50_Split_October2005 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 10/1/2005
Last Visited: 7/7/2008
Bob Duenkel , Executive Director,International Swimming Hall of Fame
RoseMary took her crusade to Junior Swimmer and Swimming World magazine, where she wrote an article promoting women's entry into college sports."With the national emphasis now placed on physical fitness, we cannot go on blindly believing that college girls do not want to compete until we try it," she wrote in the January 1963 issue.
The article, titled "Crusade in the Colleges," continued: "There is little question that the traditional viewpoint opposing extramural competitive sports for college girls is still firmly entrenched in many colleges.The enthusiastic response to varsity sports for girls . . . and the competitive nature of the American way of life make it inevitable that extramural sports for high school and college girls must come."
Her crusade reached a climax when she helped establish the first women's National Collegiate Swimming and Diving Championships, which were held at Michigan State University, East Lansing, in December 1962."There were a few meets for women on the college level before this championship, but they were more like club swimming than intercollegiate swimming," said Duenkel.