Christine H.B. Grant
Christine H.B. Grant has received more awards and recognition than just about any other American athletics administrator, male or female. Just a sampling gives you an idea of Grant’s impact: NCAA Woman of the Year 1998, National Women’s Administrator of the Year 1993, Honda Award of Merit 1998, Billie Jean King Award 1995, Luther College Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters 2002 and the Jean Jew Women’s Rights Award 1994.
She is a recognized expert on Title IX and has testified at committee hearings in both houses of Congress as well as serving as an expert witness in lawsuits across the nation.
She is one of a small handful of women’s administrators who have shaped this country’s athletic landscape over the last four decades. Although her national stature is unquestioned, Grant’s impact on the University of Iowa and Iowa City shouldn’t be underestimated.
Shortly after Grant took over the fledgling UI women’s athletic department in 1973, the women’s basketball team was losing to then-powerhouses William Penn and Grandview in games played in small Field House gyms before no fans. The Big Ten schedule included just three games played in two days sometime in the middle of the season.
Golf and tennis weren’t even intercollegiate sports until 1977. With the help of Title IX and the state’s historical support for girls’ athletics, Grant nurtured the department and the increasing number of teams through the wilderness of the first decade.
Arguably Grant’s best decision came in the second decade when she hired C. Vivian Stringer to coach women’s basketball. Stringer, an eventual Hall of Fame coach, elevated a program to an elite level and took a team to the Final Four. Grant hired Judith Davidson as a coach and won a national championship in field hockey, a sport that is not even played at a club level in Iowa. The program has been among the nation’s best ever since and plays on a state-of-the-art field named in Grant’s honor.
Softball has been another sport that flourished during Grant’s tenure at UI after the hiring of Gayle Blevins in 1988. Iowa has been to four College World Series and has won five Big Ten titles under Blevins.
Finally, Grant should be given credit for helping facilitate the transition at UI from two athletic departments to one. She worked to make sure that women’s athletics continued to be treated equitably once the departments merged.
A pioneer in developing and encouraging women’s athletics, she has been a tireless champion of the benefits to be gained by girls and women from participation in sports.