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History of Women in Sports Timeline
Part 4 - 1960-1979
"You've come along way, baby!"
- 1960 - At the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, CA, Carol Heiss performs the first double jump in women's figure skating.
- 1960 - Wilma Rudolph, during the Olympic Games in Rome, becomes the first American woman to win 3 track and field gold medals - in the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, and the 400 meter relay. She was nicknamed the "Black Gazelle" for her graceful running style. She is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 1960 and 1961.
- 1960 - Betsy Rawls becomes the first woman to win the US Women's Open golf title four times.
- 1960 - Larissa Latynina wins three golds, two silvers and a bronze medal for gymnastics at the Rome Olympic medal count while three months pregnant.
- 1960 - Mamie Rollins sets a new record for women's 70-yard hurdles at 8.7 seconds.
- 1960- Jeannie Ashworth wins the first speedskaing Olympic medal, a bronze, for American women.
- 1960 - Marion Ladewig, of Grand Rapids, MI, wins the first PWBA Championship.
- 1960 - Donna de Varona is the youngest member of the 1960 US Olympic swimming team at 13.
- 1960 - England's Beryl Burton wins the Women's World Road Racing Championships, repeating in 1967. She holds the British Best All-Around title for 25 consecutive years.
- 1961 - Mickey Wright wins the first woman's golf "grand slam," with the LPGA championship, the US Open, and the Titleholders tournament.
- 1961 - Golfer Louise Suggs defeats 10 men at the $10,000 Palm Beach par-3 invitational.
- 1961 - Wilma Rudolph, track, wins AAU's James E. Sullivan Memorial Award. After she retired from competition, she finished college and then took part in a special program to help ghetto children learn athletics from star performers.
- 1962 - Dawn Fraser is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for swimming.
- 1962 - The National Women's Rowing Association is formed in California.
- 1963 - Helen Shablis of the USA is the first woman's Tenpin Bowling World Champion.
- 1963 - Mary Mills wins the US Women's Open golf tournament by three strokes over Sandra Palmer and Louise Suggs.
- 1963 - the LPGA championship tournament is televised for the first time, with a record purse of $9,000, going to winner Mickey Wright. She is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for golf, repeating in 1964. Mickey Wright set the LPGA record with 13 victories this year.
- 1964 - Volleyball is added to the Olympic Games.
- 1964 - Willye White, the only American woman to compete on five Olympic track and field teams, wins her second silver at the Tokyo Games in the 4x100-meter relay. White held the American record in the long jump for 16 years.
- 1964 - Ukrainian native Larissa Latynina completes her Olympic career in gymnastics with more medals than any athlete in Olympic history: nine gold, five silver and four bronze.
- 1964 - Speedskater Lydia Skoblikova becomes the first woman to win four gold medals at a Olympic Winter Games and the first person to win six gold medals (including two in the 1960 Olympic Games).
- 1964 - Althea Gibson becomes the first black woman to earn her LPGA player's card.
- 1964 - Jerrie Mock is the first woman to fly successfully around the world in a Cessna 18. She set seven new records during the flight which lasts 29 days, traveling nearly 22,860 miles.
- 1964 - Mickey Wright is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for golf again this year with 11 victories on the year.
- 1965 - Margo Oberg, who was the youngest winning competitor in the women's no-age limit class at a San Diego surfing event at age 11, wins her first national event at age 12. She was the only girl competing.
- 1965 - Donna De Varona, a 1964 Olympic swimmer, becomes the first woman sports broadcaster on national TV for ABC. She is also a founder of the Women's Sports Foundation.
- 1965 - Golfer Kathy Whitworth is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, an award she earns again in 1966.
- 1965 - The Women's Golf Open is televised nationally for the first time.
- 1965 - The first international women's softball tournament is held in Melboourne, Australia, with the home country beating the US in the final, 1-0.
- 1966 - Billie Jean King wins her first Wimbledon single title, repeating in 1967 and '68.
- 1966 - The first intercollegiate women's basketball tournmanet is played in Pennsylvania.
- 1966 - Roberta Gibb of the US, becomes the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, a feat she repeats in 1967 and 1968. She finished in the top third behind about 125 of the 500 men.
- 1966 - Joyce Hofman wins her second straight world amateur surfing championship in Sydney Australia - becoming the first woman to win the title twice.
- 1966 - The first National Women's Rowing Association nationals are held in Seattle, with 45 boats entered.
- 1966 - LPGA player Kathy Whitworth wins the first of her 7 LPGA Player of the Year awards (1966-69, 1971-73).
- 1967 - The first woman’s season champion in the World Cup of ski racing is Canada’s Nancy Greene. She repeats as world champion in 1968, and wins an Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom at the Winter Games in Grenoble, France, as well.
- 1967 - Mary Meyers wins World Championship gold in the sppedskating 500 meters.
- 1967 - Billie Jean King sweeps three titles at Wimbledon, beating Ann Hayden for the singles title, teaming with Rosie Casals for the women's doubles title, and with Owen Davidson for the mixed double title.
- 1967 - Billie Jean King is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, an honor she earns again in 1973.
- 1967 -K. (Katherine) Switzer registers to run the Boston Marathon. Race officials try to tear her number from her back during the race.
- 1968 - The Olympic Committee conducts gender tests for the first time in international sports at the Winter Games in Grenoble, France.
- 1968 - Swimmer Debbie Meyer wins AAU's James E. Sullivan Memorial Award. The year before she was named the Woman Athlete of the Year - by the Soviet news agency, TASS!
- 1968 - Anna Lewis becomes the youngest person to win a world rodeo championship when she wins the Womens's Pro Rodeo Association barrel racing at age 10.
- 1968 - Enriquette Basilio becomes the first woman to light the Olympic flame at the Mexico City Summer Games.
- 1968 - Debbie Meyer becomes the first female to win three individual gold medals in Mexico City. At age 16, she set Olympic records in the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle races.
- 1968 - Wyomia Tyus becomes the only woman to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100-meter dash at Mexico City; the first in Tokyo. She won 8 national AAU championships and was inducted in the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1985.
- 1968 - Peggy Fleming is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for skating.
- 1968 - Margo Oberg wins her first World Championship in surfing.
- 1968 - Canada's Sandra Post beats Kathy Whitworth by seven strokes in a playoff to become the first non-US player and rookie to win the LPGA Championship.
- 1968 - Kathy Whitworth and Carol Mann both win 10 LPGA events during the year.
- 1969 - Diane Crump becomes the first woman jockey to ride in a parimutuel horse race in North America.
- 1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin becomes the first woman jockey to win at a US thoroughbred track.
- 1969 - Sharon Sites Adams becomes the first woman to sail solo across the Pacific in the 31-foot Sea Harp.
- 1969 - Debbie Meyer is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for swimming.
- 1969 - 17-year old Ruth White becomes the first black woman to win a major US fencing title and the youngest, when she is named the national fencing champion.
- 1969 - Audrey McElmury, La Jolla, CA, becomes the first U.S. World Road Racing Champion.
- 1970 - Just 294,000 American high school girls take part in interscholastic sports.
- 1970 - Pat Palinkas is the first woman to play in a professional football game. She held the ball for the place kickers on the OrlandoPanthers team.
- 1970 - Diana Crump becomes the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby aboard Fathom on May 2.
- 1970 - The US's Mary Jo Peppler is voted the outstanding volleyball player in the world at the International Games in Bulgaria.
- 1970 - Cathy Rigby wins a silver medal in balance beam at the world championships, becoming the first American man or woman to win a medal in international competition.
- 1970 - Australian Margaret Smith Court becomes the second grand slam tennis winner.
- 1970 - Chi Cheng is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for track.
