Women's Sports Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) "is an educational nonprofit (501(c)(3) charity) organization founded in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King." Its stated mission statement is "To advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity."
, former husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen
, funded with a $5,000 check from Bob Hope
that Billie Jean King
had won as the Gillette Female Athlete of the Year . The WSF began its multi-sport emphasis at the 1975 ABC TV show “Women’s Superstars” which was held at the Houston Astrodome at which Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona
and other women’s sports stars became interested.
From 1975 to 1990, under the direction of Executive Director, Eva Auchincloss, Deputy Director Holly Turner, and Chairwoman Billie Jean King
, the Board of Trustees was expanded beyond Billie Jean, Larry King, Jim Jorgensen
and Donna de Varona
to include influential persons like Peggy Fleming
, Snoopy
creator Charles M. Schulz
, and Bristol-Myers executive Marvin Koslo. In 1990, Life
magazine named King one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century," in part because of projects such as the Women's Sports Foundation.
WSF advocates that coed, gender balanced teams are the ideal situation, but that separate single sex teams for girls may be desirable in some circumstances once players reach puberty .
Past presidents include Julie Foudy, Dawn Riley
, Donna Lopiano
, Jim Jorgensen
, Donna de Varona
, Dominique Dawes
, Nancy Hogshead-Makar
, and Aimee Mullins. The current Chairwoman of the WSF is Ilana Kloss.
1975: The Foundation publishes the first College Athletic Scholarship Guide for Women at a time when few opportunities existed for women to compete in college athletics, and there was virtually no media coverage of the few competitive opportunities. Today, more than 150,000 women are competing in sports at NCAA member institutions, making up more than 40 percent of the participants in intercollegiate athletics and receiving about 43 percent of the scholarship dollars.
1976: The first Executive Director, Eva Auchincloss, is appointed and heads up the office of the Foundation on only $5,000 and a donated office space in San Mateo, Calif. Athletes like Jane Blalock, Donna de Varona
, Chris Evert
, Diane Holum, Joan Joyce, Micki King, Karen Logan, Sandra Paulson, Paula Sperber, and Wyomia Tyus were members of the first advisory board.
1977: The first official Women’s Sports Foundation newsletter is distributed to its members. Today, a weekly e-mail newsletter is sent out to more than 38,000 members, the Women’s Sports Experience newsletter is circulated to 25,000 members per quarter and SportsTalk reaches 5,000 youth members per quarter.
1978: The first grant programs, including summer camp scholarships, are established by the Foundation. Since then, more than $8 million in cash grants and scholarships and $42 million in educational materials and services has been provided to individuals, teams and grassroots organizations. Eva Auchincloss hires former World Team Tennis Director of Tennis Properties, Holly Turner as Director of Fundraising. Holly later becomes Associate Executive Director. Together, Eva, Holly and Donna create and secure financing for many of the well-recognized programs, projects and funds that provide the basis of the Foundation's work today.
1979: Donna de Varona
becomes the Women’s Sports Foundation’s first president, setting the standard for athlete involvement in the organization’s leadership. An Emmy award winning pioneer sports broadcaster, Donna used her contacts and visibility to help launch the foundation and build it into a strong, credible and viable organization. Under her leadership the foundation initiated the Hall of Fame Dinner (now the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner), Travel & Training grants, research projects, media awards and a toll-free telephone number
. Donna has worked to insure there are annual visits to educate Congress about Title IX and the importance of providing sport and physical activity opportunities on an equitable basis. Still involved with the Foundation, de Varona is now the Chair of the Founder’s Circle.
1980: The first Annual Salute to Women in Sports Fundraising and Awards Dinner is held. This year marks our 25th year of honoring the women who are dedicated to making a difference, advancing participation and who dare to compete.
1980: The inaugural induction class of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame is honored. With 124 members of the Hall of Fame, the organization continues to direct and advise hundreds of other non-sport organizations to salute women athletes and coaches as leaders and award recipients across all areas of society.
