History of Women’s Sports at UCLA

While it is common for today’s UCLA students to spend an evening cheering on one of the 14 women’s sports teams at a home game, that was not the case 50 years ago. It wasn’t until July 1974 that the Department of Women’s Intercollegiate Sports was established. Since then, UCLA has committed itself to being at the forefront of the movement, ensuring excellence for women’s sports.

Read more to learn about how women’s sports at UCLA has grown since established in 1974. 

When the Department of Women’s Intercollegiate Sports was founded, UCLA was one of the first institutions in the country to give women’s athletics departmental status. At the time, there were 10 women’s sports and a co-ed badminton team. Judith Holland, the department’s first full-time athletic director, had a $263,000 budget, which she mostly put into scholarships. In 1975, Ann Meyers became the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship at UCLA.

In 1982, the softball, and track and field teams won UCLA’s first two women’s NCAA championships, and it was all uphill from there; women’s teams have won 43 of UCLA’s 78 NCAA titles from 1982 to 2019. Today, UCLA’s intercollegiate sports program boasts 14 women’s sports teams. 

UCLA women’s athletes have not only brought home NCAA titles and Honda awards, but they have inspired generations of girls to pursue excellence in sports and beyond. 

Read more about the history of UCLA women’s sports through the link below: