Jean Balukas
Billiards is not typically a sport where one would expect a dress code, but in 1987, player Jean Balukas found herself facing an ultimatum—wear formal attire or don’t play.
Category Archives: Sports
Continue reading
Wendy Scholtens Wood
Wendy Scholtens Wood, who later became an attorney in Little Rock, was one of the greatest women’s basketball players in Arkansas history.
Marg Jennings
Australian cricketer
Margo Koskelainen
Australian softball umpire and trailblazer for women’s sport
Inez Robie Patterson
Philadelphia’s Inez Patterson integrated pools and encouraged other African-American girls to swim too
Pherenike
Pherenike (l. c. 388 BCE) was an athlete from Rhodes who, because she was a woman, could not compete in the Olympic Games and, as a married woman, was not allowed to even watch them. Defying these rules and risking the death penalty, she disguised herself as a man to train her son to win.
Hydna of Scione
Ancient Greek swimmer and diver given credit for contributing to the destruction of the Persian navy in 480 BCE
Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Bell (l. 1868-1926) was an archaeologist, travel writer, explorer, and political administrator.
Helen Parker
Helen Faye Parker was a legendary high school basketball coach and athletic administrator in Ashdown, Arkansas.
Dr Margaret Downing
Margaret Downing was a pioneer in women’s sports, especially basketball, in Arkansas in the second half of the twentieth century.