1981: The Foundation’s toll-free information line opens. The Foundation now receives more than 100,000 requests for information each year, sends more than 10,000 general information packets each year and distributes more than 2 million pieces of material each year to girls, parents and program leaders.
1982: The Foundation’s Internship Program begins. More than 450 young professionals have learned professional skills, provided assistance in the implementation of programs and have gone on to successful careers.
1983: The New Agenda Conference brings together the leaders of women’s sports to create a blueprint for the future of women’s sports.
1984: The Foundation’s Travel & Training Fund grants are first awarded. To date, more than $1,200,000 has been awarded from this fund so that athletes can continue their dreams of competing at the highest level.
1985: The High School All-Star program begins and provides recognition for more than 1,700 outstanding high school female athletes. Since then, the Foundation has granted more than $1,000,000 in college scholarships to deserving female athletes in need.
1986: The Women’s Sports Foundation relocates to New York City and hires its second executive director, Deborah Slaner Larkin.
1986: The Women’s Sports Journalism Award program is created to honor women’s sports media coverage. In the 15 years that this award was given, 117 journalists from around the country were honored for excellence in media coverage of women’s sports.
1987: The inaugural National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) celebration is held in Washington, D.C., as a day to remember Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman
for her athletic achievements and her work to ensure equality for women’s sports. Since that time, 18 years of NGWSD celebrations have acknowledged the past, recognized current sports achievements and celebrated the move toward equality and access for women in sports.
1988: The Foundation’s second major research study, The Wilson Report: Moms, Dads, Daughters and Sports, is published. To this day, it is recognized as the first large-scale, nationwide intergenerational study of the female sports experience.
1988: Kristi Yamaguchi
receives a Travel and Training Grant for her athletic success in figure skating. Four years later at the 1992 Olympic Games, she becomes the first U.S. woman since Dorothy Hamill
in 1976 to win the women’s Olympic figure skating gold medal.
1990: The first “Grants for Girls” are awarded. In its 12 years of existence, $545,000 is distributed to fund equipment, facility rental and apparel to girls’ sports programs across the country. Its direct descendant, the GoGirlGo! grants, awarded more than $1 million in its first three years, 2002-2004.
1991: Soccer player Michelle Akers
receives a Travel and Training Grant. Nine years later, she is named the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Player of the Century.
1992: The Community Awards and Grants Program (later the Community Action Program) is established. This program brings together community leaders from youth-serving agencies, sports organizations, schools and businesses to promote girls’ and women’s sports in their local communities. Through the Take Action and Spread the Word awards, granted to more than 100 grassroots organizations across the country, communities are encouraged to celebrate participation and support the achievements of girls and women in sports and fitness.
1992: The Minority Internship Program begins, giving more women of underrepresented populations the experience to make their mark in sports-related careers.
1993: The Women’s Sports Foundation gets a “new home” in Nassau County, N.Y., when the eight full-time staff and two interns move into the Lannin House in Eisenhower Park. Today, 29 full-time staff, nine part-time staff and consultants, and 14 interns share their passion for the cause on a daily basis.
1993: Michelle Kwan
is named a recipient of the Travel and Training Grant. Four years later, during the 1997-98 season, she becomes the first woman to earn a perfect score at the U.S. national championship when she earns seven 6.0 scores in the short program.
1994: The Athletes’ Speaker Service is officially launched. Since its inception, hundreds of athletes have educated people at schools, companies and conferences.
1995: The Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner is televised on TNT. This is the first of a total of five times that the Dinner is televised on a major cable network.
1996: The Olympic Games in Atlanta include 45 Foundation Travel and Training grant recipients competing for the United States. Twelve of them win 16 medals, including Mary Ellen Clark
in diving (bronze), Kerri Strug in gymnastics (gold) and Brooke Bennett
in swimming (gold).
1996: The Foundation launches a World Wide Web site (now at www.WomensSportsFoundation.org). Millions of people around the world have accessed the Foundation’s information via the Internet.
