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Gopher Women's Sports in 1916--TBT

In my final overview of 1916, let's look at women's sports!

Dorthy Waterman President of the W.A.A.
Dorthy Waterman President of the W.A.A.

Last week we looked at Intramural sports (tennis, golf, wrestling, hockey, etc) and the week before Varsity sports (football, basketball, track) 100 years ago.

Women's sports were governed not by the Athletic Department, but by "Women's Athletic Association" (W.A.A.).This association was fully funded by $0.25 annual dues from it's 386 members, and from ticket sales to the basketball tournament. For the 1916-1917 school year Dorthy Waterman governed the W.A.A as its president. The W.A.A. originally only supported basketball and tennis, but as the Association grew so did its offerings. By 1916 the W.A.A. was up to seven sports basketball, tennis, field hockey, cricket, ice hockey, swimming and baseball. Below is a quick recap for each sport I currently can find info on.


Teams were split up by class. The seniors were unable to field a team, and the freshman were inexperienced, leaving the title game to be decided between the sophomores and the juniors. In a "fast and close" game the juniors edged the sophomores 16-14.


One name sums it up, Dorthy McGraw winning for the second time in as many years won the school tournament.

Field Hockey

In its second year at the U of M, field hockey grew to 4 class teams. Winning the bronze and silver (no gold?) cup was the senior girls who alienated all of its competition.

Ice Hockey

In front of large crowds, and according to the school yearbook to prove that girls could play hockey, 4 class teams were formed in 1916. The freshman and sophomores clashed in the title game with the sophs winning 1-0.


The one baseball game of the year was played during the W.A.A. Field Meet. The team from the Home Economics department pitted their 9 best girls against the "main campus". The main campus girls won it 15-11.


Similar to baseball the one cricket game was played during Field Day with Miss Kissock's intermediate class losing to Miss Ladd's advanced class. That seems sort of obvious.