Christine Grant (May 27, 1936 – December 31, 2021) was an American athlete, coach, administrator, and advocate for women's college athletics. Dr. Grant served as the athletic director at theUniversity of Iowa from 1973 until 2000.[1] She was inducted into theUniversity of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. Grant was also inducted into theWomen's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Grant was born inBo'ness,West Lothian, Scotland, on May 27, 1936,[2] to Donald Annan Grant and wife Jean Orr. In 1956 Grant received herDiploma ofPhysical Education atDunfermline College inAberdeen,Aberdeenshire, Scotland. After graduating, she was a high school teacher and coach in Scotland (1956–1961), and field hockey coach and umpire at the high school, collegiate, national and international levels inBritish Columbia (1961–1964),Ottawa (1964–1965), andToronto (1965–1971).[1] Grant helped found thenational field hockey team in 1962, becoming its first coach.[3] Grant moved toIowa City,Iowa, to pursue abachelor's degree in physical education under professor M. Gladys Scott at theUniversity of Iowa, which she received in 1969. She continued her graduate work, earning amaster's degree in physical education in 1970, and aPh.D. in physical education with an emphasis in administration in 1974.
While a student at UI, women had to pay out of their own pockets to compete on club teams and weren't allowed to play in theField House. When Grant became coach of the women's golf club, the team couldn't practice on local courses without paying, instead practicing with whiffle balls on the grass near theIowa Memorial Union.[4] At the same time, the university began planning for a new recreation building that would open in 1970. When Grant learned that there were no women's restrooms or locker rooms in the initial designs—despite the project being funded by both men's and women's student fees—she pushed back. "I'm sure that that was the trigger that made me a feminist. That blew me away," Grant would later say.
While still a doctoral student, Grant became the first women's athletic director atIowa in 1973, a year after the passage ofTitle IX. The federal civil rights law mandated equal opportunity in education. At the time of the law's passage, theNCAA oversaw only men's competitions, and women's club teams Iowa didn't receive school funding or scholarships. Title IX, however, dictated that federally-funded educational institutions must provide fair and equal treatment to all sexes, including in athletics. With the support of progressive UI presidentWillard “Sandy” Boyd and alongside men's athletic directorBump Elliott, Grant started Hawkeye women's sports programs under NCAA supervision. She held the post until her retirement in 2000. After her retirement, Iowa merged its men's and women's athletic departments.
Working with a budget of $3,000 in her first year, Grant elevated 11 women's sports to varsity status by the 1974-75 season. Her duties included everything from hiring staff to chalking fields. The women's athletic department was housed in Halsey Hall, the longtime home of the women's physical education department and gymnasium. A portion of the building's kitchen was converted into a makeshift office for Grant. The university increased the women’s athletics budget to $70,000 and in 1975, women’s in-state athletes received 27scholarships, increasing to 60 for 1976, and 80 for 1978, when out-of-state women were given scholarships. Each year under Grant's direction, the University of Iowa increased its women’s athletics budget, as it worked as a partner to the men's athletic department. Under Dr. Grant's direction, Iowa's athletics department eventually grew to include 12 NCAA sports that won a combined 27Big Ten Conference titles.[5]
In 1983, Grant hiredC. Vivian Stringer as the first Black women’s basketball coach in Big Ten history. In her first season, Stringer improved the Hawkeyes' record to 11-7 in the Big Ten. On Feb. 3, 1985, Iowa more than doubled the national record for single-game women’s basketball attendance as 22,157 fans crowded intoCarver-Hawkeye Arena. Stringer would win theNaismith College Coach of the Year in 1993 and eventually be inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
TheIowa field hockey program became a national power under Dr. Grant, a former field hockey coach. Under coachesJudith Davidson,Beth Beglin, Tracey Griesbaum, and Lisa Cellucci, the Hawkeyes have won 16 conference championships (13 in the Big Ten), six Big Ten tournament titles, and the 1986NCAA Championship, making it the firstMidwestern university to win a national title.
Dr. Grant also hired Gayle Blevins as theIowa softball coach in 1988. Coaching until 2010, Blevins compiled 1,245 wins in 31 years as a head coach, ranking second all-time inNCAA Division I softball coaching victories.
Throughout her career, Grant was honored by NACWAA, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, the Women's Sports Foundation and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. Grant also served as associate professor within the Department of Physical Education for Women (1973–2006).
While working as the athletic director at Iowa, Dr. Grant continued her strong advocacy for gender equity in athletics. She testified before Congress several times as a leading national expert, and served as a consultant for the Health, Education and Welfare Office for Civil RightsTitle IX Task Force, travelling toWashington, DC weekly. That task force recommended guidelines and advocated for equal representation and treatment for all genders.[6] She testified in numerous Title IX legal cases and gave hundreds of presentations that showed the status of gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.[7] In 1984, the Supreme Court caseGrove City College v. Bell ruled that as long as an athletics program received no federal financial support, it did not need to comply with Title IX as the amendment was written. Within a year, more than 90 discrimination cases were dropped by the Office of Civil Rights. Congress would overrule that decision with theCivil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, despite PresidentRonald Reagan's veto.
Dr. Grant was a founding member of theAssociation of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and served in a variety of leadership roles with that organization, including as its president. AIAW was engaged in a bitter struggle against the NCAA, which was fighting Title IX in the courts.[6] After the NCAA took over administration of women's sports, she served on a number of NCAA committees, including the NCAA Special Committee to Review the NCAA Membership Structure from 1988-90, the NCAA Special Committee on Assessing Interests of Female Student-Athletes from 1993-94 and the NCAA Committee on Committees from 1993-96.
She also has held several positions with the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), including the presidency from 1987-89.[6] Grant spoke and published widely and has held numerous leadership positions as an advocate of gender equity in sports. She received numerous awards and honors, including the prestigiousBillie Jean King Award presented by the Women's Sports Foundation, three honorary doctorates, and induction into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame and the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.[6]
In 2007, Grant became the fourth recipient of theNCAA President's Gerald R. Ford Award.[8] The Gerald R. Ford Award, named in recognition of former President Gerald Ford, honors individuals who have provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics on a continuous basis over the course of his or her career. That same year she was named one of the 100 most influential sports educators in America by the Institute of International Sport.[9] Iowa's field hockey field was renamed Dr. Christine H.B. Grant Field in 1991 and was rededicated in 2006. Christine Grant Elementary School, named in her honor, opened inNorth Liberty, Iowa, in 2019.
Grant died on 31 December 2021, at the age of 85.[10]
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