- 1971 - Canadian Debbie Brill becomes the first woman to high jump six feet.
- 1971 - The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women is formed to plan, govern, and promote the growing number of college tournament for women athletes.
- 1971 - Billie Jean King becomes the first woman athlete to win more than $100,000 in a single season in any sport. She is the only woman to have won US singles titles on grass, clay, carpet and hard court.
- 1971 - Cheryl White, 17, becomes the first black woman to ride a horse, Ace Reward, at the Thitsledown Race Track in Cleaveland.
- 1971 - The five-player, full-court game and the 30-second shot clock is introduced to women's basketball.
- 1971 - Jockey Mary Bacon becomes the first woman to ride to 100 wins on California Lassie on June 30 at the Thitsledown Race Track in Cleaveland.
- 1971 - Evone Goolagong is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis.
- 1971 - Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Pröll, 17, becomes the youngest woman to win a World Cup in overall points title for downhill skiing. During her 12 year career, she wins a record 62 World Cup races, includuing 36 downhill victories, to become the most accomplished female downhill skier.
- 1971 - Althea Gibson is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
- 1972 - At the Munich Olympics, Shirley Babashoff, 15, wins the first of her eight Olympic medals in swimming. She won 27 national championships, and was a member of five
world-record-setting relay teams.
- 1972 - Congress passes Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activities receiving Federal financial assistance.” When President Nixon signs the act on July 23 about 31,000 women are involved in college sports; spending on athletic scholarships for women is less than $100,000; and the average number of women's teams at a college is 2.1.
- 1972 - There are 817,073 girls participating in high school sports.
- 1972 - Laura Blears Ching, the International Surfing champion, is the first woman to go up against men in a surfing meet in Hawaii.
- 1972 - AAU changes the rules of the Boston Marathon, letting women run with official numbers for the first time. Nina Kuscik is one of only nine women to finish the race. She comes in ahead of 800 men in the field of runners.
- 1972 - Immaculata College claims its first of three straight national titles with a 52-48 victory over West Chester State College, in the first-ever women's college basketball season to culminate with an official national championship.
- 1972 - Billie Jean King is named the Sportswoman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, the first time the award is given to a woman.
- 1972 - Olga Korbut is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for gymnastics.
- 1973 - Joan Lind wins the national title for single sculling.
- 1973 - There are 1.3 million girls participating in high school sports.
- 1973 - US Tennis Association announces that men and women will receive equal prize money at the US Open.
- 1973 - Marcia Frederick is the first American to win an Olympic gold medal and the gymnastics title. She wins on the uneven parallel bars.
- 1973 - Mary Mills shoots a 63 in the LPGA Championship final to beat Betty Burfeimdt by one stroke.
- 1973 - Robyn Smith becomes the first woman jockey to win a stakes race when she rides North Sea to victory at Aqueduct.
- 1973 - >Billie Jean King wins the "battle-of-the-sexes" tennis match against Bobby Riggs on Sept. 20 in Houston in front of more than 30,000 people and a world-wide TV audience of more than 50 million. It firmly connected women's rights to women's sports and inspired millions to demand equal rights, equal treatment, and equal pay.
- 1973 - Linda Myers becomes the first US world champion in archery.
- 1973 - Golfer Kathy Whitworth finsihes the year with 7 wins and $82,862 in prize money.
- 1973 - Jean Balukas, 14, a native of Brooklyn, wins her first US pocket billiards championship, a title she also wins in 1974 and 1975.
- 1973 - Billie Jean King is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis.
- 1973 - Marion Ladewig, a native of Grand Rapids, MI, is voted the Greatest Woman Bowler of All Time. Ladewig started bowling at age 22, winning the first women's pro bowling tournament in 1960, the Professional Women's Bowling Association Championship in North Miami Beach, FL. Between 1949 and '63, Ladewig led the nation in high average for a woman four times, won the US Open Championship eight times, was a five-time World's Invitational Champion, and was voted Bowler of the Year nine times. No other person, man or woman, has won that award so many times.
