Throwback Thursday: Seven sports in '77 blazed women's trail

This month marks the 43rd anniversary of St. Thomas enrolling its first female students on campus.

In October 1977, the college's board of trustees voted by a 16-2 margin (three abstained) to begin admitting women students for the following school year.

Eleven months later, after 91 years as an all-male institution, the 1977 class of Tommie undergrads included 221 women (51 transfers) out of approximately 2,200 students. The record-sized freshman class of 717 students was 24 percent female.

There was some initial resistance to changing St. Thomas' tradition as an all-male institution. But once females were part of daily campus life, students seemed to adapt well.

Sophomore Steve Audette told the Aquin student newspaper in 1978, "I feel that most of the guys at school at first didn't want girls on campus because they didn't know what to expect. But I think that most of the guys see that there haven't been downhill trends in the College's reputation or status because girls are here." Sophomore Miles Kennedy added, "My initial reaction to the co-ed decision was disappointment. It was breaking a 91-year tradition of an all-male school. But I realize that it's a change of the times, and I'm satisfied with the decision."

St. Thomas' change left just four Minnesota colleges as single-sex institutions: St. John's (all-male); and St. Benedict, St. Catherine and St. Teresa of Winona (all female). St. Teresa's closed in 1989 but the other three have continued as single-gender schools.

Physical and administrative changes on campus to accommodate female students cost an estimated $55,000. The preparations included the installation of restroom facilities for women in Albertus Magnus Hall, Aquinas Hall and O'Shaughnessy Hall, as well as remodeled to locker room facilities. One hundred women's housing spots were created on the top floor of Murphy Hall for 1977-78. A new residence hall for women opened in summer 1978.

An Aquin story noted that the decision to run varsity-level sports instead of just intramural sports wasn't finalized until July 1977, only two months before the beginning of the fall semester. Because of this late plan -- and with budgets already being tight -- the College had difficulty in ordering and obtaining equipment for some women's sports. Old soccer jerseys with stenciled numbers served as uniforms for the first women's basketball and volleyball seasons, as the first-year women's athletics teams "made do with what it had."

New Look

Seven Tommie women's sports competed in that first school year: cross country, volleyball, basketball, swimming, track and field, tennis and softball. Most sports initially had small teams but quickly saw rosters grow in quality and quantity over the first five years.

Among the early challenges was figuring out how many athletes those first women's teams would attract. Volleyball had 16 women prospects come to a pre-season meeting, but only eight decided to compete in that first fall. Women's Golf was delayed one year as only one prospect came to the preseason meeting.

Sophomore Betsy Murphy and freshman Renee Twomey were the first females to wear a St. Thomas uniform in outside competition in any sport. The cross country runners -- coached by Larry Russ, who also guided the men's team -- competed Sept. 17 in a two-mile race at Luther's Norseman Invite in Decorah, Iowa. The sister of the men's team co-captain, Murphy placed 17th out of 79 runners in a time of 13:00 to lead the Toms in the women's race.

After the latter race and the return to campus, their male CC counterparts had a ceremony and threw Murphy and Twomey into the O'Shaughnessy Hall pool. They called the friendly gesture "a baptism" and said they wanted to recognize the women's status as college trailblazers.

"They fit the typical distance runner mold," Russ told the Aquin of his female athletes. "They're hard workers. They're bright. They're good students. They're enjoying the program, and they feel welcome."

Murphy told the Aquin that she and her female teammates on that first team needle the men and keep things loose. "We all have a great time," she said. "I think the men really like to have girls on the team and on the trips. And we enjoy the guys." As far as being a part of history is concerned, Murphy downplayed it. "I never thought about it until (Coach Russ) said something. But I really don't think a lot about it. It's just fun."

That first year included the athletic department's first full-time female coach in Janet Grochowski. The swimming and track and field head coach, Grochowski said the first Tommie women's athletes brought a wide range of experience and competitive skills. "Overall, I'm quite impressed with the attitude and performance of the female athletes on campus, especially since this is the first year that women have competed for CST," Grochowski said in a 1978 interview with the Aquin. "For many of the girls, it is the first time they have participated on a competitive level."

The first staff of women's coaches also included Jo Anne Andregg (volleyball and tennis); Tom Kosel (basketball); and Athletics Director Frank Mach (softball).

"I'm really pleased with the coaching staff," Mach told the Aquin. "I think it's just an excellent staff. "Ms. Andregg graduated from the University of California-Davis. Tom Kosel used to be a teacher and coach at Benilde-St. Margaret's High, and he's a very highly regarded girls' basketball coach. I've gotten nothing but compliments on hiring him, and he's very eager to come into the program. There isn't a better cross country coach around than Russ, and the others are really excellent."

Kosel was hired in August 1977 after building a 55-6 record at Benilde-St. Margaret's High. Kosel told the Aquin that he "took who was on campus," and guided St. Thomas' first hoops team to a 12-7 record. With a chance to start recruiting his own players, Kosel's second Tommie team made a jump to a 18-4 final record.

That second season of women's sports saw similar gains across other sports: cross country finished second in the state meet; track and field placed third at state; softball improved from five victories to 15; and swimming, under new head coach Tom Hodgson, a former Minnesota Gopher standout, took fourth place at state.

In 1981-82, the first MIAC team championships for women were held in most sports. In spring of 1984, the first MIAC women's all-sport championship plaque was awarded, for the best overall average finishes among all conference women's sports teams, St. Olaf edged the Tommies for first place in each of the first two years. In 1985-86, St. Thomas won the first of 13 consecutive MIAC women's all-sport titles as their growth continued.

In years five and six of St. Thomas women's athletics, Women's Cross Country won AIAW nationals in 1981 and NCAA Division III nationals in 1982. Distance runners Debbie Thometz and Teresa Mayer also won individual national track or cross country championships in those two years.

Over the first 43 seasons of Tommie women's athletics, nine teams representing four different sports have won national team championships.

University of St. Thomas Athletics

Throwback Thursday: Seven sports in '77 blazed women's trail

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