AIAW precursor to modern-day Title IX
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was formed in 1971, giving women the first opportunity to compete against other universities.
It gave women the opportunity to compete in intercollegiate national championships.
As the precursor to NCAA sponsored athletics, Senior Associate Athletic Director Marcy Weston said the AIAW got things rolling for women.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the AIAW paved the way for women in intercollegiate athletics,” she said. “Fran Koenig, who was my mentor when she was here, was a state officer in the AIAW. They just got volunteers who wanted to give women the opportunity to compete.”
Koenig was the former Athletics Director for Women at CMU.
Title IX was adopted a few short months after the AIAW began drafting its first bylaws. At the time, universities were broken down into two divisions — a large college and small college division.
Central competed in the larger division, with the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Western and Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley State University, Wayne State and Oakland University.
Before becoming an administrator at CMU, Weston coached basketball, field hockey and volleyball, compiling a record 417-266-16 in 14 years. She was the most successful in volleyball, going 391-134-14 with a .738 winning percentage.
That was not all she did.
“In the spring I would help with softball,” Weston said. “I would go over and help check eligibility and help run the tournament.”
Mary Bottaro was a field hockey coach at CMU from 1976-85 and said the AIAW and Title IX worked hand-in-hand.
“Tittle IX helped AIAW and vice versa,” she said. “I don’t know if we would have had programs for women if someone hadn’t started the AIAW.”
But, the AIAW did not have as many restrictions as the present-day NCAA. For example, Weston said female athletes could transfer as many times as they wanted without penalty, as long as it was for “academic” reasons.
In the late 1970s, the public began pressuring the NCAA to pick up women’s athletics.
“People who were in charge of AIAW asked the NCAA if they would take over, and they said absolutely not,” Weston said. “There was no money involved in the AIAW and they didn’t want any part of it. So we just kept on moving along.”
When women’s national competitions started drawing media attention, the NCAA’s interest began to peak. The NCAA and the AIAW battled in court and the AIAW lost out.
Women started competing in the NCAA in 1982, the same year CMU joined the MAC.
“The NCAA is more of a business, even though they say they are non-profit,” Weston said. “But it’s more of a business operation. AIAW was more student centered, and the NCAA was more institution centered.”
The transition did not go as smoothly for all of the women’s athletics at CMU. The field hockey team was unable to compete in a national tournament after joining the MAC because there was not a postseason tournament to decide a conference representative. The MAC began sponsoring postseason tourneys in field hockey in 1987.
“You could tell the difference because there were not any tournaments,” Bottaro said. “It was definitely a step backward, and as a coach I wasn’t very happy with being out of the AIAW because we didn’t have a national championship to play for.”
An important landmark in the progression of women’s athletics, the AIAW provided a much-needed stepping stone for women to have the opportunity to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
