1956-1969
Women's Sports Started at the Varsity Level
- 1960 - Basketball
- 1960 - Field Hockey
- 1965 - Tennis
Swim Ballet
Although it was short lived (1968 to about 1972), the Coed Swim Ballet Team (later the Synchronized Swim Club) was organized by Coach Robert Gunkler shortly after the dedication of Boles Natatorium. They performed in at least one "Aquacade" or water show.
Team members included: Betsy Hendricks, Janice Coverdale, Linda Taylor, Rita Ferguson, Brenda New, Will Johnson, Tom Smith, Steve Campbell, Sam Conner, and Dan Rush.
Tennis
Centre College women's tennis pioneer Jean Kraft, class of 1961, played on the men's team prior to the establishment of women's tennis. In 1959 she and John England, class of 1959, won the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubles championship.
"During the early 1960s, there was not much opportunity for women to participate in organized sports at the high school or at the college level. Tennis was my love, and once Centre said I could try out for the men's tennis team, I added that to my 'pro-list for college selection' and chose to spend my college years with Centre. I made the men's team and played varsity tennis all four years."
- Sue Stafford, speaking to Kitty Baird
Read more: Women Athletes Blazing a Trail: a History of Women's Participation in Sport at a Small Liberal Arts College.
Basketball
Illustration from the Women's Student Handbook.
Centre College "Colonelettes" Basketball Team, March 1963
Women's Basketball Team photograph from the 1965 Centre College Yearbook, the first time the team picture appeared in the yearbook.
Field Hockey
Women's Field Hockey Practice, October 1962
Women's Field Hockey Team photograph from the 1965 Centre College Yearbook, the first time the team picture appeared in the yearbook.
Women's Recreation Association (W.R.A.)
The W.R.A. was organized by Kitty Rogers Baird in 1959, her first year working at Centre College as the new physical education instructor.
"The Women's Recreation Association was organized to give student leadership resoponsibility for the intramural and extracurricular activities that are offered through the department. More than 85 percent of the freshmen, sophomore, and junior women participated in some activity offered as part of the extracurricular program."
-From the annual report to Dean Frank Heck from Kitty E. Rogers, May 4, 1960
A collection of newspaper clippings and ephemera documenting the Centre College Women's Recreation Association between the years 1960 and 1967.
Notebook containing handwritten sign-ins of women athletes participating in Centre College Women's Recreation Association events on Centre's campus between 1959 and 1968. Registry includes names, dates, institutional affiliation, and sporting event.