Throughout this academic year,
the College celebrated, in various ways, the 50-year anniversary of women at Kenyon. The opening of the Coordinate College (for women) in September of 1969 transformed campus and brought about one of the most significant changes in Kenyon Athletics history.
One year after women settled in, Janet Kelley was hired as Head Resident in a Coordinate College dormitory, as well as part-time Instructor of Physical Education and Athletics. Kelley offered a variety of sports that year, but field hockey and lacrosse gained the most traction.
In the fall of 1970, competing under the name Coordinate College of Kenyon, the field hockey team emerged as the first varsity group to face competition. The Kenyon women lost to both Denison and Otterbein, before tying Bowling Green to round out their final record at 0-2-1.
In the spring of 1971, many of the same women participated in lacrosse. That Kenyon team took on the likes of Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster and posted a 1-0-2 mark. The following academic year, 56 women played in the two sports. The field hockey team went 2-4-2 and the lacrosse team put together a 1-4 record.
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Karen Burke
It was prior to the 1972-73 season, however, that things really took off for women's sports. Karen Burke was hired as Assistant Athletics Director and became the first full-time female employee in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics. Soon after, a women's wing in the fieldhouse was constructed. The wing included an office, lockers, showers and a first aid room.
At the same time, the Coordinate College transitioned with Kenyon into a truly coeducational institution. Burke guided the field hockey and lacrosse teams, competing for the first time under the Kenyon name, to respective records of 1-5-1 and 4-3-2.
Under Burke's watch, tennis also emerged as a varsity sport. In 1973-74, varsity volleyball and basketball teams took the court. Remarkably, Burke coached them all, and she did so for years, guiding the field hockey and lacrosse teams through 11 seasons, the basketball team through seven season, the volleyball team through five and the tennis team through four.
Over the next few years, Kenyon added swimming and diving, as well as track and field. In the early 1980s, women's cross country and soccer were added. Finally, in 1997-98, softball played its first varsity season, brining Kenyon's current total to 11 women's sports.
Looking back at those 50 years, there is plenty to celebrate. Kenyon's women's teams have produced combined accomplishments that include 26 NCAA team titles, 61 North Coast Athletic Conference titles, 249 NCAA individual titles, 43 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients, 14 NCAA Division III Athlete of the Year awards and five national finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year honors.
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Other Kenyon Classics...
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