Drew University Athletics

Madeline M. Kenyon was a Drew pioneer. When she arrived as the first woman physical education instructor in the fall of 1960, the College admitted women as students but not as student-athletes. Kenyon set about organizing women's teams, which the university, as most of the rest of the colleges across the country did, dubbed them extramural programs in its reluctance to accord them varsity status. Players conducted bake sales to pay for travel, equipment, and numberless tunics worn as uniforms during games. Kenyon practiced her athletes on makeshift fields with homemade goals, and the university maintained few, if any, records on her teams until the late 1960's.

But Madeline Kenyon persevered. As the coordinator of women's athletics until 1980 when she became women's athletics director, Kenyon was the driving force--and frequently the only force--behind Drew's women's programs. She oversaw and nurtured new women's teams and coaches in field hockey, basketball, fencing, tennis, lacrosse, and equestrian riding. She also advised or volunteered with the Ski Club, women's club soccer, women's swimtning' the synchronized swimming club, the cheerleading squad, and intramurals. She coached women's field hockey until 1979, compiling a known record of 29-57-10, and for 17 years staged a synchronized swimming performance each April.

Kenyon became a national pioneer in 1981 when she was named as Drew's interim athletic director, serving then as one of just three or four women ever to lead a coed athletic department. The appointment recognized not only her service to Drew but also her standing among advocates for women's athletics. Kenyon was an official delegate to the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which organized the country's championships before the National Collegiate Athletic Association recognized women's sports. She served in numerous capacities on the I.W.L.A.'s eastern regional and state affiliates, including four years as the N.J.I.W.L.A.'s assistant championship director. She initiated the annual United States Field Hockey Association's summer camp program at Drew, and after her retirement in 1982 those association ties made Drew a prime candidate for the United States Field Hockey Center that now graces campus.

Kenyon left an enduring legacy to Drew University athletics. She changed the future for Drew's female athletes, the face of campus with fields and courts for women's sports, and the university's culture forever by bringing equality to women's athletics.