Ivy League Sports

Although Dartmouth teams competed successfully in many sports during this decade, it was in basketball that the school truly dominated the Ivy League. Led by the record-setting play of stars Gail Koziara and Jayne Daigle, the team won four consecutive League championships under Coach Chris Wielgus from 1980 through 1983 and then repeated under Coach Jacqueline Hullah from 1986 through 1989. In 1981 and 1982, the team also advanced to post-season competition in the Eastern AIAW tournament, the initial appearances for the school in post-season basketball games, and the following year made the Ivy League’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The decade also was marked by significant facility improvements, including the completion of the John W. Berry Sports Center in 1987. Housing the Leede Arena, The Fitness Center, Straus Dance Studio, racquet center, and locker facilities, the Berry Center enabled the College to host more events than before and to relieve previously crowded spaces. One of the inaugural events held at the Center was the 1988 Women’s Intercollegiate Squash Racquet Association national championship.

While the women’s program continued to build, the end of an era was marked with the retirement of Agnes Bixler Kurtz from her squash coaching responsibilities in June 1989. Kurtz’s 17 years at Dartmouth as a coach and administrator had been an integral part of the early years. As Louise O’Neal, interim athletic director, said at Kurtz’s retirement: “She will be missed, but she will be remembered by Dartmouth athletics for years to come. Aggie truly is a pioneer for women’s athletics, not only for Dartmouth, but on a national level too.” In her years as a coach, Kurtz never experienced a losing season.

Dartmouth’s ice hockey team began varsity competition in 1981, though its performance for most of the decade was marked more by enthusiasm than victories. A contributor to the 1982 yearbook, Aegis, wrote: “The winter won-loss records were not quite what were hoped for, although the season was brightened by individual triumphs. It was the spirit of the teams that maintained the spirit of the games.” By decade’s end, however, persistence had paid off, and the team won the Ivy League tournament in 1989 with a surprise victory over undefeated Harvard in the semifinal and a goal over Cornell in sudden death overtime in the final. The wins provided Dartmouth with an automatic bid to the ECAC tournament, although Harvard won the Ivy League title that year based on double round-robin play.

Also in the second half of the decade, the lacrosse team had major accomplishments, which formed the basis for greater success in the 1990s. Under coach Josie Harper, who is now Dartmouth’s associate athletic director, the team became the Ivy League champion for the first time in 1986. The following year’s team was declared co-champions with Harvard when a measles outbreak in Hanover resulted in a quarantine of the area that forced the cancellation of the season-ending contest between the two first-place squads. Dartmouth came back strong the following year and won the ECAC championship.

Other notable team successes of the decade include Dartmouth’s first Ivy League championship in rowing in 1983. The crew also finished second at the EAWRC Sprints and second at the national championship that year, and went on to win a second Ivy title in 1984. The field hockey team won the Ivy League championship in 1984 and repeated in 1987 and 1988, while the cross country team had a series of notable finishes in the Heptagonal championships: second place in 1984, 1985, and 1988 and third in 1986 and 1987. Ellen O’Neil, who graduated in 1987 and now is the head cross country coach at her alma mater, was a standout individual performer on many of those teams. The 1988 team also took second at the ECAC championships and appeared for the first time in the NCAA championships. The 1988 outdoor track and field team placed second in the Heptagonals — the highest finish for the school since winning the first-ever Ivy title in 1977 — and repeated as runners-up in 1989.

Individuals also recorded a number of significant moments. Kate Perle, the only Dartmouth athlete to win the Ivy League Player of the Year in field hockey, was a first team All-Ivy selection in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Chris Schutz was the first Dartmouth squash player to be a two-time first team All-Ivy selection. Having graduated from Dartmouth in 1987, she returned to coach both the men’s and women’s squash teams beginning in 1993, and then moved to Harvard as associate head coach of men’s and women’s squash in 1998. Finally, long before an Ivy League championship was established in golf, Sue Johnson, the daughter of the men’s and women’s golf coaches, became the first All-American from the League in that sport.

Among Dartmouth’s Olympians during this period were rowers Charlotte and Judy Geer, who were to be the Ivy League’s first sister combination to compete in the Olympics, but were — along with teammate Elizabeth Kent — part of the 1980 team that did not travel to Moscow due to the U.S. boycott. Fortunately, the Geer sisters did compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, at which Charlotte took the silver medal in single sculls. In addition, Diana Golden competed in the exhibition event of disabled skiing. Three Dartmouth athletes participated as the only Ivy League women in the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games. They were Cammy Myler in luge and Martha Hill and Leslie Thompson in skiing.