Women's sports timeline
By Dave Benson of The News-SentinelWomen's sports history
A chronological order of important events in women's sports history nationally and in Fort Wayne.
1896
The first women's intercollegiate basketball game is played between the University of California and Stanford University.
1900
The first female athletes compete in the modern Olympic games in France.
1914
The American Olympic Committee opposes women's athletic competition in the Olympics with the exception of floor exercises.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) begins sanctioning national championship events for women. The first is swimming.
1922
The AAU adds track and field events for women to its national championship list.
1924
The AAU holds the first national basketball tournament for women.
1926
Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel.
1932
Mildred "Babe" Didrikson outscores all other teams by herself at the AAU Track and Field Championships. She goes on to add three gold medals at the Summer Olympics the same year.
1944
The All American Girls Professional Baseball League is formed.
1945
The Minneapolis Millerettes move to Fort Wayne and change their name to the Fort Wayne Daisies. The Daisies win three division titles before the league folds in 1954.
1946
The Women's Professional Golf Association is formed.
1948
The Ladies Professional Golf Association is formed.
1954
The All American Girls Professional Baseball League ends play.
1960
Wilma Rudolph wins three Olympic gold medals in track and field.
1965
Donna De Varona becomes the first female sports broadcaster on national television.
1969
Johnell Hoss of South Bend Riley High School sues the Indiana High School Athletic Association after discovering she could not play golf because there were no girls teams.
1972
Immaculata College wins the first women's collegiate national basketball tournament.
Court rules in favor of the IHSAA for the suit brought against it by Johnell Hoss, but she appeals to the Indiana Supreme Court and wins.
President Richard Nixon signs the Educational Amendments of 1972, which includes Title IX. No specific mention of athletics is made.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association begins sanctioning girls sports in volleyball and gymnastics.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) adopts legislation allowing the first college athletic scholarships for women.
1973
Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in tennis' "Battle of the Sexes."
Golf and track are added to the IHSAA girls sports schedule.
1974
Donna De Varona co-founds the Women's Sports Foundation.
Concordia's Lee Ann Berning (Reed) wins the girls' state tennis title sanctioned by the GAA.
Swimming and tennis are added to the IHSAA girls sports schedule.
1975
Basketball is added to the IHSAA girls sports schedule.
1976
Nadia Comaneci scores the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition.
1977
Teri Rosinski of Norwell wins the Miss Basketball award.
May 29 -- Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
1979
Wayne's track team wins Fort Wayne's first IHSAA-sanctioned girls state title.
The Department of Health Education and Welfare issues its final policy interpretation on Title IX and intercollegiate athletics.
1980
The Department of Education is established and is given oversight of Title IX through the Office for Civil Rights.
1981
The National Collegiate Athletic Association holds its first championships for women's athletics.
September 1981 -- The Fort Wayne Women's Bureau starts run, jane, run, the largest amateur multi-sport competition in the United States.
1982
Heritage wins the state girls basketball title.
The first NCAA women's basketball national tournament is held.
1983
The AIAW is dissolved, giving the NCAA total control of women's collegiate athletics.
1984
Grove City College v. Bell decision dictates that only programs and activities that receive direct federal financial assistance be held to Title IX standards.
Softball is added to the IHSAA girls sports schedule.
1988
Civil Rights Restoration Act mandates that all educational institutions which receive any type of financial assistance -- whether direct or indirect -- are bound by Title IX legislation.
Tricia Zorn, a blind swimmer, becomes the athlete, male or female, to win 12 gold medals in the Paralympics competition.
1990
Fort Wayne native Cathy Gerring wins three events on the LPGA Tour.
1992
The Supreme Court case Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools states that plaintiffs in Title IX lawsuits can receive punitive damages when intentional action to avoid Title IX compliance is established.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the first woman to win the heptathlon in consecutive Olympic games.
1994
Tiffany Gooden of Snider wins the Miss Basketball award.
The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act states that any coeducational institution of higher learning that participates in any federal financial aid program and has an intercollegiate athletics program must disclose certain information concerning that intercollegiate athletics program.
Soccer is added to the IHSAA girls sports schedule.
1997
Two women's basketball leagues, the American Basketball League and the Women's National Basketball Association, begin play.
Anita DeFrantz of the United States is the first woman to be elected a vice president of the International Olympic Committee.
Gianna Angelopoulos is the first female president of a bid committee to win the right to host an Olympic Games.
1998
Women's ice hockey debuts in the winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan. The U.S. wins the gold medal.
Ila Borders becomes the first female pitcher to start a minor league baseball game.
2000
Ann Bancroft and Liv Arneson become the first women to cross-country ski across Antarctica.
2001
January 29 -- The Fort Wayne Women's Bureau ends run, jane, run after 20 years.
The first match in the Women's United Soccer Association is played.
2002
Bishop Luers wins its fourth consecutive girls basketball state title.
-- Compiled by Dave Benson of The News-Sentinel
