Grant’s legacy on Iowa Athletics

Birdsong said she didn’t come into her position in 1974 focused on equity between the men’s and women’s basketball programs. Instead, she put her “heart and soul” into the development of the program.

But she still noticed numerous disparities between the men’s and women’s programs. Birdsong said there were large funding gaps in uniforms, practice jerseys, equipment, and transportation. Birdsong also couldn’t offer scholarships to her women’s basketball players. Her biggest frustration, she said, was the women’s program’s lack of locker room space.

“We did not have a dedicated locker room and I didn’t have a place where we could go at halftime,” Birdsong said. “We finally got a room in the Field House, and it was not designed for showers, facilities.”

Former Hawkeye men’s basketball coach Lute Olson, who was with the Hawkeyes from 1974-83, originally allowed the women’s team to use the men’s locker room. But that agreement had difficulties.

“It became somewhat of an issue because all of the [men’s] players’ items were just hanging in the particular facility,” Birdsong said. “They felt it wasn’t appropriate for us to be amongst all of the items that would just be left hanging out. So, we ended up not being able to use that for the long term.”

Title IX went into full effect in 1975. All high schools, colleges, and universities were given until July 21, 1978, to become compliant. That date passed with few schools being compliant. To help the progress, Grant was a consultant on the 1978 Civil Rights Title IX Task Force. She also sat on multiple NCAA committees while at Iowa, including the Special Committee to Review the NCAA Membership Structure, Special Committee on Assessing Interests of Female Student-Athletes, and Committee on Committees.

“She was committed to equality for girls and women, because of the shortchange that they were receiving when she first came over to this country,” Birdsong said.

Grant was Iowa’s director of women’s intercollegiate athletics from 1973-2000, until the men’s and women’s athletics departments merged into one. In her 27 years at Iowa, equality in women’s sports — both at the university and around the country — was her main focus. But Grant always made time for her student-athletes at Iowa, even when she was stretched across the country with numerous responsibilities.

“She was literally, like, fighting battles in Congress, and on the speaking circuit trying to represent women and women’s sports everywhere,” Iowa field hockey head coach Lisa Cellucci, a close friend of Grant, said. “And she was at the NCAA. So, she was very involved, and she was at all of the matches that she could be at, all of the big-time events.”

Iowa field hockey plays its home games on Grant Field — named after the Title IX pioneer — on the west side of campus.

Grant, who hailed from Scotland, was a field hockey enthusiast. She founded the Iowa field hockey program, a sport which is primarily played on the east coast of the U.S., in 1977. Originally named the Hawkeye Field Hockey Field, Iowa’s playing surface was dedicated to Grant on Sept. 22, 1991.

“Every time we walked on that field, we knew of course we’re playing for all the women that came before us, and for her,” Cellucci said. “It’s just a privilege, the opportunity that you have even just playing a sport.

“She was so fortunate, over in Scotland, to have access to great coaching and to be able to participate. And then when she came to the United States, it wasn’t the same. There was such disparate treatment between the woman and the men, and she could not get over it.”

Cellucci was a goalkeeper for Iowa field hockey from 1994-98, becoming a four-time All-Big Ten selection and three-time All-American. After leaving the state to begin her coaching career at James Madison University, she returned to Iowa ahead of the 2000 season as an assistant. In 2014, she became Iowa’s head coach.

Cellucci first met Grant when Cellucci was 17 and on an official visit to Iowa. From their first meeting, Cellucci knew Grant’s passion for Title IX and equality in women’s sports.

“She really made it very clear why Iowa was so different,” Cellucci said. “It was so obvious, just the pride, the passion, what they were trying to do for the female student-athletes, and it really set a lot of those Iowa teams apart in the early 90s when they were so successful.”

The pair had an hour-long conversation on Cellucci’s official visit to Iowa in 1993. When Cellucci mentioned during the meeting that she had a paper due on the subject of Title IX, she said Grant pulled out endless documents on the subject to help with her paper.

“Needless to say, I got an A on that project,” Cellucci said.

Cellucci played at Iowa in the final years before the men’s and women’s athletic departments merged. Everything was separate at the time, Cellucci said, including the sports information department, transportation, and equipment.

At the time, she said, it made the female student-athletes feel equal.

“You felt like, ‘Yeah, you were this big-time star, and you were getting you know what you deserved,’” Cellucci said.

Reflecting on her time as a student-athlete, she now realizes that everything wasn’t completely equal. But she still looks back on her college athletics years fondly.

“I was so unbelievably impressed and happy about my experience and the opportunities afforded to me,” Cellucci said. “… We were just fortunate to be surrounded by some such wonderful women and coaches and people. Like, there were just role models and everywhere we looked.”

Grant retired from her position at Iowa in 2000 ahead of the athletics department merger. But her advocacy for Title IX and equality in women’s sports never ceased.

Birdsong said that for over 15 years after Grant retired, people would ask for assistance in Title IX cases. Although they offered payment, Grant would take the funds and donate them back to the school or organization that she helped.

“She never wavered in her commitment to women and girls,” Birdsong said.

After she died, Grant left behind a pioneering legacy.

Timeline by Chloe Peterson/The Daily Iowan

“It’s one thing to really believe in something, but it’s another thing to … devote your entire life to championing that cause,” Cellucci said. “She truly did that, probably in every conversation in every setting that she was in and up until she died. She was still talking to people about how we could make opportunities better.

“We’re indebted to her forever, because I wouldn’t be in the position I am, or my student athletes would not have the opportunity to be competing on this stage if it wasn’t for someone like Christine Grant.”