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Early Women’s Sports at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ
In 1905, CU women’s field hockey made university history as the first women’s team to play on Gamble Field, an outdoor sports stadium on campus. The team was organized by the student-run Women’s Athletic Association (WAA), which began the same year and aimed to cultivate more competitive women’s sports at the university. Prior to the WAA’s efforts, women’s basketball was the sole organized female sport at CU.Ìý
By 1908, CU women had their own athletic field, a rarity in the western United States at a time when most women’s teams did not compete publicly. The WAA encouraged participation in women’s athletics through a points system that rewarded athletes with pins, letters and sweaters.Ìý
Despite this momentum, a university policy that prevented women’s teams from traveling for competition slowed the development of women’s intercollegiate play for decades. Meaningful change came with the passage of Title IX in 1972, which transformed women’s sports both at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ and nationwide. In the mid-1970s, the university officially rebuilt its women’s athletics program, hiring Jane Wahl as the first coordinator of women’s sports and, later, women’s athletic director.Ìý
Photo from 1907 Coloradan yearbook