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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Augsburg Athletic Department will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of Title IX with a celebration on Saturday evening on the Augsburg campus. The evening will begin with an Hors d'oeuvres reception for alumni and guests and include a program which will be honoring Augsburg women's athletics pioneers Mrs. Lavonne Johnson Peterson '50 and Joyce Anderson Pfaff '65 as well as featuring all-decade teams from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. The evening will conclude with a social reception for almuni and guests.

The tradition of Women's Athletics at Augsburg began far before the establishment of Title IX in 1972.  Women's basketball has had a place at Augsburg since 1922, when the first record of a women's basketball team appears in a November 1922 edition of the Augsburg Echo. The team, coached by HP Halvorson, had no games scheduled for that year, and it was not until the next year on March 15, 1923 that the Augsburg women's basketball team played its first game against  a team from St. Luke's Church. The Auggies emerged with a 21-8 victory. 

In 1926, Augsburg women athletes made their first national appearance as the women's free throw team. The team went to the National Free-Throw Tournament in Charleston, S.C., where the women placed fourth overall.
Before athletics became "varsity" sports as we know them today, there were organizations such as the Women's Athletic Association (WAA) – also referred to as the Women's Recreation Association (WRA) – that allowed women to be involved in athletic activities.

The WAA was first organized in 1925 as a club that worked in partnership with the Physical Education Department and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to foster athletic interest and physical activity among the women at Augsburg. According to the Augsburgian of 1928, aside from its goal of encouraging women's fitness, one of the organization's early goals was to reach the level of organization required to be admitted into the Athletic Conference of American College Women. 

A point system served to motivate women in participating in various sports and membership for the WAA was open to all women who had earned one hundred points by participating in one of the sports offered by the organization including volleyball, basketball, kittenball (the precursor to softball), hiking, skating, apparatus work, tennis, among various other recreational activities. Five hundred points earned one a gold WAA pin, but the highest honor was the Augsburg letter , which was awarded to any woman who had earned one thousand points throughout her college career. In later years, the letter was earned with seven hundred points and the one thousand point reward was replaced with a WAA sweater.

Competition among participants of the WAA was  primarily organized as tournaments between classes or chosen groups, and as intramurals among house teams or student-organized teams. There were no formal intercollegiate contest schedules as we have today, instead several Augsburg representatives participated in an annual, non-competitive intramural meet (called a Play Day) with representatives from women's athletic groups of other Minnesota colleges. Participating colleges took turns hosting this event on their campuses.

In 1932 the WAA inter-class program was supplemented by the organization of an independent women's basketball team. The team played in intramurals as well as against some other teams throughout the city. Basketball was a prominently popular sport for women, and in 1947 the college's women's basketball team joined the Minneapolis Park Board Tournament and the women proved themselves by placing second. After winning the championship in the National Division in 1948, the team advanced to the American League, the highest basketball bracket in the Park Board League. They won the championship in the National Division again in 1950. In 1951, the Parkboard Team was recognized as an independent  team and considered no longer a part of the WAA, although many women were active in both organizations.

The name "Auggiettes" was first used by Augsburg's women's basketball team in 1955, when the team chose to leave the Park Board League in favor of forming a league of their own with other colleges and nursing schools in the Twin Cities. The team had scheduled practices and games. The Auggiettes, coached by LaVonne Peterson '50, promoted fair play and good sportsmanship among women who enjoyed playing basketball for fun, yet this did not stop them from winning consistently. The Auggiettes of '56-'57 were undefeated for three consecutive seasons and they were inducted into the Augsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 during the college's 35th Anniversary of Women's Athletics celebration, and they remain the only team presently in the Hall of Fame.

Throughout the 60's, the Auggiettes maintained a winning streak. Between 1951 and 1967, the Auggiettes only suffered eight losses, and in 1965, they took home second place in a post-season tournament in St. Paul.

In 1972, the implementation of Title IX, which federally mandated equity between men and women in higher education, had a large impact on collegiate athletics. Intercollegiate-level women's varsity sports were introduced at Augsburg College that same year, with basketball, volleyball, tennis, and gymnastics making their "varsity" debut seasons.

During the early years of women's varsity competition, Augsburg was affiliated nationally with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), an organization founded in 1971.  The Auggies participated in the Minnesota Division of the AIAW (MAIAW), competing against larger schools such as the University of Minnesota, St. Cloud State University, and the University of Minnesota-Duluth as well as smaller schools such as Gustavus Adolphus College and the College of Saint Benedict.

The Auggies enjoyed many successful years in the AIAW, especially in volleyball and softball. The Augsburg volleyball team, coached by Mary Timm, placed second in the MAIAW for two consecutive years in 1974 and 1975, falling just short of the University of Minnesota. In 1979, the Augsburg softball team, also coached by Mary Timm, placed second in the MAIAW State Tournament.

The 1980's marked a decade of excellence, a decade where Augsburg women athletes broke on to the national scene. The Augsburg softball team claimed four consecutive state championships and became the first Augsburg team to qualify for national competition, when they qualified for the AIAW national tournament in 1982. In that same year, Augsburg also had three gymnasts qualify for the Division III AIAW national meet.

In 1982-83 Augsburg changed its affiliation away from the AIAW to join the NCAA and became a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The volleyball team became the first team to qualify for the NCAA national tournament and the softball team also made two NCAA tournament appearances. Augsburg earned its first NCAA individual national championships (Melanie Herrera-Storlie '88 and Carolyn Ross Isaak '89) and top-three team national finish in track and field under the guidance of Coach Paul Grauer.

Augsburg added its next sport with the addition of the women's soccer team in 1985 and saw the first induction of women into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. The Augsburg Women's Athletic Club (AWAC) was established in 1983 as the support orginization for women's alumni and friends of the department.

The 1990's saw three programs putting their mark on the map as well as continued strong individual performances in many of Augsburg's other sports. Women's cross country was reestablished in 1991 after having on-and-off again programs during the 70's and 80's. Women's golf competed in the 1991-92 school year and was formally added to the sport offerings in the 1994-95 school year.

The Augsburg women's athletic department gained national attention in 1995 with the announcement that it would be the first college or university in the Midwest to add women's hockey as a varsity sport. Under the guidance of Head Coach Jill Pohtilla, the Augsburg women's hockey team reached unprecedented heights after accumulating an MCWHA championship, two MIAC championships, one MIAC playoff championship and an appearance in the first Division III national tournament, the AWCHA national finals in Boston.

The 2000's saw the continued strength of the women's hockey program, qualifying for the MIAC post-season playoffs for three consecutive years. Augsburg also announced the addition of another sport, women's swimming and diving, which was added in 2003-04.

The Augsburg women's soccer team qualified for four consecutive MIAC playoff appearances from 2004-2007. The softball and volleyball teams also qualified for MIAC post-season playoff appearances in the 2000's.

The 2000's also marked the merging of the Augsburg Women's Athletic Club (AWAC) and the A-Club into one athletic support organization and Jane Helmke '83 was the first woman was named to the A-Club Executive Board.

In 2007 the first and only team was inducted into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame. The 1956-57 Auggiettes women's basketball team was inducted into the Hall of Fame after posting an unbeaten record for three consecutive seasons. 2007 also marked the merging of the men's and women's athletic departments into one combined program.

Augsburg women's athletics continues it's climb to be a top program in the MIAC. Last year alone, the Auggies tied the school record for wins in a season in women's basketball, qualified for the MIAC post-season playoffs in volleyball and softball and just last week the Augsburg women's soccer team made it to the championship game of the MIAC playoffs for the first time in program history.

Check back tomorrow to learn more about the women selected for Augsburg's all-decade teams.