. Saunders was instrumental in the growth of women’s sports at the University of Wisconsin, becoming the first Athletics Director for Women in 1974. Supervising 12 sports program and an $118,000 budget, she oversaw the transition of Wisconsin’s sports from the recreation level to intercollegiate status.

In 1983 she was named Associate Athletics Director for Men and Women, supervising 22 sports. She resumed her role as the primary woman administrator in 1989 until retirement in 1990.

Other honors include working with the Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and serving as its President in 1978-79. Saunders was the commissioner of the Midwest Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women from 1974-77 and was the first vice-president of AIAW. She is a member of the UW Women’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Never one to sit still, Saunders currently works part-time as a ski instructor at Tyrol Basin in Mt. Horeb.

Jane Betts

Jane Betts spent her entire career in education and sports, including secondary, collegiate, and Olympic levels. Jane earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education at Franklin College and her master’s at the University of Southern Mississippi, also in physical education.

Jane began her career as a public school teacher, and her collegiate career as a coach and administrator at Valparaiso University. With a move to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she spent more than 20 years developing one of the largest, if not the largest, Division III intercollegiate collegiate athletics program in the country with over 40 sports.

As the first executive director of NACWAA, Jane established two programs: the NACWAA/HERS Institute for Administrative Advancement and the NACWAA Volleyball Classic. She also was instrumental in helping the Board define goals and create programs for the Association.

After her tenure with NACWAA, she became the executive director of the USA Field Hockey Association. Jane has been national vice-president for Division III of the AIAW, co-director of the AIAW National Rowing Championship, and on the Board of Directors of the Collegiate Council for Women Athletics Administrators, the forerunner of NACWAA. She is currently a member of the NCAA Gymnastics Committee and, most recently, was named a member of the NCAA President’s Commission Liaison Committee.

Jeannine McHaney

“Jeannine McHaney is considered the most influential figure in the development of the women’s athletics program at Texas Tech University,” according to Gerald Myers, director of athletics. McHaney was the driving force behind the establishment of women’s athletics at Texas Tech and became the first woman inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Honor.

A native of Northeast Arkansas, McHaney came to Texas Tech in 1966 as a physical education professor, director of women’s intramurals and coach for the volleyball team (1966-1975). The Tech Women’s Athletic Department was established in 1975 with McHaney serving as director.

Honors include Texas Tech Woman of the Year in 1976, president of the Texas AIAW in 1977, service on numerous NCAA committees, first recipient of the Jeannine McHaney High Rider Award in 1993, and Women’s Basketball Coaches of the Year Award in 1993.

In 1994, Jeannine passed away after a decade-long fight with cancer, but her contributions to Tech will never be forgotten. A plaque on the base of her bust at the McHaney-Robinson Hall of Fame includes a quote from the former Lady Raider Noel Johnson following Tech’s victory in the 1993 NCAA Tournament Championship Game. It reads: “Any success in the past or future of women’s athletics at Texas Tech is a result of Jeannine McHaney. Her courage and leadership will forever be embedded in Texas Tech athletics.”

Joan Parker

Joan Parker is the only person in University of California at Los Angeles women’s athletics history to span the continuum from participant to coach to administrator. Parker competed in three sports as a Cal undergraduate and coached five teams during her years on Cal’s physical education faculty.

Parker received three degrees from UCLA: Bachelor of Arts (’63), General Secondary Credential and Master of Arts.

In 1976, when the Department of Women’s Athletics was founded, she became its Assistant Athletics Director, then Associate Director. In 1983, Parker switched to fundraising and was named National Fundraiser of the Year in 1991 for her efforts with the Bear Backers. When the men’s and women’s departments merged in 1991, she became Executive Director of the Bear Backers.

A nationally recognized administrator who served on the Executive Board of the AIAW, Parker retired in 2001 as the executive director of the Bear Backers after 36 years of service to the university. “It’s been incredible to see how far women’s sports have come since I arrived here in 1959,” Parker said.

Mary Jean Mulvaney

Mary Jean Mulvaney is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.S.) and Wellesley College (M.S.). She began her involvement in women’s sports early in her professional career, serving as the Executive Director of Athletics and Recreation for the Federation of College Women from 1953-1957 and 1962-1964.

Mulvaney joined the University of Chicago in 1966 as Chair of the Department of Physical Education for Women and in 1976 became Chair of a consolidated men’s and women’s athletics department, thus becoming one of the nation’s first female Athletics Directors. Mulvaney also presided over the University of Chicago’s women’s programs move to the NCAA in 1981, and the men’s and women’s programs shift to the University Athletic Association in 1987.

Mulvaney assumed leadership roles in the AIAW, serving as a member of Visiting Committees and Evaluation teams, and was one of the first two women to serve on the NCAA Council. She received numerous awards, which included election to the NACDA Hall of Fame in 1990. Mulvaney’s final achievement was the formation of the University Athletic Association. She helped create the constitution and the code of conduct, and served in many leadership positions until her retirement.