Jane Wahl (2019) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Jane Wahl

Induction:
2019

Colorado’s first women’s athletic director (1975-79) … Wahl was named the Coordinator of Women’s Sports, under the direction of the CU Rec Center in 1974, and a year later, she was officially appointed the first Women’s Athletic Director in CU history ... She would serve in that role from 1975-79 ... It was first solely a position within the rec center, then a hybrid position between the Rec Center and Athletic Department until all varsity sports came under one umbrella in the latter ... She was charged with hiring coaches for those club sports that would earn varsity status, working with those coaches and teams on all facets of their program, including budgets, scheduling and travel ... Title IX passed into law in 1972, with deadline in summer of 1978 for schools to comply or face the loss of federal funding; she was responsible with being the point-person to bring CU into compliance ... She worked to get Colorado membership in the AIAW (the women’s version of the NCAA) and the Intermountain Conference, which had members in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Idaho and New Mexico ... Worked with men’s A.D. Eddie Crowder to grow the women’s budget from less than $100,000 when she took over to over four times that in 1978-79, when all the women’s sports with varsity status were officially merged with the men’s ... Left CU in 1979 to finish her doctoral degree, with her thesis on Title IX, where she examined the status of women’s intercollegiate athletic programs nationwide following the passage of the law ... She was honored with the Sportswomen of Colorado’s 2013 Dorothy Mauk Pioneer Award for her role in starting and advancing women’s varsity athletics at Colorado ... Presented with CU’s inaugural award named in her honor (Jane Wahl Legacy Award) in 2014, presented to a member of the CU women’s basketball community, who through their achievements bring honor and recognition to the university and CU Athletics … She is a native of Eustis, Neb., and grew up on a farm.