The Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame is full of names that have shaped Tech athletics into what they are today. From legendary coaches to players, many have been recognized due to their exceptional athletic feats, but three people stand alone as “Pioneers in Women’s Athletics”: Teresa Anne Caron, Denise Heitman Pool and Carolyn Thigpen. Caron, Pool and Thigpen led the way in creating a women’s basketball team at the Institute. Their persistence and mindset inspired people around Tech and the country in growing women’s sports.
Tech’s women’s basketball was not always the formidable force that they are today. The inaugural season for the team, nicknamed the Jackettes, was in 1974-75. The creation of the team was led by McClure who was not satisfied with simply partaking in intramural sports at the time. “We thought intramurals was for the birds. …We wanted a real team,” Caron said.
Motivated to provide women with an intercollegiate basketball option, Caron sought out faculty to help bring the team to fruition. Jim Culpepper, the director of intramurals at that time, provided Caron, Pool and Thigpen with guidance in order to bring their dream into reality. Culpepper was instrumental in the creation of the Jackettes and later served as the inaugural head coach of the team.
In order to drum up interest in women’s basketball, an intramural league was started, with the winner of the league facing off against Georgia State. After the successful intramural league, the athletic department was the next barrier. Caron, Pool and Thigpen met with famed Tech athletic director and football coach Bobby Dodd to campaign for a women’s basketball team.
The meeting with Dodd was productive with some hesitancy from the athletic director at first. “Finally, at the end of the conversation, Carolyn [Thigpen] said, ‘Coach Dodd, are you aware of Title IX?’ He was not. That’s when we said, ‘You might oughta look into that.’” Caron said.
After a few weeks of anxiously waiting, Culpepper and the team found out that they would compete in the Georgia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (GAIAW), not the NCAA. Tech joined the GAIAW due to the relatively small female enrollment at Tech. The Jackettes became a member of the NCAA in 1980 and started awarding scholarships at the same time.
Despite accomplishing their goal of creating an intercollegiate women’s basketball team, Caron, Pool and Thigpen had a lot of work left to do. The first goal was to fill out the roster. The team gathered people to try out mostly through conversation, which led to 16 people trying out for the team with 11 people being selected.
After gathering enough players to fill out the roster, the Jackettes ran into other issues regarding their equipment. “We had no basketballs. Dwayne Morrison, who had become the men’s basketball coach, gave me seven basketballs — two held air, the other five we had to pump up every day. Somewhere along the third week of practice, somebody got in and stole all of our basketballs. I think they ended up at a fraternity house, but that’s beside the point. When they found out about that, [Associate Athletic Director] John McKenna went out and bought me 12 new basketballs,” Culpepper said.
The team practiced hard in order for them to be ready for their first competitive season. The Jackettes practice regiment consisted of a two-mile run followed by a two-hour practice and then ended the day with sprints. The team was ready to get into shape all without the ability to get water. “When we were practicing in the freshman gym, which was attached to the Coliseum, we were not allowed to go down and get water because it was near the arena court and we would distract the men,” Caron said.
The team continued to face challenges such as getting kicked out of their practice gym for an intramural game. Their biggest challenge came with scheduling opponents. Since Tech’s women’s basketball team had just started, few universities were willing to play the Jackettes. Culpepper scraped together a 22-game schedule to kick off the program. The trials continued to pile up with the team having to pay a lot of money out of pocket just to be able to be at games. The team’s uniforms consisted of blue shorts and old men’s team jerseys. In order to attend games, the team had to drive in their own cars and pay for gas. For home games, the Jackettes saved up money to pay officials.
The Jackettes’ inaugural season ended with a 6-16 record which on the surface is unremarkable. The first season of the women’s basketball team is much less about on-court play, but about the passion and leadership that the members of the team exhibited to make their dream a reality.
After coaching the Jackettes, Culpepper played an instrumental role in developing women’s sports at Tech. He started the women’s volleyball, women’s tennis and softball programs. Culpepper used the women’s basketball team as inspiration to make room for more female athletes at Tech.
The Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame is reserved for the most impactful athletes and athletic staff that have shaped the institute. Caron, Pool and Thigpen exceed the criteria by being some of the most inspirational people to attend the Institute and were trailblazers in women’s athletics.
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