From Woody's Couch

Women golfers, 1941

In 1941, the OSU Golf Course had just opened the year before, so eight faculty members of the women’s division of the Department of Physical Education decided to hold a tournament there. Few options for competitive games existed at the time for women, and in fact, the very idea of an intercollegiate tournament offended some: The National Association of Directors of Physical Education for College Women deemed national tournaments for women “inadvisable” and claimed that there were better ways to allow women to compete against each other than in such tournaments.

OSU officials pressed on, nonetheless, even though the national association had basically blackballed the tournament. In an unidentified article here at the Archives, former Physical Education Professor Mary Yost remembered waiting for the entries for a tournament that seemed to have so little support.

Mary Yost, 1942

“We didn’t have much response for a long time, and we were wondering whether we really would have a tournament. I remember the deadline passed over the Memorial Day weekend,” said Yost, a 45-year faculty member. “I came in after that to get the mail, and we had a whole stack of entries. I cried because we really were going to have a tournament.”

The first tournament, which started on June 30, began with a banquet the evening before the start of play. Delbert Oberteuffer, then the chairman of the men’s division of OSU’s Department of Physical Education, stressed the tournament’s historical significance:

“You young ladies in college playing in this, the first tournament, are going to begin the building of a great tradition of sportsmanship for young women,” he said, in a transcript of his remarks here at the Archives.

The five-day competition also included a picnic at the clubhouse, a tea at the President’s House (then occupied by the Bevises), and a mixed swim at the men’s natatorium. “Escorts will be arranged for any girls who would like to go dancing,” an itinerary said.

Eleanor Dudley of the University of Alabama bested 25 other golfers to win the first championship. With the start of World War II, the tournament was cancelled, but was resumed in 1946. At the time, the individual entrance fee was $5, which included transportation fees to and from the course, and greens fees.

1941 Women’s Golf Tournament Group

Ohio State continued to host the Women’s Collegiate Golf Tournament until 1953, when it was taken over by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), at which point colleges and universities took turns hosting the tournament. Ohio State held the tournament in 1966 when it celebrated its 25^th anniversary.

In 1981, the National Collegiate Athletic Association established a new program of women’s championships; the AIAW ended its sponsorship of the intercollegiate tournament at about that time.

Filed by C.N.