1996: The first Wilma Rudolph Courage Award is given to Jackie Joyner-Kersee
. Since then, eight other women who have demonstrated the ability to overcome adversity, make significant contributions to sports and serve as inspirations and role models for others have received this prestigious honor.
1997: The Foundation publishes The Women’s Sports Foundation Gender Equity Report Card. This publication examines the compliance with Title IX of more than 700 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities.
1998: The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Sport and Teen Pregnancy is published. Until this study, there was little or no recognition among teen pregnancy prevention experts and policymakers that athletic participation helps reduce many girls’ risk for pregnancy. The report is so successful that it is published in major newspapers such as USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and international outlets, generating about 250 million media impression.
1998: The Foundation is granted United Nations Consultative status for being concerned with matters within the competence of The Economic and Social Council. To date, the Foundation is the only non-governmental sport organization in the world to receive such status.
1999: The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Addressing the Needs of Professional and Amateur Athletes is published. With this data, the Women’s Sports Foundation helps National Governing Bodies address issues of importance for female athletes.
2000: The Foundation’s first bilingual (English/Spanish) guide, the Parent’s Guide to Girls’ Sports, is published. Since its first printing in 1986, more than 1 million copies have been distributed.
2000: The Foundation is awarded the International Olympic Committee
’s first-ever Women in Sport Award for the Americas.
2001: The Foundation publishes The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Health Risks and the Teen Athlete study. Now, program leaders, educators and policymakers have solid evidence that sports participation is a fundamental solution to the health risks faced by teen girls.
2001: The first grant in The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sports is awarded. An educational curriculum and video entitled “It Takes A Team” is created to reach athletes, coaches and administrators nationwide.
2001: GoGirlGo! education and grant programs are established. More than 625,000 girls aged 10-14 have been educated about avoiding health-risk behaviors and more than $2,000,000 has been given to support girls’ physical activity opportunities.
2002: The National Public Service Announcement campaign “Do you know who I am?” is created thanks to Element 79 Partners, Seven Worldwide and the many individuals who donated their time and expertise. The campaign appears more than 18,000 times in print, on television and on the radio and generates 500 million media impressions.
2002: The Olympic Winter Games take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. Travel & Training grant recipients win four of the 11 Olympic medals earned by United States women and seven medals, four of them being gold, in the Paralympic Games.
2003: The Foundation helps lead a 12-month campaign with a coalition of more than 100 organizations to engineer grassroots demonstrations in seven cities to oppose the administration’s attempts to dismantle Title IX
. Without these efforts, high school participation opportunities for women might have fallen by 163,000, college rates by 43,000 and as much as $103,000,000 might be lost in college athletic scholarships annually.
2004: The GoGirlGo! National Campaign to get one million inactive girls active and to keep one million active girls motivated to participate is launched. Obesity rates have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the last two decades. One in seven young people is obese and one in three is overweight. The Foundation is combating these health risks one girl at a time. Atlanta becomes the first GoGirlGo! community.
2004: SuperWomen: 100 Women-100 Sports, is published. The book shows everyone that female athletes come in all races, ages and body types and that there is a sport for everyone.
2004: The XXVIII Olympic Games is held in Athens, Greece. Seventeen Travel & Training grant recipients compete for the United States, four of whom brought home medals in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field.
2005: Chicago becomes the 2nd GoGirlGo! community project.
2006: San Antonio becomes the 3rd GoGirlGo! community project
2006: The Foundation publishes Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage. This report examined the extent to which both the international and U.S. sports communities provide equitable sports participation and leadership opportunities for women and assigned grades based on the assumption that men and women should have equal opportunities as athletes and leaders and be equally represented in media coverage.
2007: Boston becomes the 4th GoGirlGo! community project
2007: The Foundation publishes Who’s Playing College Sports: Trends in Participation. It provided the most accurate and comprehensive examination of participation trends to date. Data from almost every higher education institution in the country was analyzed utilizing data and methods that are free of the shortcomings present in previous research on this subject.
2008: The Billie Jean King International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame opened in the Sports Museum of America
. The museum closed due to financial problems in February 2009.
