When women started playing varsity sports at Colgate for the first time in Raiders' history in the fall of 1973, the entire women's athletics program rested on the shoulders of two people.

Ruth Goehring, a graduate of Cortland State, was appointed as the head of Colgate women's athletics at a time when collegiate sports for women was a new concept.

The hire came three years after Colgate became a co-ed institution. When the first class of women arrived on campus in the fall of 1970, club sports sprouted immediately to meet the demand for women's athletics competition. By 1973, varsity status was granted to basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, swim and dive, tennis, and volleyball.

Goehring not only oversaw women's athletics, but she was also tasked with building the program from the ground up — while also coaching women's basketball, field hockey, and volleyball.

Joining her was another recent hire in Susan Hughes, a former teacher and graduate of Northeastern. Hughes was brought on to coach lacrosse, swimming, and tennis.

Both women also taught physical education courses at Colgate. Together, they handled a workload that would be inconceivable today. It was a test of trial and error — learning on the fly as women's athletics flourished quicker than anyone could have imagined. 

Its rise from club sports to varsity D-I took decades of hard work and patience before it could become the exemplary program of the modern era. 

Today, women's teams total 13 of the 25 varsity athletic programs at Colgate. Women make up nearly half of the student-athletes on campus. Women have climbed up the administrative ranks, serving many faculty positions across the University — including vice presidents and athletics directors.

For the past year, Colgate has celebrated five decades of women's varsity athletics by recognizing the various pioneers who helped build the foundation by playing a sport or carrying out a job. Together, they toppled gender barriers and discrimination.

But it all began in the early 1970s. Through incredible stamina, enthusiasm, and commitment, Goehring and Hughes guided women's athletics forward. 

"Perhaps the greatest asset these two women will bring to Colgate is their open enthusiasm for the program. They want to get as many girls as they can involved in as many ways as possible," was how Goehring and Hughes were described in a Colgate Maroon article on Sept. 18, 1973. 

While Goehring and Hughes gave new meaning to the phrase "jack-of-all-trade," they had help in other ways. 

Female students pushed for improvements to women's athletics. As the female population grew each year, and the level of athletic talent improved, it became obvious that more had to be done to accommodate women. 
 

Another crucial tool in the movement for change was a federal bill known as Title IX. Put into law in 1972, the bill stated, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." 

Title IX was the latest step in a nationwide movement that challenged racial, religious, and ethnic prejudices, beginning in the 1960s. As women fought for equality, college campuses became key battlegrounds. 

Heading into the 1970s, more colleges switched to co-ed. As Colgate steered into new territory, two women were at the helm. It was a job that tested them to the limit, with roadblocks along the way.

MANY CHALLENGES
Hughes stepped down in 1975 to return to regular teaching. But a replacement was quickly found. Goehring's new sidekick became Courtney Solenberger, a recent graduate of Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, where she was part of the varsity field hockey, lacrosse, and swimming teams.

The workload wasn't a determent for Solenberger. "Challenging, scary at times, but above all, awfully exciting," was how she described her new job, which required coaching lacrosse and swimming, serving as JV field hockey coach, and teaching physical education.

By this point, women's tennis was in the hands of Joe Abrahamson, who started off as a part-time coach in 1974. Abrahamson coached the team for 19 years, piling up 226 wins, good for second in program history. In 1994, Colgate honored Abrahamson by renaming the outdoor tennis courts after him.

Yet even with the addition of Abrahamson, women's athletics was growing at a rate that was too much for Goehring and Solenberger to handle themselves.

Students were also petitioning for additional improvements to women's athletics and for more club teams to go varsity. Goehring called for Colgate to hire a third woman coach, but as Colgate faced a budget crunch, it took a few years for her request to be granted.

In the meantime, Goehring and Solenberger had to improvise, which sometimes meant compromising. One team that had to make sacrifices was volleyball. The program was forced to cram its entire season into three weeks to allow Goehring to coach field hockey.

At the time, the volleyball season began in early October, but the Raiders couldn't get started until November. And even when Goehring shifted her attention to volleyball, she couldn't devote all her time to the team.

Volleyball players understood their coach's predicament.

"The girls were extremely loyal," Goehring said. "They realized my other duties and dealt with that fact. We need to start the season earlier and spread out our games because there is no time to plan in between them and to work on our weaknesses."

For a tournament at Oswego on Nov. 9, 1976, volleyball was coached by Briton Busch, a faculty member and fan of the sport. Goehring was in Providence, R.I., with the field hockey team for a league tournament.

Busch stressed that the "team coached itself," led by its captains. 

