Three Ivy League Submissions Highlight NACWAA Title IX Trailblazer Tribute Video Contest

Information for this story courtesy of Cornell Athletic Communications, Dartmouth Athletics Communications and Princeton Athletic Communications

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Of the 25 submissions for the NACWAA (National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators) Title IX Trailblazer Tribute video contest, three came from the Ivy League, the most of any conference.

Cornell submitted a video on former Big Red player and Brown coach Digit Murphy, Dartmouth's video features former Big Green Director of Athletics Josie Harper and Princeton's video is of current women's lacrosse head coach Chris Sailer.

The NACWAA, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX on June 23, 2012, invited athletics departments, conference offices and organizations across the nation to nominate and celebrate a trailblazer who has made significant contributions in the area of gender equity. A total of 25 trailblazer tribute videos were submitted and are now available for viewing on the NACWAA YouTube Channel. Direct links to each entry are listed below.

The video with the most views during the designated two-week viewing period (April 9-23, 2012) will win a $9,000 gift from the NACWAA Foundation Fund in support of its women’s athletics programs and/or female staff professional development. The two videos receiving the most views will also be shown at the 2012 NACWAA National Convention, October 7-10 in Kansas City. Representatives from the winning institution and its trailblazer will be invited to attend and be recognized at a commemoration event at the National Convention.

Contest details

Cornell video on Digit Murphy

Dartmouth video on Josie Harper

Princeton video on Chris Sailer

Digit Murphy is a Cornell Athletics Hall of Famer after a tremendous playing career with the Big Red and an even more impressive coaching career with Brown. During her playing career at Cornell, Murphy was recognized as an All-Ivy selection in each of her four seasons and captained the team her junior and senior years. Murphy was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 1981 and ranks third on Cornell's all-time scoring list with 213 points including 123 goals. She was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 22 seasons with the Bears, Murphy won 318 games, putting her in the top-five all-time in career wins by a Division I head coach. Murphy's teams competed in the national championship game three times and advanced to the national semifinals on four other occasions, while capturing six ECAC regular season or tournament championships and five Ivy League championships.

Josie Harper became the first woman to serve as Director of Athletics at any of the Ivy League schools when she accepted the position at Dartmouth in 2002. Harper began her career in Hanover, N.H., as the head coach of the women's lacrosse program in 1981. She led her teams to an overall record of 88-69 and 37-28 in the Ivy League, as well as its first Ivy League Championships in 1986 and 1987, the ECAC Championship in 1988 and to the NCAA Tournament in 1983.

In 1987, Harper was named Assistant Director of Athletics and was promoted to Associate Director of Athletics in 1990. In 1992, she set aside her coaching responsibilities to focus on her administrative role, and in 1999 was promoted to Senior Associate Director of Athletics. Harper retired in 2009. She was honored by the school as a "Wearer of the Green" and was adopted into the Dartmouth class of 1947.

Chris Sailer is the current coach of the Princeton women's lacrosse team, a position she has held since 1987. She has guided the team to three NCAA championships, 11 national semifinal appearances, 19 NCAA tournament appearances and nine Ivy League titles. Sailer ranks second among active Division I coaches in victories, with an astonishing 314 career wins, and also is the fifth winningest coach in NCAA history across all divisions. She has coached the most games in NCAA Tournament history, a total of 45 games.

Under Sailer’s guidance, Princeton put together a stretch of 12 straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1998-2009. The team has made the tournament in 18 of the last 20 seasons beginning in 1992.  In 2002 and 2003, Sailer led the Tigers to back-to-back NCAA Championships, marking the second time in the history of the NCAA Championship a team won consecutive national titles. Sailer was inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame in 2008.