GoGirlGo!: The Women’s Sports Foundation’s GoGirlGo! works across the country to improve the health of sedentary girls and to keep girls involved in physical activity. We get girls moving not through direct service, but by supporting programs and organizations that work with girls. GoGirlGo! identifies and weaves together quality resources within each community and provides comprehensive support through education, funding, public awareness and networking.
It Takes A Team: Originally called The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport, It Takes A Team! started in 1996, enabled by fundraising efforts by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova. The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport was a collaborative effort among the Women’s Sports Foundation, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Gay and Lesbian Education Network, the Ms. Foundation, Uncommon Legacy and ASTRAEA. Under the leadership of Lisa Dawn Thompson, the project developed a comprehensive educational kit which was first released in 2002. In 2005, Pat Griffin became director of It Takes A Team! and is continuing the project’s commitment developing and disseminating high quality educational materials promoting sports equality for all.
GoGirlWorld.org: This generation spends more time on the Internet than any other—GoGirlWorld.org is a site that’s fun, safe and actually inspires and motivates girls to get out and get active. GoGirlWorld.org is a place girls 8-18 can go to experience an atmosphere that fosters their interest in physical activity and connects them to others with the same interests.
Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center: in the Sports Museum of America
, at 26 Broadway
in Manhattan opened in 2008 and closed on February 20, 2009. This gallery was dedicated to equal play, will feature the stories of outstanding female athletes and coaches and those who inspire them.
first held by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2006.
and 2004.
was established in 1980, to give recognition to female athletes who have made history in women’s sports. A category for coaches was added in 1990.
Background
The foundation was established in 1974 by Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
, former husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen is a serial entrepreneur. He has started over 25 enterprises since getting his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business at the age of 24. Jorgensen’s industry selection for these new enterprises has been wide, running from retail to manufacturing, from Internet to mail order, and...
, funded with a $5,000 check from Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
that Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
had won as the Gillette Female Athlete of the Year . The WSF began its multi-sport emphasis at the 1975 ABC TV show “Women’s Superstars” which was held at the Houston Astrodome at which Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
and other women’s sports stars became interested.
From 1975 to 1990, under the direction of Executive Director, Eva Auchincloss, Deputy Director Holly Turner, and Chairwoman Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
, the Board of Trustees was expanded beyond Billie Jean, Larry King, Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen is a serial entrepreneur. He has started over 25 enterprises since getting his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business at the age of 24. Jorgensen’s industry selection for these new enterprises has been wide, running from retail to manufacturing, from Internet to mail order, and...
and Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
to include influential persons like Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming
Peggy Gail Fleming is an American figure skater. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' singles and a three-time World Champion...
, Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...
creator Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
, and Bristol-Myers executive Marvin Koslo. In 1990, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine named King one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century," in part because of projects such as the Women's Sports Foundation.
WSF advocates that coed, gender balanced teams are the ideal situation, but that separate single sex teams for girls may be desirable in some circumstances once players reach puberty .
Past presidents include Julie Foudy, Dawn Riley
Dawn Riley
Dawn Riley is an America’s Cup and Around the World Sailboat racer who is also an accomplished businesswoman, community leader and youth sports advocate, author, speaker, TV commentator and committed philanthropist....
, Donna Lopiano
Donna Lopiano
Dr. Donna Lopiano is the President and founder of Sports Management Resources, a consulting firm that focuses on bringing the knowledge of experienced, expert former athletics directors to assist scholastic and collegiate athletics departments in solving growth and development challenges.Lopiano...
, Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen
Jim Jorgensen is a serial entrepreneur. He has started over 25 enterprises since getting his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business at the age of 24. Jorgensen’s industry selection for these new enterprises has been wide, running from retail to manufacturing, from Internet to mail order, and...
, Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
, Dominique Dawes
Dominique Dawes
Dominique Margaux Dawes is a retired United States artistic gymnast. She was 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championships silver medalist and a member of the gold-medal winning "Magnificent...
