Created as a product of student research in association with the History Department to explore the history, impact, and legacy of the women's softball program and Title IX at Utah State University.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was the governing body for women’s collegiate sports from 1971 until 1982, when it was replaced by the NCAA.1 The AIAW witnessed a dramatic rise in women’s sports participation as it was founded almost simultaneously with the passing of Title IX. This important act spurred the needed growth of women’s collegiate sport, and the AIAW was fortunate to be the organization that benefited from this growth.
The AIAW was first organized and running for the 1972-73 athletic season, and leadership positions were granted to the representative of each of nine regional bodies.2 In the same year, national championship events were organized for eight different sports.3 This represented a significant leap forward in terms of female athletic representation, especially in the realm of amateur sports. By the final AIAW season in 1981-82, there were three divisions and championship-level events in forty one different sports.
However, this success forced the much larger NCAA to realize there was a market for women’s collegiate athletics. By 1981 twenty percent of AIAW member schools left for the NCAA, including the majority of elite-level programs in basketball, volleyball, swimming and diving, and track and field.4 The AIAW simply could not compete with the finances of the NCAA, and was forced to fold in 1982.
By Stewart Weight
1 Mary Jo Festle, Playing Nice: Politics and Apologies in Women’s Sports (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 127.
2 Festle, Playing Nice, 122.
3 Festle, Playing Nice,122.
4 Festle, Playing Nice, 210.
Letter to AIAW member institutions regarding the NCAA's effort to develop women's sports programs.
Bibliography
Archival Documents
Marilyn Weiss to Dr. Karen Morse, Undated, Swenson Disparities Scans, Utah State University, Logan, Utah.
Marilyn Weiss to Vice Provost Richard Swenson, 15 June 1979, Box 4. Utah State University, Logan, Utah.
Books
Festle, Mary Jo. Playing Nice: Politics and Apologies in Women’s Sports. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
McFall, Kelly and Perkiss, Abigail. Changing the Game: Title IX, Gender, and College Athletics. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.
Oral History Interviews
Worthington, Jane. “Jane Worthington 1981 Championship.” By Sara Shaw. 8 April 2024.
