Dartmouth Celebrates 50 Years of Women’s Athletics
11/14/2022 2:30:00 PM | Athletics
Koziara Boudreaux to Have Jersey Raised at Leede Arena
HANOVER, N.H. — A year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of women's athletics at Dartmouth College culminated during homecoming weekend. In addition to numerous women's athletics competitions on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, the weekend featured a speaking engagement, historical display, panel discussion and women's social along with a reception and dinner to bring Big Green female athletes together from the past 50 years.
Following the reception and dinner on Saturday, Mike Harrity, the Haldeman Family Director of Athletics and Recreation, announced that Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 will be the first student-athlete in the history of Dartmouth Athletics recognized with an honored jersey, soon to hang from the rafters of Leede Arena in perpetuity. The jersey will be hoisted at the final women's basketball home game of the season, coinciding with the annual women's basketball alumnae weekend,on Feb. 25 against Penn at 2 p.m.
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| Award-winning filmmaker and author Alexi Pappas '12 spoke about her struggles with mental health. |
"The weekend celebration showcased the incredible legacy of women's athletics at Dartmouth through its first 50 years, and I cherished sharing in the celebration with my wife, Megan, and two daughters [Grace, 12, and Evelyn, 9]," Harrity said. "Reflecting upon, honoring and learning from the experiences of the women of Dartmouth Athletics and Recreation fuels our strengthened commitment to gender equity for all current and future students who participate in athletics."
The celebratory weekend began on Friday, Oct. 28 with a speech by Alexi Pappas '12, an All-American track star for the Big Green as well as an OIympian and award-winning filmmaker. Pappas, who also authored the book, "Bravey," shared personal anecdotes about her struggles with mental health and provided inspirational words to the audience on managing those challenges.
That evening, a group of alumnae athletes marched together in the Dartmouth Night parade behind a "50 Years of Women's Athletics" banner, which included the commemorative logo created for the occasion. After the bonfire on the Green, a women's social was held in a tent inside Memorial Field.
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| Mike Harrity announced Dartmouth will hang the jersey of Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 in the rafters at Leede Arena this year. |
Saturday, Oct. 29 was filled with women's athletics home events, from equestrian to rugby, field hockey and ice hockey to soccer. A throng of more than 300 packed into the Hanover Inn for an evening emceed by Ailish Forfar '16, host of The FAN Morning Show in Toronto and a former Big Green women's hockey player. The crowd was treated to a reception and dinner followed by a panel discussion featuring some iconic figures from the history of Dartmouth women's athletics — Koziara Boudreaux, Kristin Luckinbill '01 (women's soccer), Lauren Greenberg '93 (softball) and Idia Ihensekhien '21 (women's rugby).
Tracy Hagan Mallory '92, a two-sport athlete in soccer and lacrosse and current chair of the Dartmouth Athletic Advisory Board (DAAB), provided some remarks after the panel, and Harrity concluded the evening with a speech and the reveal of hanging Koziara Boudreaux's jersey.
"I want to thank Dartmouth for this incredible honor, I am just so humbled," said Koziara Boudreaux, who was also the recipient of the highest honor the NCAA can bestow on an individual, the Theodore Roosevelt Award, this past January. "I was a first-generation college student, and Dartmouth provided an incredible opportunity and a foundational experience for me. Sports were so important in terms of me growing into the leader I didn't know at the time that I was here. The Dartmouth community has been so important to me, and I had the honest-to-goodness pleasure of seeing my two sons attend Dartmouth. It truly has been an amazing journey."
Mallory's remarks focused on the formation of "The Grove," a giving society for club and varsity alumnae who donate $1,000 or more each fiscal year to a Friends group (or groups) that supports current female student-athletes. Those who join the giving society will receive invitations to exclusive events, engagement opportunities with athletics administration and coaches and network opportunities with an elite group of Dartmouth alumnae.
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| More than 300 people attended the reception, dinner and panel discussion at the Hanover Inn. |
