40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BY TIM PEELER
omen's athletics at
NC State predated the
passage of Title IX of
the 1972 Educational
A m e n d m e n t s , t h e
landmark Department
of Education law en-
acted a half century
ago this summer that prohibited all
forms of sex discrimination at any school
receiving federal financial assistance.
By nearly a decade.
At the time, when colleges were
mostly white and mostly male, there
were no considerations for women's
athletics at ACC schools.
There had been a few female athletes
at Virginia in the earliest days, but after
a 1965 challenge by Olympic-caliber
swimmer Mary Brundage, the league
ruled that women could not compete
in ACC-sponsored sports because its
bylaws used the word "he" in referring
to student-athletes.
There were, however, ways around
that ruling in some sports.
W
A LASTING LEGACY
The Groundwork For NC State's Many Successes In Women's Sports Was Laid
By A Group Of Trailblazing Athletes, Coaches and Administrators
Kay Yow spent the last 34 years of her 38-
year head coaching career at NC State. She
went 680-325 with the Wolfpack and 737-344
overall. In 2002, she became only the fifth
female coach to be enshrined in the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS
