50 years of Title IX: A celebration of Auburn's past, present and future

AUBURN, Ala. – In 2022, Auburn celebrated the 50th anniversary of when Title IX was passed. The act itself gave women an equal opportunity to compete in varsity sports and paved the way for future generations of student-athletes, teams and championships.

To celebrate, there were reunions and alumni weekends throughout the calendar year highlighted by the Title IX Trailblazer Weekend in September.

“To be back here and to see some of our trailblazers here, some that made such a big impact on so many lives and certainly my life, I'm loving every minute of it,” said former Auburn women’s golfer and golf coach Kim Evans. “I was lucky that I came to Auburn University and was able to play college golf. It was the best experience of my life.”

Evans, who served as the mic woman on the field prior to the Missouri football game that weekend, was one of the countless alumni who returned to Auburn in 2022. Every women’s sport had a reunion of some sort, including the 2002 women’s swimming and diving team – the first women’s team at Auburn to win a national championship.

Not only was it an opportunity to come back to Auburn and reconnect with old friends and teammates. Those that returned helped set an example for current and future student-athletes as we embark on the next 50 years of Title IX. 

Reita Clanton was in school at Auburn when Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments Act (above) into law. Clanton, a former team handball Olympian, played volleyball, basketball and softball for Auburn and was among those who returned to the Plains for the Title IX Trailblazer Weekend.

“To see the advancement of women's athletics, it just does your heart so good,” Clanton said. “We're just so proud of how the program has evolved and all the opportunities it’s provided for young women – not only in athletics but the academic opportunities, too.

“It also makes me reminisce about being here at the time and just the women who were here when Title IX was being passed. Sandra Newkirk, who was probably the leader of the group. Susan Nunnelly and Jane Moore. First of all, they made sure we had the opportunity to play. It was a big social change, and the way they navigated it was so informative to me, and I just took a lot of lessons from watching them on how they just kind of navigated the currents of the change in such a cooperative way.

“They built a bridge to the future for all women's athletics, and it's one that now has its own culture and history and heroes, of which we are so proud.”

Nunnelly and Moore, along with Meredith Jenkins, were honored as SEC Trailblazers for Auburn at the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament last March – part of the conference’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Former gymnast Megan Walker Thigpen also attended Auburn’s Title IX Trailblazer Weekend and was humbled just to be around some of the women who had come before her.

“I loved my time at Auburn,” said the former All-American. “I truly believe in the Auburn Family and the experiences you get to have if you are fortunate enough to be a student-athlete here. But you can look around and see all the impactful things that these women did. Sarah Wentworth is here, and I won the award when I was on the team that's named after her.

“These full-circle moments where you see what people accomplished, how they inspired you when you were just a teenager or even younger and hoping to make a university team someday, and then you come to that moment of realization.”

Fifty years have passed, and gymnastics is now one of 10 women’s sports currently competing at Auburn. Last Friday night, fans packed Neville Arena to watch the gymnastics team in action against North Carolina State. 

Fifty years is only the beginning, though.

The landscape across collegiate athletics has changed. It’s not the same as it was in 1972. But some of the lessons remain the same. What started at Auburn with Nunnelly and Clanton has been passed down to the likes of Ruthie Bolton and Kirsty Coventry and Kasey Cooper and now Derrian Gobourne and Sunisa Lee.

So, what one piece of advice would Clanton – who was there in the beginning – give to the next generation of women who want to be student-athletes?  

“The first thing that comes to my mind is just love what you do,” Clanton said. “And just let the passion come through. And allow your experience in athletics just to inform your whole life. Because there are so many wonderful lessons.

“Yeah, it's competitive, it's fun, and you want to do your best while you're there, but the lessons and the experience that you carry with you is just incredible. And you'll see how it is an asset for you in anything that you do in the future.”

The future is bright. The 50th anniversary celebration was just another example of that.

At Auburn, former student-athletes from every sport were celebrated. During the Title IX Trailblazer Weekend, they gathered together at Jordan-Hare Stadium – home of the football team – and honored prominent women in sports.

“It just makes me think of my athletes I coach now and how I can look at an 11-year-old gymnast and know that she has so many opportunities out there,” said Walker Thigpen. “Whether she chooses to stick with gymnastics or she switches to another sport or she just chooses academics or wants to be a mom – all of those things are accepted, all of those things are supported, and they're supported by the university. It’s just a win for everyone.

“Fifty years since Title IX. It feels like it's been a long time, and yet simultaneously, it's been no time at all that we have been trying to take steps forward for women.”