The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
After the 1981-82 academic year, the AIAW discontinued sponsorship of national championships and later was legally dissolved. At this time, the NCAA assumed sole sanctioning authority of its member schools' women's sports programs.
Video Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships
Governing bodies of women's collegiate athletics through 1982
The Division of Girls and Women's Sports (DGWS), a division of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (AAHPER), was the first nationally recognized collegiate organization for women's athletics and the forerunner of the AIAW. The Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW) operated under the auspices of the DGWS. The CIAW governed from 1966 until February, 1972, and conducted championships in eight sports.
During the 1972-73 season, the first full academic year of its operation, the AIAW offered its first eight national championships in the same eight sports (badminton, basketball, golf, gymnastics, softball, swimming & diving, track & field, and volleyball).
In years when small-college championships (Division II or III) were not contested, and in sports without divisions, there was open competition among eligible teams.
Except as noted below, the NCAA sponsored its first women's championship in each sport in the 1981-82 academic year. Individual athletic programs and, in some cases, individual teams within a program were permitted to choose to participate in either the AIAW or NCAA competitions (or both in a few instances). The NCAA has never sponsored championship competition in badminton, synchronized swimming, or slow-pitch softball.
In the sports of fencing, lacrosse, rowing and tennis, for completeness, the champions listed below include those bestowed by each sport's governing body prior to the beginning of AIAW championships in those sports.
Compilations of collegiate records by the NCAA, continuing into 2006, have ignored or segregated the contributions of AIAW athletes. Major college basketball's career women's scoring leader, Lynette Woodard of the University of Kansas, speaking on the exclusion of AIAW statistics, said, "Basketball doesn't just start with when the NCAA blessed it. And it's not about Jackie [Stiles, NCAA career scoring leader] and it's not about Lynette. It's about history. History is history."
Maps Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships
Sports with AIAW/DGWS team championships by year
Badminton
AIAW championship 1973-82. Previously administered by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS).
After the last AIAW competition, collegiate badminton assumed the authority of its own national tournament committee in conjunction with the United States Badminton Association. The USBA continued the sponsorship of national collegiate championships from 1983. Wisconsin won in 1983. Arizona State won all ten titles from 1984 through 1993, when ASU dropped badminton.
Basketball
Pre-NCAA statistics, based on AIAW Archives, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
Division I (no division 1968-1974, Large College 1974-1979)
AIAW championship 1972-82. Previously administered by the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW).
Division II (Small College 1974-1979)
- 1975 Phillips University (Oklahoma)
- 1976 Berry College (Georgia)
- 1977 Southeastern Louisiana
- 1978 High Point (North Carolina)
- 1979 South Carolina State
- 1980 University of Dayton
- 1981 William Penn College (Iowa)
- 1982 Francis Marion College (South Carolina)
Division III
- 1980 Worcester State College (Massachusetts)
- 1981 Wisconsin-La Crosse
- 1982 Concordia College (Minnesota)
Junior/Community College
- 1973 Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College
- 1974 Anderson College (South Carolina)
- 1975 Anderson College
- 1976 Anderson College
- 1977 Anderson College
Cross Country
Division I (no division 1975-1979)
- 1975 Iowa State
- 1976 Iowa State
- 1977 Iowa State
- 1978 Iowa State
- 1979 North Carolina State
- 1980 North Carolina State
- 1981 Iowa State
Division II
- 1979 Air Force (Colorado)
- 1980 South Dakota State
- 1981 Utah
Division III
- 1979 Cal State-Hayward
- 1980 Cal State-Hayward
- 1981 College of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
Fencing
AIAW championship 1980-82. Previously administered by the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association. The IWFA became the National IWFA in 1964 and called for a National Championship.
AIAW, 1980-1982:
- 1980 Penn State
- 1981 Penn State
- 1982 Yale
The NIWFA has continued to sponsor national collegiate championships from 1983 through the present. From 1990 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a combined men's and women's team championship.
Field Hockey
Division I (no division 1975-1979)
Co-sponsored 1975-78 by the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA).
- 1975 West Chester (Pennsylvania) def. Ursinus (Pennsylvania) 2-1 (penalty strokes)
- 1976 West Chester def. Ursinus 2-0
- 1977 West Chester def. Ursinus 1-0
- 1978 West Chester def. Delaware 3-2
- 1979 Long Beach State def. Penn State 2-0
- 1980 Penn State def. California 2-1
- 1981 Penn State def. Temple (Pennsylvania) 5-1
Division II
- 1979 Southwest Missouri State def. Colgate (New York) 2-0
- 1980 La Salle (Pennsylvania) def. Southwest Missouri State 3-2
- 1981 Lock Haven (Pennsylvania) def. Syracuse 2-0
Division III
- 1979 Shippensburg (Pennsylvania) def. Franklin & Marshall (Pennsylvania) 1-0
- 1980 Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) def. Hartwick (New York) 1-0 (ps)
- 1981 Bloomsburg (Pennsylvania) def. Lynchburg (Virginia) 3-2
Golf
Division I (no division 1970-1980)
Team
Individual
Gladys Palmer from Ohio State University initiated the women's intercollegiate golf championship in 1941. After World War II, the DGWS (known as the National Section on Women's Sports until 1957) crowned an individual collegiate golf national champion from 1946 through 1971, when it became an AIAW event.
Division II
Team
- 1981 William and Mary (Virginia)
- 1982 Weber State (Utah)
Individual
- 1981 Susan Fox, Colorado State
- 1982 Heidi Wallin, Weber State
Division III
Team
- 1981 Sacramento State
- 1982 UNC Wilmington
Individual
- 1981 Kris Elton, Concordia College (New York)
- 1982 Luann Johnson, Meredith College (North Carolina)
Gymnastics
Division I (no division 1968-1977, Large College 1977-1979)
Division II (Small College 1977-1979)
- 1978 Centenary (Louisiana)
- 1979 Centenary
- 1980 Centenary
- 1981 Centenary
- 1982 Denver
Division III
- 1980 Wisconsin-Oshkosh
- 1981 UC Davis
- 1982 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota)
Lacrosse
Division I
AIAW championship 1981-82. Administered 1978-80 by the United States Women's Lacrosse Association (USWLA).
- 1978 Penn State def. Maryland 9-3
- 1979 Penn State def. Massachusetts 8-5
- 1980 Penn State def. Maryland 3-1
- 1981 Maryland def. Ursinus 5-4
- 1982 Temple (Pennsylvania) def. Maryland 3-2
Division II
- 1981 Delaware
- 1982 Delaware
Division III
- 1981 Trenton State (New Jersey)
- 1982 Millersville State (Pennsylvania)
Rowing
Only AIAW championship was in 1982. The National Women's Rowing Association (NWRA) sponsored an annual open eights national championship from 1971 to 1979, among college and non-college teams. (There were no eights prior to 1971.) During this period, only in 1973 and 1975 did a college team win the national eights championship outright. According to USRowing, contemporary news reports in 1976 and 1977 do not mention a national collegiate title. Beginning in 1980, the NWRA sponsored the Women's Collegiate National Championship in varsity eights.
NWRA Open Eights top college finishers, 1971-1979 (champion in parentheses):
National Collegiate Varsity Eight Champions, 1980-1982:
- 1980 California
- 1981 Washington
- 1982 Washington (AIAW Champion)
Additional notes:
- A medalist in the 1975 NWRA regatta stated that the 1975 regatta was the 10th annual national women's rowing championship, as emblazoned on T-shirts from the event.
- One citation from 1996 states, "(The Cal Women's Crew) in 1979 finished second in the U.S. National Collegiate Championships. ... The 1980 Cal Women's Crew dominated the National Championships, ... They won the varsity eight, Cal's first ever varsity national championship in any women's sport."
- One citation from 1999 states, "1980. First Women's Collegiate Rowing Championship held in Oak Ridge, TN."
- One citation from 2001 states, " Just seven years after its first race, the (Yale) women's team claimed its first national championship in 1979."
- After the last AIAW competition, the National Collegiate Rowing Championship was held from 1983 through 1996. Washington won the varsity eight in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988. Wisconsin won in 1986. Cornell won in 1989. Princeton won in 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1995. Boston University won in 1991 and 1992. Brown won in 1996.
- From 1997 through the present the NCAA has sponsored the women's collegiate rowing championship.
