RCW: A Look Back 3.13

In honor of the Kansas Classic taking place in Topeka this weekend, let’s take A Look Back at one of the first Kansas women’s swimming teams. From early on in the University of Kansas history, women have been interested in athletics competition. 

Basketball, swimming and tennis were proposed as sports for women as early as 1912, when the Women’s Athletic Association was organized to coordinate intramural competition. This photo, courtesy of University Archives, KU Libraries, is of women who competed in swimming during the 1917-18 school year. 

The women competed – in their wool dresses and stockings – against other classes at KU: freshmen versus sophomores versus juniors and seniors.