The condensed schedule didn't leave enough time for practices or for players to reach a peak. But after going 1-9 and 0-12 in the first two seasons, the Raiders finished with a 5-5 record in year three of the program. 

The following season, Colgate achieved its first winning record. On a Wednesday night in November, Colgate played Wells and Union and came away with two victories, pushing its record to 7-6.

"This is the first time we've had a winning record in the history of the sport," said Goehring, whose team ended the season at 9-8. 

Meanwhile, Goehring achieved a winning record in each of the eight seasons she coached field hockey. Her final year would be 1980. She ended with a record of 88-41-7.

Goehring created a revolution in women's athletics as a dynamo who found a way to do the job. She's credited for turning something that had no visibility into a well-respected program for women in less than three years.

As scholarship funding for women increased each year, Goehring had to oversee the disbursement of funds for student-athletes. She managed team schedules and attended state and national meetings. She spent summers working with disabled children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

In a Nov. 18, 1975 article in the Colgate Maroon, she was lauded for being a "totally honest and giving person doing a super job in dealing with all sorts of young people." 

"Despite her taxing load, she finds time for all those persons seeking her advice or information. She is 100% pro-Colgate and one of the finest and most colorful assets of this university."

Women's athletics experienced a seismic shift in talent during the first few years under Goehring. In the beginning of women's sports, teams assembled rosters by recruiting anyone who wanted to play the sport, regardless of experience. Those days ended quickly.

"When I came to Colgate as a freshman, a woman could come to Colgate, learn a sport, and play it on the varsity level. Today, unless the woman is an excellent athlete already, this is impossible," said Julie Kilpatrick, a field hockey co-captain in 1978.

As the population of women increased on campus, Colgate recognized that changes to women's programs were inevitable. 

"We must come to grips with the fact that women's sports are here," said Dean of Faculty John Morris in 1975. "Women will be doing more in high school than they've ever done before, and they'll come to Colgate expecting more. This is more than just Title IX; it has to do with students' expectations."

But Title IX still put a spotlight on whether universities were complying fully with the law.

THE INFLUENCE OF TITLE IX
In 1977, five women, led by senior Randi Greenberg, filed a complaint, arguing that more needed to be done to provide equal opportunities for women athletes. 

Greenberg argued that Goehring and Solenberger were being stretched too thin.

"They were asked to do things that the administration would never have asked the head coaches of the men's teams to do," she said.

Goehring was caught in the middle as the calls grew louder for upgrades to women's athletics and additional varsity sports.

"Title IX made it obvious that we had inadequate facilities for women," Goehring said. But she added that Colgate had been "very, very fair" in their interpretation of the statutes, and that changes would have been made regardless of the law.

"I have never doubted the integrity of the University to make things equal between men and women," Goehring said.
 

Colgate went on to approve a five-year plan to revamp women's athletics. The plan included funds to upgrade facilities and equipment, financial aid for student-athletes, and staffing. 

In June of 1977, Colgate hired Janet Little as the third women's coach. Her primary responsibility was to coach volleyball. She also taught physical education and worked as an athletic trainer.

The news was music to the ears of Goehring, who said the hire would "add a new dimension" to women's sports at Colgate while freeing her up to coach her other teams and focus more on her administrative duties.

Little, a native of Frewsburg, N.Y., came from Indiana State University, where she spent two years earning certification in athletic training while coaching varsity volleyball. She was a graduate assistant at Indiana, teaching bowling, badminton, and tennis. She also studied at Cortland and Fredonia.

"I think we did very well with our choice," Goehring said.

Hiring Little meant volleyball could play a normal schedule rather than cram multiple games per week while providing student-athletes with more time to train and practice.

Little's impact was instant. Volleyball finished at 17-13 in her first season. It was the second winning record in program history. Little went on to coach for 17 seasons, becoming the program leader in wins with 385. It's a record that still stands today.

In 1979, women finally got their wish for a seventh varsity sport when softball was upgraded from the club level. Little was named the program's first coach. She would guide the team for six seasons.

But even with the addition of softball, petitions for other sports continued. Despite calls from students who argued that the demand and talent was there, Colgate moved carefully, wishing to strengthen and grow its existing varsity programs before adding others. 

It would take decades for women's athletics to expand. Women's soccer became a varsity sport in 1982. The first women's varsity hockey team took the ice in the fall of 1997 after multiple petitions and two lawsuits.

Cross country began in 1987, while track and field launched in 1989. Colgate's first varsity women's rowing team formed in 2001.

Today, not only are women on the same even plane as men, they have provided some of the biggest moments in Colgate athletics history. 

"The influence of Title IX has elevated the position of the woman athlete to a status formerly held by men. It's attractive to be a woman athlete now," Goehring said.