Skiing
- 1977 Dartmouth (New Hampshire)
- 1978 Utah
- 1979 Middlebury (Vermont)
- 1980 Middlebury
- 1981 Vermont
- 1982 Colorado
From 1983 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a combined men's and women's team championship.
Soccer
- 1980 Cortland State (New York) def. UCLA 5-1
- 1981 North Carolina def. Central Florida 1-0
The 1980 tournament was not officially sanctioned by the AIAW. North Carolina, Harvard, Texas A&M, UCLA, Cortland State, Northern Colorado and Colorado State participated. One reason for the tournament was to earn an official sanction for the sport, by complying with and fulfilling guidelines set forth by the AIAW.
From Fall 1982 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a women's championship.
Fastpitch Softball
Division I (no division 1969-1979)
Women's College World Series
From 1969 to 1982, the women's collegiate softball championship was also known as the Women's College World Series and was promoted as such. The Women's College World Series was played in Omaha, Nebraska, through 1979 and in Norman, Oklahoma, during 1980-1982.
AIAW championship 1973-82. Previously administered by the Amateur Softball Association and sanctioned by DGWS from 1969 to 1972. Co-sponsored by the AIAW and ASA through 1979.
Division II
- 1980 Emporia State (Kansas)
- 1981 Sacramento State
- 1982 Northern Iowa
Division III
- 1980 Cal State Chico
- 1981 Eastern Connecticut State
- 1982 Bloomsburg State (Pennsylvania)
Junior/Community College
- 1975 Golden West (California) def. Northeastern Colorado 22-0 (5 inn, mercy), perfect game
- 1976 Golden West
- 1977 Golden West
Slowpitch Softball
- 1981 Florida State
- 1982 Florida State
After the last AIAW competition, collegiate national championships in slow-pitch softball were conducted in 1983 and 1984 by the Amateur Softball Association. The University of South Florida won both. It appears that most of the college women's slow-pitch teams at that time were from Florida and North Carolina.
Swimming and Diving
Division I (no division 1968-1976, Large College 1977-1979)
Division II (Small College 1977-1979)
- 1977 Clarion State (Pennsylvania)
- 1978 Clarion State
- 1979 Nevada-Reno
- 1980 Clarion State
- 1981 Clarion State
- 1982 Clarion State
Division III
- 1980 Hamline (Minnesota)
- 1981 Hamline
- 1982 Hamline
Synchronized swimming
- 1977 Ohio State
- 1978 Ohio State
- 1979 Ohio State
- 1980 Ohio State, Arizona (tie)
- 1981 Arizona
- 1982 Ohio State
United States Synchronized Swimming has continued to sponsor national collegiate championships from 1983 through the present. From 1983 through 2004, Ohio State won 19 of the 22 titles. Arizona won in 1984. Stanford won in 1998, 1999, 2005 through 2008, 2013 and 2016. Ohio State won in 2009 through 2012, and 2015. Lindenwood won in 2014.
Tennis
Division I (no division 1968-1976, Large College 1977-1979)
AIAW championship 1977-82. Team championships were also bestowed from 1968 to 1979 by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA). From 1958 to 1979, the USLTA also crowned individual collegiate national champions in singles and doubles. (The 1979 USLTA team award appears to have been based on the AIAW results.)
- ? 1977, 1978 USLTA champion: USC
Division II (Small College 1977-1979)
- 1977 Tennessee-Chattanooga
- 1978 Tennessee-Chattanooga
- 1979 Tennessee-Chattanooga
- 1980 Cal Poly-Pomona
- 1981 Cal Poly-Pomona
- 1982 Richmond
Division III
- 1980 UC Davis
- 1981 UC Davis
- 1982 Mary Washington (Virginia)
Indoor Track and Field
- 1980 Texas-El Paso
- 1981 Virginia
- 1982 Nebraska
From 1983 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a women's team championship.
Outdoor Track and Field
Division I (no division 1969-1980)
AIAW championship 1972-82. The first National Intercollegiate Track and Field Championship was sponsored by DGWS in the spring of 1969.
Division II
- 1981 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- 1982 South Carolina State
Division III
- 1981 Cal State-Hayward
- 1982 Wisconsin-La Crosse
Volleyball
Division I (no division 1969-1974, Large College 1975-1978)
AIAW championship 1973-82. Previously administered by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS).
Division II (Small College 1975-1978)
- 1975 Texas Lutheran
- 1976 Texas Lutheran
- 1977 UC Riverside
- 1978 Florida Technological University
- 1979 Hawai?i-Hilo
- 1980 Cal State Northridge
- 1981 Hawai?i-Hilo
Division III
- 1979 Azusa Pacific (California)
- 1980 Sacramento State
- 1981 La Verne (California)
Junior/Community College
- 1974 Eastern Arizona College
- 1975 Ricks College (Idaho)
- 1976 Mesa Community College (Arizona)
- 1977 Santa Ana College (California)
Bowling
The USBC (formerly ABC/Women's International Bowling Congress) has conducted a women's intercollegiate bowling championship annually since 1975, although it was not an AIAW sport.
Notes
Sources
- Archives of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries
- Virginia Hunt, "Governance of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics: an Historical Perspective," (Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Carolina - Greensboro, 1976), Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms (1977), 1-319
- Suzanne Willey, "The Governance of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics: Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), 1976-1982," (Thesis (P.E.D.), Indiana University, 1996), Eugene, Oregon: Microform Publications (1997), 1-351
- USA Field Hockey
- Women's Basketball Timeline 1890's-Present (pdf)
- Women's College Basketball Championship History Page ( ( 2009-10-24)
- USBC, Intercollegiate Team Championships
- NIFWA Team Champions
- Intercollegiate Tennis Association - The Milestones in Women's Collegiate Tennis
- The History of UCLA Women's Volleyball
- UW Women's Sports History, 1974-2004 (pdf-large)
- Trinity University Campus Spotlight, "Former Sports Standouts to be Inducted Into Trinity's Athletic Hall of Fame"
- Long Beach Press-Telegram,"It All Started in Long Beach," 12/15/2004
- Bio: Marilyn Nolen: Women's Volleyball
- Cougar Volleyball 99 (pdf-large)
- McPherson College Hall of Fame 2004, Kathy Rogers Yoder
- BRO Forums, "UCLA: 97 NCAA titles and counting...." (Caution: before referencing, confirm a second source)
- TWU Athletics Hall Of Fame Committee Seeks Nominations For 2006 Induction
- Texas Woman's University Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2002
- "The Institutionalization of a Gender Biased Sport Value System," Everhart & Pemberton, Winter, 2001
- Northern Illinois University Athletics Hall of Fame
- History of Synchronized Swimming in the U.S.
- Buckeye Champions
- SMS softball recognizes 1974 national championship team 30th anniversary
- 2005 Sacramento State Hornets Softball Media Guide (pdf-large)
- "10 Most Memorable Moments in UNO Sports History"
- USTA supporting women's collegiate tennis for nearly half a century
- Alabama Women's Golf 2003-04, page 7 (pdf-large)
- "Nearly 150 years old, Yale crew embodies spirit of Eli sports," May 17, 2001
- California Golden Bears Women's Crew
- "A rowing legend moves on," April 15, 1998
- "Proposal To Add Women's Rowing As A Varsity Sport, University Of Colorado, Boulder"
- UCLA Bruins Traditions
- Rowing (From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978))
- Men's & Women's Skiing Past Individual Champions
- Men's & Women's Fencing Past Champions
- "Stanford's Inferno Too Hot for Bucks"
- Women's Bowling Past Champions
- Women's Soccer Past Champions
- Men's & Women's Track & Field Indoor Champions
- Seminole Softball 2004 Media Guide, p 66 (pdf-large)
- National Fastpitch Coaches Association
- Wisconsin Women's Rowing 2005-2006 Media Guide - History and Results (pdf)
- Princeton Women's Rowing Record Book (pdf)
- The History of ASU Badminton (pdf)
- Sun Devil Swimming & Diving Program History
- Cornell Big Red - On Campus in the Nineties
- Colorado College Women's Soccer History
- History of Penn State Women's Lacrosse (pdf)
- 2007 Maryland Women's Lacrosse Media Guide (pdf)
- Wisconsin Badgers Athletics: A pretty good decade so far, BadgerBeat.com
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