Initial Progress on Trinity Campus
There is very little reported on the actual establishment and integration of Title IX policies and data within the historical records of San Antonio and Trinity University, there is much information within passing mentions and frequency of reporting on women’s sports within the community. The oldest existing mention associating women and sports on Trinity’s campus is within an old yearbook in the Mirage. The yearbook does not include information about the club but it’s the first mention of the “Girls Tennis Club” underneath the accreditations of a graduating senior in 1912 (Mirage, 1912). While this might seem extremely progressive having a tennis club for girls 60 years before the establishment of legal regulations for this, but there is still a clear distinction between the mention of the word club within the article when regarding women’s tennis, than when using the term “team” for men’s sports on the same page (Mirage, 1912). While there is clearly a discrepancy on the officiality of these two sports, with a women’s sports club present so early on in this history of Trinity campus, it gives hope for the implementation of collegiate level sports for women on this campus.
The earliest available historical information that even mentions of an official Trinity female sports record in the San Antonio Express-News. The article described the loss of the “Tigerettes,” a word that was used in the past to describe the cheer/dance team at Trinity, but now is a term used for the female sports players at Trinity (Trinity girls still unbeaten, 1972). The team in reference is the Trinity women’s tennis team and this is the earliest accessible source regarding the formation of women’s sports at Trinity. There is little information given about the team, and no other information was printed about the formation of this team, nor any prior texts regarding their record or past winnings. This article was followed the next day reporting the loss of the Tigerettes on March 11, 1972 (Three tigerettes lose in singles, 1972). It seemed illogical that there would be no reporting on this team and its history, as it reports twice within the same week on lesser details of their record, but this could be due to the concept of female sports gaining traction at this point in history. While Title IX was not passed until June of this year, women’s sports began to gain momentum within the 1970s, which can be seen Trinity through the increase of reporting and presence of female athletes on campus (Smith, 2011; Three tigerettes lose in singles, 1972; Trinity girls still unbeaten, 1972).
The earliest available historical information that even mentions of an official Trinity female sports record in the San Antonio Express-News. The article described the loss of the “Tigerettes,” a word that was used in the past to describe the cheer/dance team at Trinity, but now is a term used for the female sports players at Trinity (Trinity girls still unbeaten, 1972). The team in reference is the Trinity women’s tennis team and this is the earliest accessible source regarding the formation of women’s sports at Trinity. There is little information given about the team, and no other information was printed about the formation of this team, nor any prior texts regarding their record or past winnings. This article was followed the next day reporting the loss of the Tigerettes on March 11, 1972 (Three tigerettes lose in singles, 1972). It seemed illogical that there would be no reporting on this team and its history, as it reports twice within the same week on lesser details of their record, but this could be due to the concept of female sports gaining traction at this point in history. While Title IX was not passed until June of this year, women’s sports began to gain momentum within the 1970s, which can be seen Trinity through the increase of reporting and presence of female athletes on campus (Smith, 2011; Three tigerettes lose in singles, 1972; Trinity girls still unbeaten, 1972).