WOMEN'S SPORTS HISTORY:
NOTABLE ATHLETES & CHANGE MAKERS

LUCINDA WILLIAMS ADAMS

Born 1937

Lucinda participated in both the 1956 Olympic games and 1960 Olympic games, where she was part of the world record breaking 4x100 team. READ MORE

CHERYL TREWORGY

Born 1947

Within women’s distance running, it can be argued that no other woman has been involved more aspects of the sport than Cheryl Treworgy. READ MORE

DR. JANIS KLECKER

Born 1960

Janis would qualify for five U.S. Marathon Trials, compete in three, and would come in first in Houston to make the U.S. Olympic Team for Barcelona. READ MORE

JANE FREDERICK

Born 1952

First ever women's heptathlon world record holder. READ MORE

MARINA BUCKLEY

Born 1950s

Local pioneer in girl's running in Massachusetts. Winner of the inaugural 2-mile event at Massachusetts Girl's State Track Meet. READ MORE

DIANE LEATHER CHARLES

1933 - 2018

First woman to run a sub-5:00 minute mile. READ MORE

OLGA CONNOLLY

Born 1932

Discus thrower for Czechoslovakia and the United States. She set the American record for the discus four times during her career. READ MORE

EVELYN ASHFORD

Born 1957

Five-time Olympic medalist. First woman to run the 100m in under 11 seconds in an Olympic Games (1984 Los Angeles). READ MORE

TIDYE PICKETT

1914 - 1986

First African-American woman to compete in the Olympic Games (1936 Berlin). READ MORE

WILLYE WHITE

1939 - 2007

First American Track and Field athlete to compete in 5 U.S. Olympic Teams. She was a long jumper and sprinter. READ MORE

JACQUELINE HANSEN

Born 1948

First woman to run a marathon under 2 hrs 40 min. Leader in the movement to get women’s distance running events into the Olympics. READ MORE

BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS

1911 - 1956

1932 Los Angeles Games medalist in the 80m hurdles, javelin and high jump; Golf Legend; Athletic prodigy. READ MORE

WYOMIA TYUS

Born 1945

First person to retain the Olympic title in the 100m, winning first in 1964 (Tokyo) and again in 1968 (Mexico City). READ MORE

DR. NELL JACKSON

1929 - 1988

First Black woman to head an athletics department at a major U.S. university (Michigan State). READ MORE

JARVIS SCOTT

1947 - 2017

First American to qualify for the Olympics in both the 400 and 800. READ MORE

PAULA GIRVEN

1958 - 2020

First Black woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to the University of Maryland. READ MORE

ARLENE PIEPER

1930 - 2021

First woman to officially finish a marathon. READ MORE

HALINA KONOPACKA

1900 - 1989

During the same years she was competing and setting world records in throwing events (1926-1930), she was also a published poet. READ MORE

JANELL SMITH

1947 - 2020

Middle America Mid-Distance Phenom. The day she switched from sprints to the 400, she set the America record for the distance with 54.6s. She was 6th fastest in the world at age 17. READ MORE

PATSY MINK

1927 - 2002

Third-generation Japanese American born and raised on Maui, first woman of color elected to Congress, another mother of Title IX. READ MORE

FRANCIE LARRIEU SMITH

Born 1952

Five-time Olympian — youngest American to run the 1500 (1972 Munich), oldest in any track and field event (1992 Barcelona). READ MORE

ALICE MILLIAT

1884 - 1957

French athlete who founded the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) which established the Women’s Olympic Games. READ MORE

RENEE RICHARDS

Born 1934

First transgender woman to play in a professional tennis tournament. (1977 U.S. Open). READ MORE

ALICE COACHMAN

1923 - 2014

First Black woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics (high jump, 1948 London). READ MORE

BETTY ROBINSON

1911 - 1999

16 year old American who was the first woman to win T&F gold in the 100m dash at the 1928 Olympics, which was the first time women competed in T&F events. READ MORE

VALERIE BRISCO-HOOKS

Born 1960

The first Olympian to win the 200 and the 400 at the same Games. READ MORE

LISA LARSEN RAINSBERGER

Born 1961

Lisa won Boston in 1985 (the last American to do so until Des Linden in 2018), won back-to-back Chicago Marathons in 1988 and 1989, and 3rd in London and 1st in Hokkaido in 1990. READ MORE

