Here in the Special Collections department, we frequently have patrons come in searching for information on their forbears who attended one of the many iterations of this university. It is rare, however, for an alumnus to donate material that helps us to fill in some of the gaps in our university’s rich history.
In November of last year however, I was contacted by Dr. Janet B. Parks, Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University and 1964 alumnae of the University of Chattanooga’s physical education program. Dr. Parks wrote to help fill in a few details about sports offerings for women at UC during her time here. In short, there were no intercollegiate teams for women at the time, so Dr. Parks and some of her friends organized their own teams in basketball, volleyball, and tennis. In addition to organizing their own teams in these sports, several of the women-including Marty Cannon (Landis), Marilyn Voges Brown, Betty Rush and Connie Day-made the cut for the men’s intercollegiate teams (tennis and golf).
In addition to providing us with some excellent first-hand information on women’s sports at UC in the 1960’s, Dr. Parks donated her Mocette letter sweater to the Special Collections. We are thrilled to receive this piece (pictured above), which is unique in our University Archive. The sweater is available for viewing in the Special Collections and will likely go on exhibit in the near future.
If you are an alumnus of UTC (or UC), keep the University Archive in mind when cleaning out your old UC or UTC materials. Also, if you are an alum of the university, consider sharing information about sports, clubs, or other university activities in order to help us enrich our historical understanding of the university. We are so grateful for our donors-keep it comin’!
