MATHER'S KILPATRICK KING OF HALF-COURT GAME...
CLEVELAND, OH (January 27, 2006) - Women’s sports in the 1940s were a lot of fun, according to Pat Kilpatrick, who played basketball, volleyball, and field hockey while attending Flora Stone Mather College. Fun being the key word as it was not considered varsity competition.
“Before Title IX there weren’t any collegiate sports for women,” explained Kilpatrick, now in her late 70s. “We just had play days, going to local colleges like Lake Erie or Ursuline and playing games. It certainly wasn’t anything of the caliber that it is now.”
The Hudson, OH resident thinks that Title IX, passed in 1972, was a wonderful thing. Kilpatrick also thinks her teammates back then would have been excellent players today and probably would enjoy the current day women’s rules more.
Prior to the 1970s, the women played on half a court, which was broken into three zones. Nine player teams would have to keep three players in each zone, with each player only allowed to hold the ball for three seconds and could dribble only three times before they had to pass. Defensive players were not allowed to steal the ball from their opponents.
“What is now the Mather Dance Center was our gymnasium,” remembered Kilpatrick. “It was small to begin with and you couldn’t go over the center line so there was no running game. You just passed the ball around and maybe made a basket. It was a very different game.”
Case will honor the Mather women February 3-5 when the University hosts a Throwback Weekend at old Adelbert Gymnasium, home of Western Reserve University. The Spartans will wear gold uniforms with Mather College on the jersey and a Mather arch on their shorts.
“We didn’t have uniforms back then,” said Kilpatrick. “We had gym outfits and wore red and yellow vests to distinguish teams.”
Kilpatrick, who graduated in 1949, left University Circle to teach high school before returning to Western Reserve University as an instructor and assistant professor of physical education. Near the end of her 30-year career (1962-92) at WRU and Case, she was the University’s faculty representative to the North Coast Athletic Conference (1986-92) and University Athletic Association (1988-92).
“It was great for us to be a founding member of the UAA,” said Kilpatrick. “The schools in the conference are terrific and they match our academic excellence.”
The Spartans will face two UAA opponents on Throwback Weekend. The women play New York University, currently ranked 9 th in the country, Friday (Feb. 3) at 6:00 p.m. They’ll host Brandeis University, currently ranked 12th, on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
HER NAME HONORED … An award in Kilpatrick’s name is given each year to a senior athlete at Case who is a four year varsity participant with the highest accumulative grade point average. “I wasn’t a Phi Beta Kappa back in my day,” laughed Kilpatrick. “And I wasn’t as smart as any of those kids who have won that award, but I did make it through college and graduate school.”
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