By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
As far back as she can remember, Julie Shackford '88 loved soccer as much any boy she knew. The only difference was, there were fewer opportunities.
 
"I remember when I was a freshman in high school, there was no college soccer," she said. "I remember freaking out about that because I didn't know what I would do next.
 
"By the time I was a senior, there were probably 75 to 100 programs. Now, if you put Divisions I, II and III together, there are well over 1,000 schools that are offering women's soccer at the college level."
 
Shackford, then known as Julie Cunningham, came to William & Mary in 1984 and became a three-time All-American. After graduation, she coached at Carnegie Mellon for five seasons and Princeton for 20 before taking over at her alma mater in 2018.
 
Tuesday marks the 36th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which commemorates progress and achievements but also recognizes that more work lies ahead. It also celebrates Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding.
 
Senior Associate Athletics Director Peel Hawthorne '80 grew up in a time when many considered girls playing sports to be unusual. That didn't stop her from starring in lacrosse and field hockey at William & Mary and coaching the latter from 1987-2012.
 
"It was an anomaly to be a female athlete," she said. "I remember my dad just kind of dismissing it like I wasn't conforming to the svelte image that women should aspire to. I had an athletic build, and I just remember him saying, 'How much do you weigh?'
 
"In the fourth grade, I started at a private school where there were physical education classes. We were introduced to team sports and played soccer at recess almost daily. Varsity teams for girls were open to middle-schoolers. That's really what gave me an opportunity to develop as a player on organized sports teams."
 
 
Shackford remembers most of her coaches as being men. Until, that is, she played on Carolyn Rice's soccer team at Lake Braddock High.
 
"That was the first time I was exposed to a woman in coaching who served as a mentor," Shackford said. "She was a woman ahead of her time. And to this day, in her 70s, she does ultra-marathons."
 
Shackford and Hawthorne were inspired by Millie West, who in one capacity or another worked in W&M athletics from 1959 until her death in 2020. She began as a physical education instructor and became the director of women's athletics in 1969. Seventeen years later, when the departments merged, she was named associate director of athletics.
 
West will be honored with a "Celebration of Life" on Sunday, Feb. 20, at the Sadler Center prior to the Lord Botetourt Auction. A ceremony had been scheduled for just after her death but was postponed after the COVID-19 outbreak (anyone interested in attending can RSVP for the event with this link).
 
For women's athletics, being taken seriously didn't come easy. Hawthorne remembers some obvious differences in media coverage — whenever women's sports would actually get media coverage.
 
"There's a book called Game Face — I've got a copy of it right here," she said. "It was published in response to the fact that on the rare occasion that the media did include pictures of women, it typically wasn't an action shot.
 
"Even now, if you go through the paper, you'll find maybe one women's picture versus 10 for men. We've come a long way, but we've got a lot of work yet to do."
 
Shackford agrees.
 
"Enough women are playing at a really high level that they deserve to have press and marketing and money," she said. "I know a lot of it is based around what kind of money men's sports bring in, but we started at a disadvantage. We started later, and the next piece is professionalizing everything."
 
Further, the university and athletics department are committed to solidifying the future of women's athletics at William & Mary and upgrading the student-athletes' experiences with the establishment of the Women in Action Scholarship/Student-Athlete Support Fund. Thanks to a generous challenge gift from an anonymous alumna, a portion of contributions to all W&M women's athletics programs are eligible to be matched up to $250,00 for the remainder of this fiscal year.