, Nancy Hogshead-Makar
Nancy Hogshead-Makar
Nancy Hogshead-Makar is an American retired swimmer who competed for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics. She won three gold and one silver medals in medley and freestyle swimming...
, and Aimee Mullins. The current Chairwoman of the WSF is Ilana Kloss.
Year-By-Year History
1974: The Women’s Sports Foundation is founded by Billie Jean King in San Francisco. Since then, more than 225 Trustees from the worlds of sport, business, education and entertainment have volunteered and led the way towards carrying out the mission and vision.1975: The Foundation publishes the first College Athletic Scholarship Guide for Women at a time when few opportunities existed for women to compete in college athletics, and there was virtually no media coverage of the few competitive opportunities. Today, more than 150,000 women are competing in sports at NCAA member institutions, making up more than 40 percent of the participants in intercollegiate athletics and receiving about 43 percent of the scholarship dollars.
1976: The first Executive Director, Eva Auchincloss, is appointed and heads up the office of the Foundation on only $5,000 and a donated office space in San Mateo, Calif. Athletes like Jane Blalock, Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
, Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
, Diane Holum, Joan Joyce, Micki King, Karen Logan, Sandra Paulson, Paula Sperber, and Wyomia Tyus were members of the first advisory board.
1977: The first official Women’s Sports Foundation newsletter is distributed to its members. Today, a weekly e-mail newsletter is sent out to more than 38,000 members, the Women’s Sports Experience newsletter is circulated to 25,000 members per quarter and SportsTalk reaches 5,000 youth members per quarter.
1978: The first grant programs, including summer camp scholarships, are established by the Foundation. Since then, more than $8 million in cash grants and scholarships and $42 million in educational materials and services has been provided to individuals, teams and grassroots organizations. Eva Auchincloss hires former World Team Tennis Director of Tennis Properties, Holly Turner as Director of Fundraising. Holly later becomes Associate Executive Director. Together, Eva, Holly and Donna create and secure financing for many of the well-recognized programs, projects and funds that provide the basis of the Foundation's work today.
1979: Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
becomes the Women’s Sports Foundation’s first president, setting the standard for athlete involvement in the organization’s leadership. An Emmy award winning pioneer sports broadcaster, Donna used her contacts and visibility to help launch the foundation and build it into a strong, credible and viable organization. Under her leadership the foundation initiated the Hall of Fame Dinner (now the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner), Travel & Training grants, research projects, media awards and a toll-free telephone number
Toll-free telephone number
A toll-free, Freecall, Freephone, 800, 0800 or 1-800 number is a special telephone number which is free to the calling party, and instead the telephone carrier charges the called party the cost of the call...
. Donna has worked to insure there are annual visits to educate Congress about Title IX and the importance of providing sport and physical activity opportunities on an equitable basis. Still involved with the Foundation, de Varona is now the Chair of the Founder’s Circle.
1980: The first Annual Salute to Women in Sports Fundraising and Awards Dinner is held. This year marks our 25th year of honoring the women who are dedicated to making a difference, advancing participation and who dare to compete.
1980: The inaugural induction class of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame is honored. With 124 members of the Hall of Fame, the organization continues to direct and advise hundreds of other non-sport organizations to salute women athletes and coaches as leaders and award recipients across all areas of society.
1981: The Foundation’s toll-free information line opens. The Foundation now receives more than 100,000 requests for information each year, sends more than 10,000 general information packets each year and distributes more than 2 million pieces of material each year to girls, parents and program leaders.
1982: The Foundation’s Internship Program begins. More than 450 young professionals have learned professional skills, provided assistance in the implementation of programs and have gone on to successful careers.
1983: The New Agenda Conference brings together the leaders of women’s sports to create a blueprint for the future of women’s sports.
1984: The Foundation’s Travel & Training Fund grants are first awarded. To date, more than $1,200,000 has been awarded from this fund so that athletes can continue their dreams of competing at the highest level.
1985: The High School All-Star program begins and provides recognition for more than 1,700 outstanding high school female athletes. Since then, the Foundation has granted more than $1,000,000 in college scholarships to deserving female athletes in need.
1986: The Women’s Sports Foundation relocates to New York City and hires its second executive director, Deborah Slaner Larkin.
1986: The Women’s Sports Journalism Award program is created to honor women’s sports media coverage. In the 15 years that this award was given, 117 journalists from around the country were honored for excellence in media coverage of women’s sports.
1987: The inaugural National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) celebration is held in Washington, D.C., as a day to remember Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman
Flo Hyman
Flora Jean Hyman was an American volleyball player and Olympic silver medalist. She died during a volleyball match in Japan, as a result of Marfan syndrome.-Early Life and Education:...
for her athletic achievements and her work to ensure equality for women’s sports. Since that time, 18 years of NGWSD celebrations have acknowledged the past, recognized current sports achievements and celebrated the move toward equality and access for women in sports.
1988: The Foundation’s second major research study, The Wilson Report: Moms, Dads, Daughters and Sports, is published. To this day, it is recognized as the first large-scale, nationwide intergenerational study of the female sports experience.
1988: Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristine Tsuya "Kristi" Yamaguchi-Hedican is an American figure skater. She is the 1992 Olympic Champion in ladies' singles. Yamaguchi also won two World Figure Skating Championships in 1991 and 1992 and a U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1992. She won one junior world title in 1988 and two...
receives a Travel and Training Grant for her athletic success in figure skating. Four years later at the 1992 Olympic Games, she becomes the first U.S. woman since Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Stuart Hamill is an American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion in Ladies' Singles and 1976 World Champion.-Early life:...
in 1976 to win the women’s Olympic figure skating gold medal.
1990: The first “Grants for Girls” are awarded. In its 12 years of existence, $545,000 is distributed to fund equipment, facility rental and apparel to girls’ sports programs across the country. Its direct descendant, the GoGirlGo! grants, awarded more than $1 million in its first three years, 2002-2004.
1991: Soccer player Michelle Akers
Michelle Akers
Michelle Akers is a former leading American association football player, who starred in the historic 1991 and 1999 Women's World Cup victory by the U.S.. She won the Golden Boot as the top scorer in the 1991 tournament...
receives a Travel and Training Grant. Nine years later, she is named the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Player of the Century.
1992: The Community Awards and Grants Program (later the Community Action Program) is established. This program brings together community leaders from youth-serving agencies, sports organizations, schools and businesses to promote girls’ and women’s sports in their local communities. Through the Take Action and Spread the Word awards, granted to more than 100 grassroots organizations across the country, communities are encouraged to celebrate participation and support the achievements of girls and women in sports and fitness.
1992: The Minority Internship Program begins, giving more women of underrepresented populations the experience to make their mark in sports-related careers.
1993: The Women’s Sports Foundation gets a “new home” in Nassau County, N.Y., when the eight full-time staff and two interns move into the Lannin House in Eisenhower Park. Today, 29 full-time staff, nine part-time staff and consultants, and 14 interns share their passion for the cause on a daily basis.
1993: Michelle Kwan
Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S...
is named a recipient of the Travel and Training Grant. Four years later, during the 1997-98 season, she becomes the first woman to earn a perfect score at the U.S. national championship when she earns seven 6.0 scores in the short program.
1994: The Athletes’ Speaker Service is officially launched. Since its inception, hundreds of athletes have educated people at schools, companies and conferences.
1995: The Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner is televised on TNT. This is the first of a total of five times that the Dinner is televised on a major cable network.
1996: The Olympic Games in Atlanta include 45 Foundation Travel and Training grant recipients competing for the United States. Twelve of them win 16 medals, including Mary Ellen Clark
Mary Ellen Clark
Mary Ellen Clark is an American diver who won Olympic bronze medals in diving at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.-Background:...
in diving (bronze), Kerri Strug in gymnastics (gold) and Brooke Bennett
Brooke Bennett
Brooke Marie Bennett is an American swimmer and triple Olympic champion.-1996 Summer Olympics:Bennett’s first gold medal came in the 800 meter freestyle race at the 1996 Summer Olympics...
in swimming (gold).
