With the new women’s department in place, Director Donna Lopiano decided to base the department’s success around the women’s basketball team, given the strong following women’s basketball held in the state of Texas. Lopiano asked of her colleagues around the state who they thought was the best basketball coach in Texas, and most responded with...
Despite a losing record, 1974 was a year of firsts for UT Women’s basketball. The team played for the first time in Gregory Gym, long the site of men’s basketball games. The Longhorn Band and cheerleaders also performed for the first time at a women’s game, trainers worked for the first time with the team,...
As indicated, female student-athletes had been petitioning for more formal competition outlets. These athletes also wanted the same status as that of male athletes on campus, insisting on expert coaches, more frequent practices and specialized training. During this transitional era, the voices of student-athletes reigned supreme and combined with the efforts of administrators to properly...
In the early 1960s, the University of Texas Sports Association and its clubs lost members from lack of interest in maintaining the student governance structure and an increased desire for more competitive opportunities. In 1966, after a petition from two sets of students to set up intercollegiate volleyball and basketball teams, the UTSA was declared...
Over time, as public sentiment changed, so did Hiss’s policies. She became more sympathetic of competition and open to the desires of the student-run organizations and by the 1950s basketball thrived within the intramural structure. Intramural champions were allowed to play teams from other schools and an all-star team competed against champions of a church...
For many years there was always a small group of individuals dissatisfied with the state of basketball at UT, urging for more intercollegiate competition and physicality. During the early 1940s, small changes were being made to the game elsewhere to make the sport less constricted, more like the men’s game. Hisswas well aware of such...
In 1933, Intramural Sports for Women and the University of Texas Sports Association were formed with UTSA serving as the head of women’s sports clubs on campus. The organization was student elected and governed and oversaw program operations. Member dues and other projects funded UTSA and belonging to a club was considered a sign of...
Considered one of Anna Hiss’s lasting achievements and a model facility during its day, the Women’s Gymnasium was built in 1931 (The gymnasium was eventually renamed in her honor two years after her death in 1974). Hiss served as a crucial component in planning its construction having traveled, of her own expense, around the country...
Women’s athletics classes were originally held in the Main Building, room permitting. They would then take over the basement of the Women’s Building in 1903. In 1914, N Hall, commonly referred to as “the Shack,” was acquired for women’s athletics. Here, UT women’s basketball players practiced and played for over 15 years. Staying true to...
