University of Richmond Athletics
#ThrowbackThursday: Allison Vogler, A Spider From The Beginning
07/21/2016 | General, Spider Athletic Fund
More than 40 years ago, universities were not like they are today. Prior to Title IX, men and women attended separate colleges, and athletics for females was more of a recreational activity or a form of exercise. More than 40 years ago, things were very different.
Today, university campuses and athletics have come a long way from the days when scholarships were not offered to females.
For Richmond Athletics' own Allison Vogler, she saw first-hand the transformation of the University of Richmond. She enrolled when the University was in the process of combining academic departments.
“Before that they had separate academic departments, and when I got there all academic departments were combined except for English, Vogler said. “Even the dining halls were separate, but by my sophomore year you could eat where you wanted.”
The University of Richmond is steeped in rich tradition. Vogler recalls that the women of Westhampton College had to pass a swim test in order to graduate, and some of her classmates would wait until the morning of graduation to complete the test.
“The original dean of Westhampton, May Keller, was adamant that the women had to be well rounded, and part of that was physical activity and competition. It was just approached from a 'this is part of being a female student here, you're going to be on a team or you're going to participate in athletics at some point.' We still had to take P.E. in the curriculum and you had to pick a sport to participate in. It was a lot different.”
Prior to Title IX, there were none or very few athletic opportunities for females. When Vogler stepped onto campus in 1974, the thought of becoming a student-athlete never crossed her mind, however her roommate quickly changed it, as the two decided to show up and join the swim team.
“That's how it worked then for all the sports, because there weren't any scholarships,” said Vogler. “The whole team was a walk-on.”
Vogler witnessed history again at the University, as one of her classmates, Margaret Stender, received the first female athletic scholarship at the University of Richmond.
The landscape for women's sports did not change overnight. Female student-athletes had to purchase their own equipment and their coaches were typically coaching multiple sports. Females continued to advocate for equity, funding and facilities similar to that of the men's programs. Despite the strides females were making, there were always hurdles along the way.
“There are horror stories my classmates could tell about how if they wanted to have a team banquet or something like that, they would have to pay for it themselves by selling tickets, and they would usually have to do the dishes after it,” Vogler said. “It just wasn't taken seriously, but it was typical of the times.”
Fast-forward 40-plus years, and the landscape of higher education in both academics and athletics is very different.
At Richmond, the women's teams have had plenty of success recently, winning 40 conference championships in the past 15 years, that's' 19 more than any other Atlantic 10 school. Richmond swimming and diving, the program that Vogler was once a part of, is the most decorated program in the Atlantic 10 over the past 15 years. The Spiders have won 14 of the last 15 titles, the most for any program in any sport at any A-10 institution over that stretch.
“It's great that the women's sports are valued so much higher and they are respected so much more, and they really do, thanks largely to Title IX, are treated way more equitably,” Vogler said.
Nowadays Vogler plays a vital role on the other side of those scholarships, as she is a Spider Club staff member, the fundraising arm that is behind the Richmond student-athletes.
“I like what it is now because it attracts a whole different student population. When I was here, the athletics were a secondary reason why everyone came, she said. “When we started to have scholarships, it just increased the reach of the school. It increased the interest in diversity in so many ways. I love it. It's also really brought in a lot of strong women, which is nothing new for Westhampton. That's why women came here, because there were so many more opportunities for women in leadership, and for women to succeed, and I think that athletics fed right into that.”
