{"id":6231,"date":"2012-12-01T10:18:08","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=6231"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:09:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:09:59","slug":"ahead-of-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=6231","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of the game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
1981 national champion field hockey team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the heart of the women\u2019s athletics\u2019 rise nationally at what was then called Trenton State College, and longtime Trenton Times<\/em> sportswriter Harvey Yavener was interviewing a head coach at an area college. He asked if she would be interested in returning to TSC, her alma mater, to coach, but didn\u2019t get the answer he expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said something like, \u2018Are you kidding? They want to win too much. I like it here, there\u2019s no pressure to win,\u2019\u201d Yavener remembers.<\/p>\n

Such a mindset was infectious at what is now known as TCNJ, even if other schools were slow to embrace it. The drive for excellence across the campus helped move women\u2019s athletics at the College to the forefront of NCAA Division III during the early decades of Title IX.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like the poster child,\u201d said football coach Eric Hamilton \u201975<\/strong>, today the dean of TCNJ coaches, who watched it all unfold. \u201cYou wanted to be like Trenton State if you wanted to be competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forty years have passed since Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was enacted into federal law, banning discrimination against women in education and providing an equal opportunity in athletics. Before Title IX, less than 30,000 women participated in college sports. Today, there are more than 200,000 participants, with more than three million playing high school sports.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Roy Van Ness \u201943<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The passing of Title IX, though, wasn\u2019t a quick fix in women\u2019s athletics, because some schools went kicking and screaming over it. TCNJ was shouting about it, too\u2014but over the benefits.<\/p>\n

From former College presidents Clayton R. Brower<\/strong> and Harold W. Eickhoff<\/strong>, to former athletic directors Roy Van Ness \u201943<\/strong> and Kevin McHugh<\/strong>, to the school\u2019s administration, coaches, and student-athletes, the concept of women\u2019s athletics standing alongside the men was trumpeted throughout the 1970s, \u201980s, and \u201990s. The 1981 field hockey team followed the 1979 wrestling team with the Lions\u2019 second NCAA championship, and today, 34 of the school\u2019s 40 national team titles are on the women\u2019s side.\u00b9 In addition, there are countless New Jersey Athletic Conference championships, NCAA medals, All-America honors, and other achievements across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve hung our hat on athletic history in women\u2019s athletics,\u201d Brower says today.<\/p>\n

Small steps, then a leap<\/h2>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t always that way. TCNJ resembled a lot of other schools long before Title IX, only taking small steps toward what women\u2019s athletics are today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
June Belli Hemmingson \u201956<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As early as the 1930s, the men on campus competed in intercollegiate football, basketball, baseball, and track. Meanwhile, the women competed on a limited scale in intramural and club sports, all the way into the 1960s. That reflected the national climate, even for a TCNJ campus that had more female students than men at what was then a teacher\u2019s college.<\/p>\n

There usually was minimal opportunity for female athletes in high school, so the lack of competition at TCNJ didn\u2019t seem out of the ordinary, said June Belli Hemmingson \u201956<\/strong>, who played intramural lacrosse. Added Joan Manahan \u201962<\/strong>, who played field hockey, basketball, and softball, \u201cI don\u2019t think any of us ever sat around saying, \u2018We don\u2019t get to play enough.\u2019 We were happy with what we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Joan Manahan \u201962<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Such notions began to change during the 1961\u201362 academic year. The women were brought to the varsity level in field hockey, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, and softball, with faculty members Lilyan Wright<\/strong> (also a department chairperson) and Patricia Morris<\/strong> heading up the programs under the wing of the health and physical education department. \u201cWomen like to compete the same as men do,\u201d says Manahan, who prided herself on the level of coaching\u2014a prelude to one of the important factors in TCNJ\u2019s eventual national success.<\/p>\n

The Lady Lions, or Lionettes, as the women\u2019s teams were called then, later added such varsity sports as bowling, fencing, gymnastics, and swimming. The growth helped TCNJ remain ahead of the national curve in its dedication to women\u2019s athletics. There was enough progress that many of the Lions teams would have enjoyed success even if Title IX did not come along. Once it did, though, the growth was exponential at TCNJ.<\/p>\n

