Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/115053
A Winning Tradition 952 922 82 52 29 12 9 8 7 6 4 THE BEGINNING NCAA Division I wins, which ranks in the top 25 all-time Illinois State Athletics has always been at the forefront of promoting women���s athletic opportunities, particularly in among all DI softball the 1960s and 1970s, when the movement to bring women���s programs college athletics up to speed with men���s intercollegiate athletic programs was at its zenith. Career wins by head coach Melinda Three visionary women, Carmen Imel, Dr. Laurie Mabry and Fischer, which ranks in the Dr. Jill Hutchison, who would later go on to coach the top-20 all-time among DI Redbird women���s basketball team for 28 years, brought All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team selections Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame inductees All-America selections Missouri Valley Conference regular season championships NCAA Tournament Appearances and MVC Player/Pitcher of the Year selections AIAW Women���s College World Series Appearances Illinois State Jill Hutchison Female Athlete of the Year honorees Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles national attention to ISU women���s athletics and Redbird softball in the early years of women���s athletics at Illinois State. Softball has been a part of Illinois State dating back to the 1930s and has been recognized as an intercollegiate sport at ISU since 1965. Since then, the program has amassed well over 1,000 wins, made eight Women���s College World Series appearances, won 12 regular-season conference championships and six conference tournament titles. Redbird softball helped to set a standard for athletic excellence at Illinois State that continues to this day. ISU made appearances in the Women���s College World Series eight times from 1969-77, finishing second in ���69 and ���73, with the former featuring current head coach Melinda Fischer as a player. The teams��� appearances in the WCWS set in motion an era of softball dominance that has existed at Illinois State ever since. MARIAN KNEER The name Marian Kneer has been synonymous with Illinois State softball far before the stadium was renamed in her honor during the 2009 season. Kneer was a pioneer for women���s athletics, spearheading the efforts for women���s sports inclusion in the Illinois High School Association, two years prior to the passage of the Title IX Education Amendment (1972). A four-sport Redbird athlete from 1945-49, Kneer was inducted into the ISU Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 1976 and became a member of the College of Education Hall of Fame in 2004. She is also a member of the Greater Peoria and National Association for Sport and Physical Education Halls of Fame. Born in Peoria, Ill., she went on to earn her doctorate in physical education from Michigan and was labeled ���the world���s greatest softball catcher��� in the late 1950s. Kneer is a member of the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame and the Illinois Coaches Association for Girls and Women Hall of Fame. 2013 Redbird Softball