Mary Ann Hitchens, senior associate director of athletics at the University of Delaware, has been honored with the prestigious Katherine Ley Award from the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

The Katherine Ley Award honors an Eastern women's athletics administrator who exemplifies the values and characteristics displayed by the late Katherine Ley, which include being a strong proponent of women's issues and a creator of programs and opportunities for women in athletics.

In 1966, Ley was one of the founders of the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the forerunner of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Ley also became athletics director at Capital University. At the time, Ley was one of only two women's athletics administrators overseeing both men's and women's athletics.

"Mary Ann Hitchens is a most worthy recipient of the Katherine Ley Award for 2000," said Edgar N. Johnson, director of athletics at the University of Delaware.

"She has been an advocate for women's sports throughout her career. She has led the growth of women's athletics at Delaware since 1969, and her contributions go well beyond women's athletics. Mary Ann has been an integral part of the operation of the entire athletics and recreation programs at the university, and her influence has left an indelible mark on us and on our conference as well."

Hitchens earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Delaware in 1967 and a master's degree in education from the school in 1971.

Hitchens joined the Delaware staff in 1969 as freshman coach of the then-club women's basketball program. She posted a seven-year record of 71-35, with six postseason appearances as head coach.

Hitchens also led the field hockey team to a 16-year record of 196-76-30, which included six national playoff appearances, five top-four finishes and a second-place finish in the AIAW national championship. She coached nine all-Americans and was East Coast Conference Coach of the Year four times.

As assistant director of athletics, Hitchens was a pioneer in the growth of an 11-sport women's program that has produced many nationally recognized teams. She served two terms as president of the America East Conference, from 1992 to 1994, and she was the first woman to hold that post.

"I am deeply honored to be this year's recipient," Hitchens said. "I remember Katherine Ley and the high esteem in which she was, and still is, held in our profession. It is highly rewarding and also humbling to join the distinguished group of former winners of this award, many with whom I have worked over the years and for whom I have the highest respect."

The Utah women's gymnastics team owns the best regular-season home win streak of any collegiate team in the nation, men's or women's.

After their first meet of 2001, on January 5 vs. Southern Utah University, the women's unprecedented regular-season home win streak stands at 159. The next Utes home meet is February 6.

Not since February 20, 1979, has a Utes gymnastics team lost a regular-season meet on its home floor. Of the present team, only senior Theresa Wolf was born the last time Utah lost a regular-season home meet.

Their dominance in the Huntsman Center, where the Utes regularly compete in front of crowds that exceed 10,000, is even more amazing considering the competition they have faced. Among the nationally ranked teams to fall to Utah since 1979: Georgia, Alabama, UCLA, Michigan, Florida, Arizona State, Penn State, LSU, Oregon State, Arizona, Nebraska, Brigham Young, Washington and Stanford.

Including postseason competition, Utah's all-time home record of 308-15 means the Utes win at home an incredible 95 percent of the time.

The 2001 NCAA Title IX Seminar will be conducted May 15 and 16 at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

All NCAA member institutions will receive a brochure, with additional information about the seminar topics and speakers, by March.

The registration deadline will be in early April. For more information, contact Sarah MacInnis at 317/917-6222.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

UClA record stands the test of time

The Washington University (Missouri) women's basketball team dropped a 79-68 decision at Fontbonne College January 16, snapping the Bears' 81-game winning streak. The string is just seven victories shy of the all-time mark set by the UCLA men's basketball team from January 30, 1970, through January 17, 1974.

January 1997 -- A lawsuit claiming that NCAA initial-eligibility rules discriminate on the basis of race is filed January 8 in Philadelphia. The class-action suit, Cureton v. NCAA, is filed on behalf of Tai Kwan Cureton and Leatrice Shaw, who ranked 27th and fifth, respectively, in their high-school graduating class. The suit maintains that although both met the NCAA Division I core-course standard with high grade-point averages, neither achieved the required standardized-test score. The lawsuit is brought by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, which describes itself as a public-interest law firm "dedicated to using trial lawyers' skills and resources to advance the public good." In recent years, it has represented a number of women student-athletes in several Title IX suits, including a prominent recent case involving Brown University. (The NCAA News, January 20, 1997)

January 1989 -- The national Center for Fair and Open Testing challenges the NCAA either to justify the use of SAT and ACT scores in its new legislation (Proposal No. 42) or to drop the requirement. In a letter to NCAA Executive Director Richard D. Schultz, the testing service said, "By adding Proposal No. 42, the NCAA is asserting that applicants who score less than 700 on the SAT or 15 on the ACT cannot do college-level work. Guidelines for proper test use mandate an up-to-date validity study proving that such a conclusion is accurate before any test-score requirement can be imposed. But evidence already exists that the NCAA is wrong." (The NCAA News, January 18, 1989).

"In my view, the overriding issue or problem in intercollegiate athletics is not educational, not fiscal, not social, but is more moral than anything else. What should characterize all of our theory and practice is what we do right for students and fellow human beings. The other factors are crucial, but not as critical as the issue of morality."

-- NCAA President James Frank speaking to Convention delegates in 1983. Frank completed eight years of service at the highest level that year, four with the NCAA Council, two as NCAA secretary-treasurer and two as NCAA president.