ITHACA, N.Y. -- In preparation for the year-long celebration of 50 years of varsity women's athletics at Cornell, a distinguished panel was put together in the spring of 2021 with the goal of naming the top 50 women's student-athletes spanning five decades.
Online voting commenced in March 2021 with the committee culling a list of more than 100 of the all-time great women's athletes, from Olympians and All-Americans to All-Ivy selections. Voting brought the list to 50, and from that group a top 10 was then voted on.
Today on the department's social media channels, we will begin revealing the unordered list of former student-athletes that finished between 11-50, with the top 10 being unveiled the week of May 23 as a countdown from 10 to 1.
The ground rules included that only varsity student-athletes since 1972 were eligible and that current student-athletes were also not included.
Like any similar attempt at a list like this, many deserving former student-athletes narrowly missed out on the top 50. Olympians, Hall of Famers, national champions and many other celebrated student-athletes did not receive enough votes to be included - It does not make their contributions to Cornell athletics less valuable or unimportant. Rather, their omission highlights how many incredible Big Red student-athletes have represented Cornell over the years.
The committee was composed of:
- Dick Blood, Former Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball
- Anita Brenner, Deputy Director of Athletics for Intercollegiate Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator
- Bernie DePalma, Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine and the Doc Kavanagh Head Athletics Trainer
- Lou Duesing, Former Alan B. '53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Head Coach of Women's Track & Field & Cross Country
- Andrea Dutcher, Longtime volleyball coach and senior administrator in athletics
- Betsy East, Longtime gymnastics coach and senior athletics administrator
- Amy Foster, Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Student Services
- Jenny Graap, The Karin Bain Kukral '82 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse
- Julie Greco, Longtime Associate Director of Athletics Communications
- Jen Gudaz, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, the Robert E. Browning '56 Director of Physical Education and the Helen Newman Director of Recreational Services
- Tom Howley, Associate Director of Athletics for Athlete Performance
- Jay Matthews '22, co-President of Cornell's Women of Color in Athletics (WOCA)
- Andy Noel, The Meakem*Smmith Director of Athletics & Physical Education Andy Noel
- Khary Pryce '22, co-President of Cornell's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC)
- Dayna Smith, The Rebecca Quinn Morgan '60 Head Coach of Women's Basketball
- Dave Wohlhueter, Longtime Sports Information Director
- The Cornell Athletics Communications Staff (one composite vote)
