FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Judith M. Sweet (born 1948) is an American sports executive. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was the first woman to be elected secretary-treasurer and president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. She was also the first female athletic director to run both the men’s and women’s programs at the University of California, San Diego. In 2006, ESPN listed her among the top 100 most influential student-athletes.

CAREER

As UCSD was a new institution with fewer than 10,000 students, Sweet was originally hired for their physical education department in which she would also coach their men’s and women’s badminton. However, in her second year at the school, she was promoted to the assistant athletic director and eventually named the athletic director at the age of 27. It was the first time in the United States that a woman had been appointed to administer a joint men’s and women’s athletic program. She was originally unwelcomed by the other male athletic directors due to their budget cuts and she received numerous hate mail in response to the national attention she earned for her role. At the time, there was no women’s faculty locker room and she was forced to use the same locker room as her students.

Following the passing of Title IX legislation, Sweet began to equalize the funding and schedules affecting men’s and women’s program to reach gender equity. At the time of her takeover, the men’s basketball team had a $10,000 budget while the women’s team has a $1,000 budget and played in a local community college league. Between 1975 and 2000, Sweet also oversaw UCSD winning 27 NCAA Division III National Championships. In 1981, Sweet was nominated to serve on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) communications committee which eventually led to her sitting on over 20 committees through the 1980s and mid-1990s. As a result, on January 25, 1989, Sweet became the first woman to be elected secretary-treasurer of the NCAA, the second highest position within the organization. In this role, she helped negotiate the TV rights contract for the Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship.

After completing her term as secretary-treasurer, Sweet became the first female president of the NCAA and the first president from a Division III school. Upon receiving the news of her promotion, a journalist from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called it “pure tokenism” and likened it to “having a debutante as head of the National Mule Skinners Assn.” However, Sweet later said that “to a lot of people, it was more startling that a Division III administrator was elected as NCAA president rather than a woman.” In 1992, she received the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators 1992 Administrator of the Year.

Following the end of her term as president, Sweet continued to serve as athletic director at UCSD until 2001 when she became the NCAA’s senior vice president for championships and education services. Upon her retirement in 2006, Sweet also served as a consultant for Title IX and gender equity strategies. In April, ESPN listed her among the top 100 most influential student-athletes. In 2020, Sweet received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the San Diego Sports Association.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

What is hoarfrost?

Sometimes called white frost, hoarfrost is the frozen dew found on leaves and grass in the early morning. The word hoar refers to its white color.

Advice of the Day

Add a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to the humidifier to reduce mustiness.

Home Hint of the Day

Some places on your floor — such as corners, thresholds, and the areas under radiators — can’t be reached with a power sander. Use a sharp paint scraper to remove the old finish in these areas, then sand by hand with 100-grit sandpaper.

Word of the Day

Filibuster

A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; — originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855. A tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

Puzzle of the Day

You may pass over a flat piece of ground whose name read backward or forward is always the same.

Level

Died

• Carolus Linnaeus (botanist) – 1778
• Buffalo Bill Cody (frontiersman) – 1917
• Sinclair Lewis (novelist) – 1951
• Dashiell Hammett (author of detective stories, including The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man) – 1961
• Richard Boone (actor) – 1981
• John Dye (actor) – 2011
• David Bowie (musician) – 2016

Born

• Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoy (novelist) – 1882
• Robinson Jeffers (poet) – 1887
• Dumas Malone (author) – 1892
• Ray Bolger (actor) – 1904
• Dean Dixon (musician) – 1915
• Gisele MacKenzie (singer & actress) – 1927
• Sherill Eustance Milnes (opera singer) – 1935
• Frank Mahovlich (hockey player) – 1938
• Sal Mineo (actor) – 1939
• Jim Croce (singer) – 1942
• Rod Stewart (singer) – 1945
• George Foreman (boxer) – 1949
• Pat Benatar (singer) – 1952
• Evan Handler (actor) – 1961
• Josh Ryan Evans (actor) – 1982

Events

• Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a pamphlet calling for independence from England – 1776
• Florida seceded from the Union (U.S. Civil War)– 1861
• The first line of London’s underground transportation system opened– 1863
• Standard Oil Company was incorporated– 1870
• Spindletop, the first great Texas oil strike, was discovered– 1901
• First aerial photography– 1911
• League of Nations founded– 1920
• Juan de la Cierva demonstrated the first autogyro in Spain– 1923
• World’s first communication through space occurred when radar pulses from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, echoed from the Moon– 1946
• First UN General Assembly met in London– 1946
• Columbia Inc. and Radio Corp. of America introduced 33 1/3 rpm and 45 rpm vinyl records– 1949
• Elvis Presley made his first recording in Nashville— Heartbreak Hotel was the A side, I Was The One was the B-side– 1956
• Two African American students were admitted to the University of Georgia, marking the first step toward racial integration of the state’s public school system– 1961
• State Representative Julian Bond was denied a seat in the Georgia legislature because of his opposition to the Vietnam War– 1966
• Masterpiece Theater made its television debut– 1971
• U.S. and the Vatican reestablished full diplomatic relations after more than 100 years– 1984
• Daniel Ortega inaugurated for a 6 year term as president of Nicaragua– 1985
• Judy Sweet became the first woman elected NCAA president– 1991

Weather

• The temperature in Charleston, South Carolina, dropped from 70F to 26F. The next morning, it plummeted to 15F.– 1745
• Charleston, South Carolina, received 10 inches of snow– 1800
• The Big Snow in central New York State dropped up to 60 inches– 1836
• Temperature dropped 47 degrees in 15 minutes at Rapid City, South Dakota– 1911
• Rochester, New York, had its coldest morning since January 16, 1994, with a record -12 degrees F– 2004
• Boston’s Logan International Airport recorded a low of -3 degrees F, 2 degrees chillier than the previous record for January 10, set in 1875. It was the city’s coldest day since January 16, 1994, when thermometers registered -4 degrees– 2004
• A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in the tiny town of La Conchita, about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles– 2005
• Vancouver had 23 consecutive days of rain– 2006

COURTESY www.almanac.com