- 1974 - Lanny Moss is the first woman to manage a professional men's baseball team. She was hired by the minor league Portland Mavericks.
- 1974 - Carol Polls becomes the first licensed woman boxing judge in the US.
- 1974 - Ann Meyers is the first high school player to make the women's national basketball team.
- 1974 - Little League Baseball admits girls (after losing a lawsuit). Bunny Taylor is the first girl to pitch a no-hitter.
- 1974 - The first issue of Women's Sports magazine is published.
- 1974 - The inaugeral season of the first women's professional football league kicks off with seven US teams.
- 1974 - Women begin competing for the world rowing championship.
- 1974 - Sandra Haynie wins the LPGA Championship by two strokes over JoAnne Carter.
- 1974 - Winston Cup racing reporter Pat Singer (who edited the Auto Racing Monthly in the early 1970's) gets her first garage pass at the Rockingham, NC, NASCAR track. This allowed her into auto racing's version of the pro sports locker room four years before Sports Ilustrated's Melissa Ludtke wins her lawsuit for equal access in major league baseball.
- 1974 - Chris Evert is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis; she repeats in 1975, 1977, and 1980. Chris Evert is ranked the number 1 American for the first of 5 consecutive years. Over her professional career, Evert would compile a win-loss record of 1309-146, and be the first woman to earn $1 million in her career.
- 1974 - Donna de Varona cofounds the Women's Sports Foundation, serving as the organization's first president from 1979-84.
- 1975 - On Jan. 27, the first-ever nationally televised women's college basketball game sees Immaculata defeat the University of Maryland, 85-63.
- 1975 - Olympian and national team member Debbie Green becomes volleyball's youngest All-American at 16.
- 1975 - Margaret Murdock out-guns all her competition, to be come the first woman to win a gold medal in the over-all shooting events at the Pan-American Games.
- 1975 - The US women's lacrosse team beats the British team for the first time in lacrosse history in England.
- 1975 - Margo Oberg, age 22, returns to surfing when it becomes a professional sport. She wins the Hang Ten International in Malibu, the first professional women's surfing contest, and the circuit's next two pro world titles. She will win her last title in 1981.
- 1975 - Marion Bermudez, 23, is the first US woman to compete in the formerly all-male Golden Gloves boxing tournament in Mexico City. She won her first match against a man. She is also a national karate champion and has competed against men in that sport, as well.
- 1975 - Title IX goes effect on June 21.
- 1975 - Tammy Wilson and partner John Fowler roller skate nonstop for 178 hours in Montgomery, AL.
- 1975 - In an endurance match, Sandy Gross and Rita Santarpia play continuous tennis for 30 hours and 30 minutes in Beltsville, MD.
- 1975 - The first girl to win the All-American Soap Box Derby is Karen Stead, age 11.
- 1975 - Amy Alcott becomes the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour when she wins the Orange Blossom Classic at 19.
- 1975 - The International Women's Professional Softball League forms. Player contracts ranged from $1,000 to $3,000 per year, but the league disbands in 1980 because of financial problems.
- 1975 - Kathy Whitworth of Texas is inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame. She was the LPGA's player of the year from 1966 to 1973 (except for 1970). During her 33-year career (1962 to 1985), she won 88 championships, the best record of any professional woman golfer. She was the LPGA Player of the Year seven times, won six majors, and was a seven-time winner of the Vare Trophy, as the female golfer with the lowest scoring average.
- 1975 - Junko Tabei of Japan is the first woman in the world to reach the top of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. On May 16, leading an all-female Japanese expedition, she reaches the summit. She has also climbed to the top of the highest mountains in 20 of the 167 countries of the United Nations.
- 1975 - Mary Jo Peppler is named the International Volleyball Association's Coach of the Year.
