Published 2010-02-10T00:00:00Z”/>
Lindsay Barrett
Ruth Boles wanted to run track, but in 1960 there was no women’s track team at Chico State.
So she decided to create her own team.
Boles asked the men’s coach, Willie Simmons, to write up workouts for her and two other women and fought to be recognized while searching for support as a track runner.
She was a pioneer of women’s track at Chico State.
“There was no support at all, it was contributed to by parents,” Boles said. “My mother let us use the car and my parents paid the gas bill. We were paying out of the pocket while men’s teams were supported.”
The 2010 track and field alumni and friends held their annual banquet honoring the pioneering women of Chico State track and field Saturday at the Bell Memorial Union.
The banquet honored eight women in particular. Cherrie Parrish Sherrard, Lucille Brown Ligon, Betty Lou Raker, Mary Ruby, Deann Vochatzer, Lynn Cannon, Carol Stanley-Hall and Boles.
Current women’s head coach Oliver Hanf suggested the theme of this year’s banquet.
“As a coach I’ve grown so much from this experience,” Hanf said. “It helps us appreciate what we now have, particularly on the ladies side.”
The women of the early track teams went to great lengths to create and start the team, Hanf said.
“Before, these ladies were doing their own thing,” Hanf said. “They were finding their own transportation, finding their coaches, finding their own clothes to wear and had no institutional funding from the school.”
For a while it was difficult for the women to join a national collegiate athletic association, but step-by-step, they were able to join the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, Hanf said.
The AIAW was founded in 1971 to govern women’s athletics and to administer national championships.
After 1982, the AIAW discontinued its sponsorship and the NCAA took over.
“Their drive was so remarkable and their desire to compete to get there, they just wanted the opportunity to get to a meet,” Hanf said. “They had to fight to even have a chance to practice. That’s very inspirational not only for these athletes, but to anyone who hears that story.”
Among the women honored, many were Chico State record holders and Olympic athletes.
Sherrard was one of the three women to start track at Chico State along with Boles.
In 1964, Sherrard competed in the Olympics in Tokyo, where she ran the 80-meter hurdles. She won the 80-meter hurdles in the Pan American Games.
Another honoree, Deanne Vochatzer, held the 100-meter hurdles record at Chico State for more than 20 years.
She helped coach the Wildcats from 1972-1975. She also coached at the University of Florida, Stanford University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Davis. One of her greatest accomplishments was being named the head coach of the U.S. team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In 1967, when Votchazer first got to Chico State, there wasn’t a team.
“You tried to have lots of educational moments, teaching moments, to try and let people know that yes, women can and do work hard, have goals and want to be good athletes as opposed to be out for window dressing,” Votchazer said.
With the help of Ruby, who volunteered to coach, a women’s team was established but not without struggle.
“We were surrounded by wonderful people who said it’s not going to help you to get angry, you have to figure out a way to do this,” Votchazer said. “That is probably the best thing I took away from Chico State, it taught me how to navigate.”
Votchazer’s teammate and fellow pioneer, Cannon, went through the same fight Votchazer did.
“We had to climb over the fence to get to the track because the guys would kick us out,” Cannon said. “Deanne got kicked out of the weight room because women weren’t supposed to lift weights.”
Cannon holds the Chico State record for javelin, at 177 feet 10 inches and was the first Chico State woman track athlete to compete for a national championship in 1972.
After her career at Chico State, Cannon went on to serve as the chairperson for Women’s Track and Field for the United States and served on the United State Olympic Committee from 1986-2004.
“Chico State has a long history of strength in women’s athletics,” Cannon said.
Lindsey Barrett can be reached at <a href= “javascript:void(location.href=’mailto:’+String.fromCharCode(108,98,97,114,114,101,116,116,64,116,104,101,111,114,105,111,110,46,99,111,109)+’?subject=re%3A%20’Pioneers%20of%20women’s%20track%20honored’)”> [email protected]</a>