1996: The Foundation launches a World Wide Web site (now at www.WomensSportsFoundation.org). Millions of people around the world have accessed the Foundation’s information via the Internet.
1996: The first Wilma Rudolph Courage Award is given to Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
. Since then, eight other women who have demonstrated the ability to overcome adversity, make significant contributions to sports and serve as inspirations and role models for others have received this prestigious honor.
1997: The Foundation publishes The Women’s Sports Foundation Gender Equity Report Card. This publication examines the compliance with Title IX of more than 700 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities.
1998: The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Sport and Teen Pregnancy is published. Until this study, there was little or no recognition among teen pregnancy prevention experts and policymakers that athletic participation helps reduce many girls’ risk for pregnancy. The report is so successful that it is published in major newspapers such as USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and international outlets, generating about 250 million media impression.
1998: The Foundation is granted United Nations Consultative status for being concerned with matters within the competence of The Economic and Social Council. To date, the Foundation is the only non-governmental sport organization in the world to receive such status.
1999: The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Addressing the Needs of Professional and Amateur Athletes is published. With this data, the Women’s Sports Foundation helps National Governing Bodies address issues of importance for female athletes.
2000: The Foundation’s first bilingual (English/Spanish) guide, the Parent’s Guide to Girls’ Sports, is published. Since its first printing in 1986, more than 1 million copies have been distributed.
2000: The Foundation is awarded the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
’s first-ever Women in Sport Award for the Americas.
2001: The Foundation publishes The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Health Risks and the Teen Athlete study. Now, program leaders, educators and policymakers have solid evidence that sports participation is a fundamental solution to the health risks faced by teen girls.
2001: The first grant in The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sports is awarded. An educational curriculum and video entitled “It Takes A Team” is created to reach athletes, coaches and administrators nationwide.
2001: GoGirlGo! education and grant programs are established. More than 625,000 girls aged 10-14 have been educated about avoiding health-risk behaviors and more than $2,000,000 has been given to support girls’ physical activity opportunities.
2002: The National Public Service Announcement campaign “Do you know who I am?” is created thanks to Element 79 Partners, Seven Worldwide and the many individuals who donated their time and expertise. The campaign appears more than 18,000 times in print, on television and on the radio and generates 500 million media impressions.
2002: The Olympic Winter Games take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. Travel & Training grant recipients win four of the 11 Olympic medals earned by United States women and seven medals, four of them being gold, in the Paralympic Games.
2003: The Foundation helps lead a 12-month campaign with a coalition of more than 100 organizations to engineer grassroots demonstrations in seven cities to oppose the administration’s attempts to dismantle Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
. Without these efforts, high school participation opportunities for women might have fallen by 163,000, college rates by 43,000 and as much as $103,000,000 might be lost in college athletic scholarships annually.
2004: The GoGirlGo! National Campaign to get one million inactive girls active and to keep one million active girls motivated to participate is launched. Obesity rates have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the last two decades. One in seven young people is obese and one in three is overweight. The Foundation is combating these health risks one girl at a time. Atlanta becomes the first GoGirlGo! community.
2004: SuperWomen: 100 Women-100 Sports, is published. The book shows everyone that female athletes come in all races, ages and body types and that there is a sport for everyone.
2004: The XXVIII Olympic Games is held in Athens, Greece. Seventeen Travel & Training grant recipients compete for the United States, four of whom brought home medals in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field.
2005: Chicago becomes the 2nd GoGirlGo! community project.
2006: San Antonio becomes the 3rd GoGirlGo! community project
2006: The Foundation publishes Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage. This report examined the extent to which both the international and U.S. sports communities provide equitable sports participation and leadership opportunities for women and assigned grades based on the assumption that men and women should have equal opportunities as athletes and leaders and be equally represented in media coverage.