- 1976 - Ann Meyers becomes the first female recipient of a full athletic scholarship at UCLA. She will lead the Bruins in rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots during each of her four seasons. She will became the only player (male or female) in school history to record a quadruple-double (20 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals).
- 1976 - Rowing, handball, and basketball become Olympic events for women. Joan Lind becomes the first American woman to win a (silver) medal as a single sculler.
- 1976 - Margaret Murdock becomes the first woman member of the US Olympic shooting team, sharing the podium with team member Lanny Bassham (the declared winner) after they posted equal gold medal-winning scores at the Montreal Summer Games.
- 1976 - At the Innsbruck Olympic Games, Sheila Young becomes the first American to win three medals at a Winter Olympics, taking gold in the 500, silver in the 1,500 and bronze in the 1,000 in speedskating. Later that year she wins her second skating/cycling world championships double before retiring from competition.
- 1976 - West German Rosi Mittermaier, 25, turns in the greatest performance in one Olympics by a female alpine skier when she captures the gold in the women’s downhill, the slalom and took the silver in the giant slalom at the Innsbruck Olympics.
- 1976 - Dorothy Hamill wins Olympic gold by scoring eight 5.8’s, a 5.9 in technical merit and all 5.9’s in artistic interpretation.
- 1976 - The Connecticut Falcons beat the San Jose Sunbirds in the first Women's Professional Softball World Series championship.
- 1976 - Natalie Dunn, 20, becomes the first US woman to win the world title in figure roller-skating; she repeats in 1978.
- 1976 - The New York Times reports there are more than 10,000 women weight-lifters, up from just a few hundred in 1974.
- 1976 - Krystyna Choynowski-Liskiewicz of Poland is the first woman to sail around the world solo, finishing on March 28.
- 1976 - Kitty O'Neil breaks the woman's world land-speed record by almost 300 mph, setting the new mark at 612 mph.
- 1976 - After winning three medals in speed skating at the Winter Olympics, Sheila Young of Michigan wins both the United States and world sprint cycling titles.
- 1976 - Shirley Babashoff becomes the all-time Olympic medal leader among US women. She wins one gold and two silver medals in 1972, along with one gold and four silver in 1976.
- 1976 - Margaret Murdock's silver three-position rifle victory at the Olympic Games makes her the first markswoman in history to win an Olympic medal. The event was open, with men and women
competing against each other.
- 1976 - Nadia Comaneci is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for gymnastics.
- 1976 - Shirley Muldowney becomes the first woman to win a national event in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Top Fuel division.
- 1977- Mary Shane, the first woman to be hired by major league baseball on Jan. 4, is the new TV play-by-play commentator for the Chicago White Sox.
- 1977 - The first varsity women's soccer program begins at Brown University.
- 1977 - Camdian Comdy Nichols, 19, swims the English Channel in both directions in just 19 hours and 55 minutes.
- 1977 - Janet Guthrie, a 39-year-old physicist, becomes the first woman to participate in the Indianaoplis 500 auto race on May 29. She qualifies for the race in 1978 (finishing in eighth place) and 1979, as well.
- 1977 - Lucy Giovinco, a college student, becomes the first US bowler to win the Women's Bowling World Cup with a 620 in a 3-game round.
- 1977 - Marie Ledbetter becomes the first woman to win the World Accuracy Title at the 12th annual Parachuting Championship in Rome. In 8 jumps from 2,500 feet, her total accumulated distance off target is only 3.3 inches.
- 1977 - At 13, Lise Ann Russell becomes the youngest amatuer to qualify and compete in a LPGA event, the Coca Cola Classic in May.
- 1977 - Lucy Harris becomes the first woman to be drafted by an NBA team (New Orleans Jazz).
- 1977 - Hollis Stacy wins the US Women's Open golf championship by two strokes over Nancy Lopez.
- 1978 - The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, prohibiting gender discrimination in open amateur sports, makes training facilities and money more available to women and minorities.