The College already had a strong health and physical education program for both men and women, so the elevation of women\u2019s athletics was a natural fit. Van Ness, the athletic director from 1964\u201387, championed the feeling that TCNJ athletics was a team of men\u2019s and women\u2019s sports, and not separate entities. The feeling, according to coaches, grew without resistance from the men\u2019s athletic programs, which wasn\u2019t always the case at other schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody went to the football games, everybody supported everybody else, everybody worked their butts off,\u201d said Ferne Labati<\/strong>, who coached women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a very strong feeling from my point of view and from the [College\u2019s] Board [of Trustees] as we talked about athletics,\u201d Brower said, \u201cabout establishing a firm position on Title IX and having equal opportunities for women as well as men in athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Influences<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
1983 national champion softball team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1978, the health and physical education faculty voted to create full-time coaching positions. The coaches who were tenured faculty in the department headed by Ken Tillman<\/strong> had to choose between remaining there as professors, but not as coaches, or relinquishing their tenure and joining the athletics department under shorter coaching contracts. Most of the faculty remained in the PE department, although that didn\u2019t stop influential coaches and\/or instructors such as Wright (field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse), Joyce B. Cochrane<\/strong> (gymnastics and PE department classes), and Shirley Fisher<\/strong> (field hockey) from continuing to support the programs and the new coaches.<\/p>\n

June Walker<\/strong> and Brenda Campbell<\/strong> were exceptions to the norm. They made the move from the PE department to full-time coaching positions. Walker had taken over the softball program in 1974 and later became associate director of athletics, with the force of Title IX behind her. Campbell, who arrived on campus in 1969, guided the women\u2019s swimming and tennis programs. She even had a bigger budget for women\u2019s tennis than what the Lions men had because the women had proven themselves on a national level, beginning with two-time All-American Kathy (Mueller) Rohan \u201978<\/strong> being named the 1978 national player of the year for all divisions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Coach June Walker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That year, Labati was hired from highly successful Immaculata College to coach the women\u2019s basketball team and Melissa (Magee) Speidel<\/strong> came aboard with the field hockey and lacrosse teams, joining Walker and Campbell under the newly created full-time positions. Speidel went on to coach a certain player named Sharon (Goldbrenner) Pfluger \u201982<\/strong>, who eventually became her successor in 1985. Labati eventually turned the basketball reins over to Mika Ryan<\/strong>, and TCNJ found itself with a growing cadre of coaches who seemed to be outworking those at other schools.<\/p>\n

The coaches were unselfish, fueled by a passionate yet professional approach to their craft, and mostly weren\u2019t looking to use TSC as a stepping stone for a position at a bigger school. Today, Pfluger calls it a labor of love in which the coaches are working for the student-athletes, and not the other way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe late Mr. Van Ness, he had a great knack for just having a feel for who was going to make a good coach and who wasn\u2019t,\u201d Campbell added. \u201cAnd he wasn\u2019t afraid to go with youth and a lack of experience. If you look back at the coaches that he hired, the phenomenal jobs they did, it was incredible. That was an area [in which] TSC was far out in front of a lot of schools, especially [those that] became Division III.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really exciting for the women professionally,\u201d Speidel said, \u201cthat we were full-time coaches. We as the coaching staff had a bond that this was just sort of the beginning for acknowledging women in athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
1985 national champion lacrosse team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Ness, who had great loyalty to his alma mater, and Walker were the biggest influences within the athletics department, and they shared a similar vision for the role of women\u2019s athletics. In the decade leading up to Van Ness\u2019 retirement, TCNJ enjoyed an unparalleled level of success among the more than 300 Division III colleges at that time. A former coach himself, Van Ness had a good sense of humor, and he saw the profession as an extension of the classroom, giving his coaches the freedom to shape their programs.<\/p>\n

Of course, one of those coaches was the intense Walker, who not only championed women\u2019s athletics in an administrative role but also guided a softball program that posted a 721\u2013154 record, won five NCAA titles, and was the national runner-up seven times in her 22 seasons before she retired in 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy Van Ness, I have to sing his praises over and over again. He was just a visionary,\u201d Speidel said. \u201cHe shepherded it, all opportunities, encouraged us, and came to our games. He was sort of the Pied Piper and all of the women were just joining his enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker \u201cwas ahead of her time,\u201d Hamilton told Yavener in the Times<\/em> upon her death in 2001. \u201cA person of conviction, the stone in the shoe that moved Mr. Van (Ness) to make this campus so prominent in women\u2019s sports. She prodded and prodded and shaped what it became, and never wavered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raising the Profile<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
1986 national champion tennis team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A myriad of other factors also played in the continued athletic success on campus. When Brower stepped down in 1980, and Eickhoff became president, the College was in the process of raising its academic profile nationally as a leading liberal arts college. The College was enrolling achievers, and in doing so the recruiting base for student-athletes opened to places where many Division III programs could not go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were finding student-athletes who were tops in academics,\u201d Brower said. \u201cBut within that group, there were some outstanding athletes as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trustees were very clear on how they wanted to see the College develop. Their vision for the institution was to do whatever we do at the very highest level,\u201d said Eickhoff. \u201cOver the process, a very short process, we came to the conclusion that the athletic program had a very good foundation, and that we kind of underlined the development of the College\u2019s excellence in academic areas by making sure that our athletic programs matched that commitment to excellence. And the way we defined excellence\u2014that was kind of easy. If we were going to be excellent, we should be winning national championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what TCNJ did. While other schools struggled financially to send athletes to national competitions, TCNJ provided the support and brought home the titles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2011 national champion field hockey team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lacrosse won the AIWA national title in the spring of 1981, and after the NCAA opened up its doors to women\u2019s sports, the field hockey team followed with a national title that fall. More national titles poured in, with softball gaining its first one under Walker in 1983, having already been the AIWA runner-up in 1980 and 1982. Campbell later guided the women\u2019s tennis team to the 1986 NCAA title, which was the first for a men\u2019s or women\u2019s program in the Northeast.<\/p>\n

