1930s sprinter is remembered

Northern Illinois University and the community of DeKalb, Illinois, are mourning the loss of a women's track legend, Mary Terwillinger, a world-class sprinter.

Terwillinger, who was 85, died late last month.

A native of DeKalb and a graduate of Northern Illinois, Terwillinger brought national recognition to the school in
the 1930s, even though Northern Illinois didn't sponsor women's track at the time.

Perhaps the most interesting element of Terwillinger's career was the fact that she entered competitive track purely on a lark.

"It was a Saturday morning and my brother (George) and I were reading the newspaper, and there was this article about this track meet for novices in Chicago that day," Terwillinger recalled in a 1995 interview.

"(George) said he always wondered how I would stack up with any of these others. This was 10 in the morning, and the meet was that afternoon. I didn't have any of my track clothes at home, so I went down to (Northern Illinois) and the room where my locker was all locked up. There were some other lockers, and I went through lockers until I found one that was open. I borrowed the shoes and a gym suit, and that is what I wore to my first meet, somebody's else's shoes and a gym suit, which turned out to (belong) to a friend of mine, so she didn't mind."

Terwillinger entered the 60-yard dash at that meet at the Chicago Naval Reserve Armory in January 1932. The event was won by women's track star Tidye Pickett, but Terwillinger did an outstanding job for someone who had never raced before. The Illinois Women's Athletic Club noticed and sent her a letter -- explaining some sprint techniques, encouraging her to attend future meets, and comparing her to U.S. Olympian Betty Robinson.

Only six months later, Terwillinger participated in the 1932 U.S. Olympic Trials, where she won her preliminary heat in the 100-meter run, finished third in the semi-finals and was nosed out of the top three in the finals, just missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.

Terwillinger went on to run for several years, setting numerous national records and reaching the women's 100-meter dash finals again at the 1936 United States Olympic Trials. She later married Edward Miller and raised three children in DeKalb.

From 1968 to 1978, Terwillinger worked for her alma mater as graduate records officer, and in 1996, Terwillinger was inducted into the Northern Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame, where she joined her younger brother, Bill Terwillinger, the 1942 national AAU decathlon champion.

Athletics issues symposium

Hanover College is hosting a symposium, "Culture, Commerce and Collegiate Athletics: The Fate of the Student-Athlete," March 19-21 on the Hanover campus in Hanover, Indiana.

The symposium will examine a variety of athletics issues, including recapturing the ideal of the student-athlete, women's experiences in sport and the future of intercollegiate athletics in the new millennium.

Among the speakers will be J. Barton Luedeke, president of Rider University and Derrick Ramsey, athletics director at Kentucky State University.

Registration is not required, and there is no cost to attend any portion of the event. The event is sponsored by The Center for Free Inquiry, an interdisciplinary institute of Hanover College. For additional information and a schedule of events, see the Web site at http://cfi.hanover.edu.

Stepping up to the line

Members of the men's basketball team at Texas Christian University broke the NCAA Division I record for free throws made by a team in a single game when they recently sank 56 shots in 70 attempts against Eastern Michigan University.

The previous record in Division I was 53 (in 65 attempts), set by Morehead State University February 11, 1956, against the University of Cincinnati.

TCU won the game against Eastern Michigan, 107-101.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number crunching

Division I Women's Ice Hockey Attendance

Conferences

WCHA 48,498/101

ECAC 39,314/160

Averages do not include exhibition contests.

Single-game record: 6,854 at Minnesota vs. Augsburg, Nov. 2, 1997.