By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
The University of Tennessee at Martin is excited to welcome Mary Ellen Pethel, author of the book “Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee’s Trailblazers: 50 Years, 50 Stories” to campus on Tuesday, Jan. 24. She will lead a Title IX discussion panel that will take place at Watkins Auditorium inside the Boling University Center at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Joining Pethel on stage will be four UT Martin Athletics Hall of Famers in Bettye Giles, Lin Dunn, Lucia Jones and Julia Brundige. Members of the open forum will discuss the history of women’s athletics at UT Martin and many more topics related to Title IX, which was enacted 50 years ago last summer.
Pethel is an assistant professor in global leadership studies and honors at Belmont University. In addition to the above book, she is the author of “Athens of the New South”, “A Heartfelt Mission”, and “All-Girls Education from Ward Seminary to Harpeth Hall”. The Rome, Ga. native also serves as the project director of NashvilleSites.org as part of the Metro Historical Commission Foundation.
One of the leading pioneers for women’s equality in sports not only in Tennessee but on a national scale is Giles, who began her UT Martin tenure as a professor of physical education in 1952. The Clarksville, Tenn. native was instrumental in the development of female varsity sports on campus and served as the school’s first and only director of women’s athletics from 1969-94.
Dunn is one of the biggest names in women’s basketball history. The Dresden, Tenn. native is currently the general manager of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, the same team she guided to its first-ever WNBA championship as the head coach in 2012. The 1969 UT Martin graduate also served as a coach on the United States Olympic, World Championship and Pan American teams and was a 2014 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hailing from Lake City, SC, Jones completed her Master’s degree from UT Martin in 1970. She spent 33 years on campus as a teacher and a coach, leading the university’s volleyball and badminton programs to a combined 13 championships. She served on the executive board for the highly influential Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the Tennessee College Women’s Sport Federation organizations.
Brundige was teammates with Summitt in both basketball and volleyball at UT Martin, playing for the late coach Nadine Gearin in both sports before Jones took over as volleyball coach in 1973. The Martin native helped the Lady Pacer volleyball squad win the state small college tournament, finish second in the region and compete in the national AIAW Tournament held in Pocatello, Idaho during her senior year.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information