Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1994

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Sport Studies

Major Professor

Joan Paul

Committee Members

Joy DeSensi, Pat Beitel

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact AIAW Large College/ Division I Basketball had on women's intercollegiate athletics in the 1971-82 period. A brief history of the invention of basketball in the late nineteenth century and the development of amateur and collegiate sport organizations in the twentieth century provides necessary background for the main focus of the study. The eleven basketball seasons of the designated era are recounted in detail, with emphasis on participation rates, postseason championships, peripheral developments, AIAW restructuring and the eventual NCAA controversy. Data was collected from archival research, journal articles, sport magazines, media guides and interviews with subjects who were directly involved in the events of the AIAW era.

It is concluded that AIAW Large College/Division I basketball was not the direct cause for the evolution of entire AIAW sports programs or for the eventual NCAA sponsorship of women's athletics. Rather, large college/division I basketball became the flagship sport for women's intercollegiate athletics as a result of the success, popularity and milestones it achieved. It therefore served as a model which other AIAW sports could emulate, and proved to the AIAW and the NCAA that women could excel as athletes, coaches, administrators and leaders in the sport world.

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