Athletics Department. Track and Field and Cross Country Records
The Wake Forest Track and Field program was established in 1892 and has since evolved into an intercollegiate athletic program that includes men's and women's competitive events. This collection primarily documents women's participation in Track and Field and Cross Country from 1976 to the present. Included are end-of-season statistics, meet schedules, souvenir programs, rosters, administrative correspondence, newspaper articles, and budget materials.
Biographical and Historical Note
WFU Track and Field began on Wake Forest's original campus in 1892, with students competing in campus Field Day events under athletics director Enoch Sikes. The first intercollegiate meet was in 1909 in Greensboro, attended by 4,000 spectators, featuring Wake Forest, Davidson, Guilford, and N.C. State. Early 1900s participation waned, despite a new athletic field in 1921, due to low interest and limited support.
The program was revived with Philemon Utley, Wake Forest's first dedicated track coach, who also coached several other sports and served as a professor. Utley coached until 1950, during which Wake Forest joined the NCAA and the Southern Conference, providing organizational structure and athlete protections.
Women's track and field and cross country launched in 1976, led by Dot Casey and Marge Crisp, transforming women's intramural sports into varsity programs. Female athletes were recruited from PE classes, competing in cross country, volleyball, golf, basketball, and field hockey. From 1971 to 1979, the teams competed under AIAW until NCAA oversight took over.
Gail Sailer coached women's cross country from 1971-1981, with teams initially separate from men's. In 1981, under Ramsay Thomas, the men's and women's teams merged. The first women's scholarships were awarded in 1980 to Tara Myler and Dawn Powers. After Thomas's departure in 1984, John and Francie Goodridge led the programs, advocating for better facilities and competitive recruitment until their departure from Wake Forest in 1999. The current director of Wake Forest Track and Field and Cross Country is John Hayes.
Sources:
- The History of Wake Forest College, Volume II, 1865-1905, 1943, page 321-333. ZSR Special Collections and Archives, http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33246
- The History of Wake Forest College, Volume III, 1905-1943, 1943, page 118-128. ZSR Special Collections and Archives, http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33247
Collection Overview
This collection documents Wake Forest University's Track and Field and Cross Country teams. Materials include season schedules and administrative materials such as budgets and scheduling correspondence. There are also newspaper clippings and end-of-season statististics. These materials originated within the office of the Women's Athletics Director, so records primarily reflect and document women's involvement in track and field and cross country.
Common abbreviations include Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged into three series. Series 1: Administrative and season materials, Series 2: Student-athlete and coach materials, and Series 3: Publications.
Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 files are all arranged alphabetically.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by Ashelee Gerald Hill., 2025 February
- Revision Description
- Revised by Ashelee Gerald Hill, description revised, 2025 August
- Access Restrictions
- Collection is open for researchers.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Athletics Department. Track and Field and Cross Country Records (RG21.5), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special COllections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.