2007: Boston becomes the 4th GoGirlGo! community project
2007: The Foundation publishes Who’s Playing College Sports: Trends in Participation. It provided the most accurate and comprehensive examination of participation trends to date. Data from almost every higher education institution in the country was analyzed utilizing data and methods that are free of the shortcomings present in previous research on this subject.
2008: The Billie Jean King International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame opened in the Sports Museum of America
Sports Museum of America
The Sports Museum of America was the United States' first national sports museum dedicated to the history and cultural significance of sports in America. It opened on May 7, 2008 and closed February 20, 2009.-History:...
. The museum closed due to financial problems in February 2009.
Current Initiatives and Programs
V is for Victory. So ix IX.: In three target states: California, Washington and Pennsylvania, the Women’s Sports Foundation is partnering with legal expert centers: the California Women’s Law Center (CLWC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU) and the Women’s Law Project (WLP) to provide education, resources and technical assistance to parents, students, coaches and administrators to level the playing field in those communities. In each region, the law centers are armed with the legal knowledge and expertise to provide individuals with technical assistance and support as they navigate the channels to make positive change within their schools. Additionally, the Foundation has local staff providing free educational workshops to parents, coaches and students. All participants leave with resources to act, step-by-step, on behalf of Title IX victory.GoGirlGo!: The Women’s Sports Foundation’s GoGirlGo! works across the country to improve the health of sedentary girls and to keep girls involved in physical activity. We get girls moving not through direct service, but by supporting programs and organizations that work with girls. GoGirlGo! identifies and weaves together quality resources within each community and provides comprehensive support through education, funding, public awareness and networking.
It Takes A Team: Originally called The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport, It Takes A Team! started in 1996, enabled by fundraising efforts by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova. The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport was a collaborative effort among the Women’s Sports Foundation, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Gay and Lesbian Education Network, the Ms. Foundation, Uncommon Legacy and ASTRAEA. Under the leadership of Lisa Dawn Thompson, the project developed a comprehensive educational kit which was first released in 2002. In 2005, Pat Griffin became director of It Takes A Team! and is continuing the project’s commitment developing and disseminating high quality educational materials promoting sports equality for all.
GoGirlWorld.org: This generation spends more time on the Internet than any other—GoGirlWorld.org is a site that’s fun, safe and actually inspires and motivates girls to get out and get active. GoGirlWorld.org is a place girls 8-18 can go to experience an atmosphere that fosters their interest in physical activity and connects them to others with the same interests.
Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center: in the Sports Museum of America
Sports Museum of America
The Sports Museum of America was the United States' first national sports museum dedicated to the history and cultural significance of sports in America. It opened on May 7, 2008 and closed February 20, 2009.-History:...
, at 26 Broadway
26 Broadway
26 Broadway is a 31-story, 159 m, 520 ft New York City Designated Landmark at the southern tip of Manhattan at Bowling Green...
in Manhattan opened in 2008 and closed on February 20, 2009. This gallery was dedicated to equal play, will feature the stories of outstanding female athletes and coaches and those who inspire them.
Library and resource center
The Women’s Sports Foundation Library and Resource Center contains a large collection of books, magazines, articles, photographs, films, videos, and artifacts.Annual Salute to Women in Sports
The Annual Salute to Women in Sports celebrates the achievement of female athletes across all sports. Held in October at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City, the Annual Salute features a cast of celebrities, champion athletes and supporters of girls and women in sports. The event acts as a fundraiser, with proceeds benefitting grants, educational and advocacy-related programming. Sportswoman of the Year for both individual and teams sports, the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award and the Billie Jean King Contribution Award are all presented to publicly decided winners.The Billie Awards
The Billie Awards (also known as The Billies) was an annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
first held by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2006.
Flo Hyman Award
The Flo Hyman Memorial Award was conferred annually between 19871987 in sports
1987 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland** Women's overall season champion: Maria Walliser, Switzerland-American football:...
and 2004.
International Women's Sports Hall of Fame
The International Women's Sports Hall of FameHall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
was established in 1980, to give recognition to female athletes who have made history in women’s sports. A category for coaches was added in 1990.