If Lions teams weren\u2019t capturing NCAA titles, they were claiming national runner-up finishes. And all the women\u2019s teams seemed to have All-Americans at their disposal, many of whom were also Academic All-Americans, including such notables as Tracy Warren \u201987<\/strong>, the softball player who now is a national broadcaster, and Kimm Lacken \u201988<\/strong>, the all-time leading scorer for TCNJ women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kimm Lacken \u201988<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The prestige bestowed on TCNJ was felt beyond the athletic fields. Support was so good that the student body voted for student fees to go toward improving athletic facilities. The most important addition was Van Ness\u2019 vision, the installation of a multi-purpose AstroTurf field, Lions\u2019 Stadium, which opened in 1984. Few schools\u2019 facilities matched the versatility of the turf, on which the football, field hockey, men\u2019s and women\u2019s soccer, and women\u2019s lacrosse teams practiced and played in both good and inclement weather.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other athletic facilities, which included the Student Recreation Center for general student use, became jewels. Then the Aquatic Center opened in 1987. Each facility provided a recruiting advantage to keep TCNJ athletics ahead of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the greatest things [Van Ness] did was get an AstroTurf field,\u201d said Pfluger, who has coached her teams to 11 NCAA titles in lacrosse (including the vacated 1992 title) and eight in field hockey. \u201cWe were one of the first [in Division III]. We were playing everybody else on grass for years. I think that was a big commitment. He was very innovative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forever Energized<\/h2>\n

With innovation came separation from other schools, and that has remained at TCNJ for a long time. Women\u2019s soccer was added as a varsity sport in 1990, and three years later, Coach Joe Russo<\/strong> led the Lions to the first of three Division III women\u2019s soccer titles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tracy Warren \u201987<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With TCNJ\u2019s blueprint in place, other elite schools in Division III eventually caught up. But the mix of high academic and athletic standards hasn\u2019t wavered, and winning is still a big deal on campus. In fact, the women\u2019s tennis program entered the 2012\u201313 school year having won all of its conference matches, and all of the titles, since the NJAC (and its previous Jersey Athletic Conference) added the sport in 1982.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the field hockey team won another national title under Pfluger, ending a five-year drought for TCNJ athletics, fittingly on the 30-year anniversary of the Lions\u2019 first NCAA title in the sport under Speidel. The 33 NCAA team titles (officially 32 in NCAA records) remain the most among all Division III schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than Title IX, I just think it was the willingness to put good teams out and look upon sports as something women could have as well as men,\u201d Yavener said. \u201cThere is no underestimating how important athletics was in changing the image. Suddenly kids wanted to go there who had never even heard of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was so much excitement when we started at Trenton State,\u201d Speidel said. \u201cTitle IX provided the opportunity for women to play and compete and it energized all of us. It was this energy that led to our success and put [the College] at the top of Division III women\u2019s athletics. I moved on to coach at Old Dominion in Division I, and there was never the same thrill of being part of the team as at [the College].\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Women\u2019s National Team Championships\u00b9<\/h2>\n

Thirty-four of TCNJ\u2019s 40 national team championships have been won in women\u2019s varsity sports:<\/p>\n

Lacrosse (14): 2006, 2005, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1988, 1987, 1985, 1981
\nField Hockey (10): 2011, 1999, 1996, 1995, 1991, 1990, 1988, 1985, 1983, 1981
\nSoftball (6): 1996, 1994, 1992, 1989, 1987, 1983
\nWomen\u2019s Soccer (3): 2000, 1994, 1993
\nWomen\u2019s Tennis (1): 1986<\/p>\n

\u00b9 All are NCAA titles except for the lacrosse team\u2019s Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championship in 1981. The 1992 lacrosse title was later vacated by the NCAA.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forty years have passed since Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was enacted into federal law, banning discrimination against women in education and providing an equal opportunity in athletics. The passing of Title IX, though, wasn\u2019t a quick fix in women\u2019s athletics, because some schools went kicking and screaming over it. TCNJ was shouting about it, too\u2014but over the benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":6238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-december-2012","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}