UF women's sports pioneer Ruth Alexander being inducted into Florida Women's Hall of Fame
Friday, February 10, 2012 | Women's Basketball, Football, Women's Golf, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Tennis, Track and Field, Scott Carter
The Gators women's basketball team beat Auburn on Thursday night at the O'Connell Center. The gymnastics team hosts LSU on Friday night. Florida's lacrosse team, in only its third year of existence, opens the season at North Carolina on Saturday. Meanwhile, on Sunday the defending national champion UF women's tennis team is playing at Stanford.
Women's sports are thriving at UF in part to the vision of women's sports pioneer Ruth Alexander, who spearheaded the development of the “Lady Gator” athletic program in the fall of 1972.
Alexander is one of three women Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced earlier this week that are being inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame.
Alexander is already a member of the UF Athletic Hall of Fame and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. During her time as chair of the Department of Physical Education at UF, Alexander established the UF women's sports program.
The department had a $16,000 budget when teams in golf, swimming, gymnastics, tennis and track began competing in 1972.
Here is a story on Alexander by UF historian Norm Carlson about Alexander from the GatorZone.com archives.
Besides her accomplishments at UF, Alexander was the first woman appointed to the President's Council on Physical Fitness by President Nixon, a role she later served in under presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan.
Gov. Scott will conduct the induction ceremony for Alexander and two other new inductees on March 6 in the Capitol Courtyard.