- 1978 - 1.6 million American high school girls are taking part in interscholastic sports.
- 1978 - Shirley Muldowney becomes the first woman first woman to win the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) points title.
- 1978 - Ann Meyers signs a contract to try out for the Indiana Pacers, the first woman to sign a contract with an NBA team. She later plays for the New Jersey Gems of the Women's Professional Basketball League.
- 1978 - Swimmer Tracy Caulkins wins AAU's James E. Sullivan Memorial Award.
- 1978 - Melissa Ludtke of Sports Illustrated files a lawsuit; a US District Court judge rules that male and female reporters should have the same access to athletes, even if it means entering locker rooms while athletes are dressing.
- 1978 - Norwegian Grete Waitz wins the New York City Marathon in 2:32:30, two minutes faster than the existing world record.
- 1978 - Betty Cook becomes the first woman to complete in one day the 580-mile run down the Gulf of California from San Felipe to La Paz. Averaging just over 50 mph, she completed the offshore boat race in 12:45 hours.
- 1978 - 13-year old Penny Dean sets an English Channel swimming record time of 7 hours 40 minutes.
- 1978 - Nancy Lopez shoots a records 13 under par to win the LPGA CHampionship by six strokes over Amy Alcott.
- 1978 - The first game of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) is played between the Chicago Hustle and Milwaukee Does on Dec. 8.
- 1978 - New York State becomes the first state to offer an amateur competition for female and male athletes when the Empire State Games debut in Syracuse.
- 1978 - American Women's Himalayan Expedition members Vera Komarkova and Irene Miller (Beradsley) become the first women and first Americans reach to top of Annapurna, one of the world's most dangerous mountains. Two members fo the 10-woman team died in the attempt. The team raised the $80,000 needed by selling T-shirts: "A Woman's Place Is on Top."
- 1978 - Nancy Lopez is the first female golfer to win Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same year. She won nine tournaments and $189,813, a record for any rookie, male or female. She is also named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for golf.
- 1978 - Carol Blazejowski, "Blaze," Montclair State, is the first recipient of the Wade Trophy. She sets a collegiate scoring record (male or female) in Madison Square Garden with 52 points in a single game. She led the nation in scoring in '76-77 (33.5 ppg) and in '77-78 (38.6 ppg). Her total points at Montclair State were 3,199 points, a career scoring average of 31.7 points per game, the highest in the history of women's college basketball.
- 1979 - Lyn Memarie is the first woman to complete the Hawaii Ironman Triathalon in 12:55:38.
- 1979 - Grete Waitz wins her second New York City Marathon, the first woman to run under 2:30, with a new world mark (2:27:33).
- 1979 - Softball debutes at the Pan-American Games with the US Women's Team winning gold.
- 1979 - Crystal Fields, an 11-year-old from Cumberland, MD, becomes the first girl to win the annual baseball Pitch, Hit, and Run competition against boys in conjunction with the All-Star Game.
- 1979 - Beth Heiden becomes the first US women's world overall champion in speed skating. She follows this with a world title in cycling and the NCAA championship in cross-country skiing.
- 1979 - Tracy Austin, age 16, wins the US Open singles tennis championship, becoming the youngest player to win the title. She is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis; repeating in 1981.
- 1979 - Dr. Sylvia Earle becomes the first person in the world to dive to a depth of 1,250 feet. She led an all-woman team of scientists in an experiment in undersea living, staying for two weeks in a submerged capsule in the Caribbean Sea.
- 1979 - Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, a 12-time world Cycling champion, begins competing. In her career, she will break 36 world records, and win 37 French national titles.
- 1979 - Ann Meyers, first woman to sign a contract with a men’s NBA team, is the first player taken in the Women’s Professional Basketball League draft. She is named the league’s first MVP at the end of the season.
- 1979 - Billie Jean King wins her 20th Wimbledon title.
to 1899 - 1900-1929 - 1930-1959 - 1960-1979 - 1980-1989
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