As Aggie Nation has followed this UC Davis Celebration of 50 Years of Title IX series, it has seen how the local campus has always been ahead of the curve when it came to women's athletics.
 
From the early days of intramural sports to today's offerings of 16 ICA sports, administrators and coaches like Pam Gill-Fisher, Marya Welch, Joe Singleton, Carol Cartwright, Greg Warzecka, Sue Williams, Jorja Hoehn, Teresa Gould, Dan Conners, Larry Vanderhoef, Dee Vochatzer, Kevin Blue, Jamey Wright, Jennifer Gross and countless others have provided inspiration and opportunity to thousands of current and former Aggie women student-athletes.
 
We've seen how, in many cases, UC Davis has been a torch-carrier for regional and national collegiate alliances that strive to provide level playing fields for competitors of both sexes.
 
Now, as the Celebration of 50 Years of Title IX focus winds down, let's take one last look back and forever point to the future …
 
'It Matters to Us'
 
Arkansas transplant Sue Williams was hired as UC Davis' women's cross country coach in 1973, shortly after Title IX was signed.
 
A graduate of Arkansas State, Williams had played some prep basketball and was a runner. "I was athletic, for sure," she explains. "But I wasn't an athlete because there were no opportunities to compete on teams as a girl or woman."
 
Still, Williams championed female student-athletes. At the University of Arkansas, she and her ideas were lost in the male-dominated athletic department. Any budget for women's sports there amounted to table scraps.
 
Williams realized, "I needed to be someplace else"; someplace where inequality and discrimination were seemingly evaporating. But Williams — like most women in athletics at the time — had few places to turn.
 

 "There weren't many women coaching sports. In college, there was almost nothing," she said. "But in California … it seemed different. I applied (for positions) at Northridge, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis. I was lucky to be out front a little bit and got all three jobs.
 
"UC Davis was light years better than other schools (in being a promising center for women's athletics) and by then, I was interested in running, and California was where it was happening. Still, I thought I'd go somewhere for two or four years and go back. I love Arkansas."
 
But thanks to Dean Ryan and Joe Singleton, Williams found a new home at UC Davis.
 
Ryan was running the Aggie physical education program at the time, and Singleton was the UCD athletic director. Williams remembers that these two men said the right things to draw her to Davis:
 
" 'We want our women's teams to be good,' they told me. It matters to us. That was a huge change for me. They didn't care in Arkansas," explained Williams.
 
Ryan said, "We want someone who will have a good program."
 
But for Williams, that wasn't enough. She said she told the duo, "I want to do some winning."
 
Ryan and Singleton agreed. That year, Williams took over as the first coach of the women's varsity cross country team. Although her runners often had to share rides, facilities and even uniforms with other squads, Williams and UC Davis were a pairing that would thrive together for almost five decades.
 
She spent 29 years as the women's cross country coach and 14 as the mentor of the men's team. She coached more than 80 All-Americans, had a school-record 22 appearances in the D-II NCAA Championships and directed the men to 10 Sweet 16 finishes in 12 years at the same level.
 
Williams recalls that the early years of athletics for women were aided by the "Aggie Way." She loved the student-focused mentality, because "we could make athletes out of them, even if they weren't. Those early (competitors) weren't experienced. They hadn't come up through a club system to learn tennis or other sports. In cross country, they were just fast runners."
 
To ensure continued expansion of the athletic programs, Williams said the administrators were usually behind branching out "as long as you could prove your needs. It was that Aggie Way: a very inclusive view of 'all teams were important.' If one sports teams does well, then all teams benefit, and that included football and the high-visibility sports.
 
"Davis was more inclusive to begin with. It was so much easier to work with."
 
When Williams arrived at UCD, only 2 percent of the ICA budget nationally went to women's programs. "At Davis, it was probably a little bit higher," she said. "But it was the attitude that made the difference."
 
As for the Future …
 
Now, the charge to lead UC Davis into the next 50 years of gender equity in Aggie athletics lies with Athletic Director Rocko DeLuca.
 
A veteran of athletic departments at the University of Colorado and UMass, DeLuca was asked whether he was satisfied with the number of varsity women's programs offered, given the ever-increasing female enrollment at UCD. If the enrollment trend continues, when will the university have to consider changes to remain in compliance with Title IX?
 
"We are currently satisfied with the number of programs but are keeping a close eye on university enrollment and the ways we can ensure we are continuing to meet or exceed Title IX requirements," reports DeLuca. "We look to plan at least two years ahead with trends."
 
Always out ahead.
 
Teresa Gould, the Aggie interim AD in 2015-16, likes the way schools in the NCAA have changed their attitudes regarding Title IX compliance.
 
"For a long time, it was, 'Well, this is the law. We have to comply because if we don't, there are dire consequences. Right?'
 
"And then some institutions, like UC Davis, have a better mindset around Title IX. They say, 'No. This is something we value. The young women in our programs deserve to have the same kind of access and opportunities the men do."
 
Gould — who is the senior Pac-12 women's administrator and president of the WeCoach group (the top organization dedicated to the recruitment, advancement and retention of women coaches of all sports and levels) — continued:
 
"I understand why administrators and commissioners make (funding) decisions based on return on investment. It's like the men started on third base and the women started on first base. We haven't been investing long enough to see what the opportunity is."
 
But fans are being drawn into women's sports, locally, nationally and abroad.
 
The U.S. Soccer Federation this spring agreed to equal pay for men's and women's national team members. The media share for gymnastics, softball and women's basketball has grown, and attendance is up across the board for collegiate women's sports.
 
"I wish more leaders would see more of the opportunity for investment instead of 'Well, we have to do this because it's the law,' " Gould says.
 
DeLuca knows there are tall weeds to push through in the future, but right now he's pleased with the state of women's athletics at UC Davis:
 
"(With our) 16 varsity programs for our female student-athletes, (we) are proud to support a broad-based program. There are few Division I athletic departments that have this range of participation opportunities for women."
 
And, what about the future of women's collegiate sports?
 
"A lot of new legislation has been introduced to the college athletics space over the last few years … the introduction of completely new elements such as cost of attendance, Alston payments and name image likeness (NIL) policies, to name a few.," explains DeLuca.
 
"College athletics is in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, waiting for guidance from the NCAA Transformation Committee as to how governance will take shape moving forward. There may be more separation in Division I."
 
But at UC Davis, the athletic director says things continue to move forward:
 
"We will navigate leading with our values and what is best for UC Davis and our student-athletes. Advancing women's athletics and opportunities for female student-athletes to not only compete but excel in their competitive pursuits will continue to be a priority."  
 
So, how does that legendary "Aggie Way" endure, despite the challenges? How are all UCD sports elevated, year after year?
 
"A storied tradition provides a wonderful foundation, but it is on us as administrators and coaches to continue that tradition and not let it just become a highlight of the past," believes DeLuca.
 
"UC Davis Athletics is well-positioned in the Big West and all our conferences across both women's and men's sports to always be a top contender.
 
"The academic prowess, our location, commitment to the EVO system (shorthand for a student's evolution during college) and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs allow us to reach higher for recruits to continue to elevate this department and the profile of the university.  
 
"As we've covered in this series, UC Davis is a proud leader when it comes to Title IX. We want to continue to lead in this space and have other institutions look to us as a model. 
 
 "Something we will not compromise is our commitment to the student-athlete experience. This encompasses the academic space, career preparation, mental and physical well-being of our student-athletes," concludes De Luca.
 
On the 50^th anniversary, our student-athletes and coaches will culminate in celebration at the California State Capitol Thursday, June 23^rd at 10:30am for a press conference hosted by Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath.