Sept. 11, 2007
WILMINGTON, N.C. -
Dr. Phebe Scott, a former Illinois State women's athletics administrator and a national leader in women's sports, will be honored by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) with the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award at its national convention Oct. 7 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Scott will be joined by four other prominent female intercollegiate athletics administrators, including Dr. Joanna Davenport (Auburn), Dr. Carla Lowry (Southwestern), Barbara Jo Palmer (Florida State) and Sandra Shuler (North Carolina Central).
Inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979, Scott was a national leader in the early promotion of women's sports at the intercollegiate level. She was head of the ISU Women's Physical Education Department from 1966-73, before becoming the chair of the combined men's and women's physical education department from 1973-76.
Scott came to Illinois State in 1966 after serving in various academic positions at Bradley, North Dakota and Ohio State. She was instrumental in putting ISU women's athletics on the map when she became one of the founding commissioners of the first National Intercollegiate Basketball Championship for Women in 1972. ISU's women's physical education department hosted the first intercollegiate women's basketball championship at Horton Field House in 1972 under the guidelines of the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW).
Scott has held numerous leadership positions in relevant professional organizations. She is a former president of the Division of Girls and Women's Sports (DGWS), now known as the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS).
After pushing for increased exposure and playing opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics, both at Illinois State and on the national landscape, Scott took her passion for athletic competition and transferred it to a position as a graduate faculty member in the department of health, physical education and recreation (now the school of kinesiology and recreation). She is the author of "Track and Field for Girls and Women," and is a widely sought-after public speaker.
The NACWAA Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to athletics administrators who have dedicated their professional careers to advancing women in sport.