CHI CHENG

Born 1944

Chi was a dominating athlete in 1969-1971, winning 153 out of 154 events she entered. She still holds 5 national records in Taiwan. READ MORE

LILLIAN COPELAND

1904 - 1964

Lillian took silver in the discus at the 1928 Amsterdam Games (the first Olympics where women were allowed to compete). READ MORE

DR. JULIA CHASE-BRAND

Born 1942

Trailblazer for women's running in the 1960s. READ MORE

BENITA FITZGERALD MOSLEY

Born 1961

15-time All-American and athlete in multiple Olympics. At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, she became the USA’s first women’s hurdle gold medalist in 52 years. READ MORE

KIM JONES

Born 1958

15-year career as a professional marathoner, with a story of resilience and positive spirit in the face of extreme family adversity and life trauma. READ MORE

DORIS BROWN HERITAGE

Born 1942

National running and coaching legend + Seattle hometown hero. The first ever woman under 5 minutes in the mile, running 4:52 in 1966, and went on to represent the USA at multiple Olympic games. READ MORE

EDITH GREEN

1910 - 1987

Represented Oregon’s 3rd congressional district from 1955-1974, and during her tenure was a strong advocate for equal rights for women. READ MORE

MADELINE MANNING MIMS

Born 1948

Only American woman to win the 800m in the Olympics (1968 Mexico City). Founder and president of the United States Council for Sports Chaplaincy. READ MORE

MIKI GORMAN

1935 - 2015

2-time winner of both the Boston and New York City Marathons, Master of Masters Running. READ MORE

WILMA RUDOLPH

1940 - 1994

First American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games (1960 Rome). READ MORE

PATTI CATALANO DILLON

Born 1953

First American woman to break 2:30 in the marathon (1980 New York City Marathon). She also came in second in the Boston Marathon…three times in a row (1979-81). READ MORE

DR. SHEILA HUDSON

Born 1967

Trailblazer and leading advocate for inclusion of the women's triple jump in the Olympic Games. READ MORE

ROSIE BONDS KREIDLER

Born 1944

Rosie won the 80m hurdles at the 1964 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and made it to the finals in Tokyo. READ MORE

ELLA WILLIS

Born 1957

Detroit's Queen of the marathon. Youngest person to win the Detroit Free Press Marathon. READ MORE

DR. JOAN ULLYOT

1940 - 2021

U.S. team member for the first International Women's Marathon in Waldniel, Germany in 1974. READ MORE

MARY ROMAN

1935 - 2020

World record holder for Masters shot put in multiple age groups. READ MORE

JULIE ISPHORDING

Born 1961

Member of the first U.S. Women's Marathon Olympic Team. READ MORE

EDITH MCGUIRE DUVALL

Born 1944

Excelled in the 200m, but also competed in the 1964 Tokyo Games alongside Wyomia Tyus in both the 100m and 4x100m relay. They were both best friends and each other’s biggest competition on the track. READ MORE

AUDREY PATTERSON

1926 - 1996

First Black American woman to win an Olympic medal (bronze, 1948 London Games). READ MORE

LOUISE STOKES

1913 - 1978

One of the first Black women to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. READ MORE

MARILYN BEVANS

Born 1949

First African-American woman to win a marathon (1975, Maryland). First African-American woman to medal at Boston (1977, second with 2:51:12). READ MORE

JEAN DRISCOLL

Born 1966

8-time winner of the Boston Marathon, 12-time Paralympic Games medallist. READ MORE

DANA ZATOPKOVA

1922 - 2020

Javelin thrower for Czechoslovakia in four consecutive Olympic Games (1948-1960). READ MORE

EARLENE BROWN

1935 - 1983

First American woman to medal in shot put (bronze in the 1960 Summer Games in Rome). READ MORE

ELLA CHAFEE

1945 - 2019

Participated in three different Summer Paralympic Games (1964, 1968, and 1996) in a wide variety of events (swimming, fencing, basketball, and track), and went on to spend over 50 years contributing to the sport of wheelchair basketball. READ MORE