Arriving at the University of Arizona in 1920 as assistant professor of women’s physical education, Ina Gittings claimed she “came to Arizona to teach and find a free environment for my ideas of education. They were ‘advanced’ for my profession and all later accepted as new and valuable.”
Born on Jan. 14, 1885, in Wilbur, Nebraska, Ina Estelle Gittings said her mother’s exasperated efforts to make a lady of her were undermined by her four older brothers, who kept drafting their little sister to participate in baseball games.
In high school, she played on the girls’ basketball team and won a state championship. At the time, girls played sports in long skirts until bloomers were allowed.
Ina graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1906 with a degree in physical education.
After teaching high school for a year, she accepted a position at her alma mater, staying until 1917. During this time, she was asked to speak before the American Association of University Women on “The Needs of the University Girl.” She demanded more women’s sports in schools as well as equality in competition and facilities.
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Ina next accepted a position at the University of Montana as assistant professor of physical education and just before the first semester began, she ordered 250 sets of bloomers, 450 middy blouses and 150 pairs of exercise shoes for her students. Long stockings were not mentioned in her order but they were also a necessity for the women athletes she would be teaching.
At the onset of World War I, Ina left her teaching position to work for the U.S. Army, training “reconstruction aides” to rehabilitate wounded soldiers. After the war, she accepted a position in Turkey as a relief worker for Armenian refugees and helped set up carpet-making businesses.
By 1920, Ina was back in the states and in great demand as a women’s P.E. teacher. She accepted a position at the University of Arizona because she was allowed to create her own programs of outdoor exercise for her students. At the time, the course catalog listed a “physical culture” class for women with dancing as the lone activity offered.
The only facility available to house the new women’s P.E. department was on the second floor of Old Main. According to Ina, “We used to shake the building so hard with our exercise drills that the man downstairs would come running up and beg us to stop.”
When a new men’s gymnasium was built the following year, Ina and the women athletes took over the men’s old headquarters in Herring Hall. She worked diligently to obtain a building just for female athletes and was delighted when a new facility was built in 1936 that housed a gym, offices, and most importantly, more bathrooms. At the time, like many schools, the university had less restrooms for women than men.
The first courses Ina taught were hockey, tennis, track and softball, later adding basketball, swimming, riding, archery, badminton, volleyball, bowling and golf. She also started theory classes for women who were interested in teaching physical education.
By 1924, women athletes were allowed to wear shorts, although knee-length stockings were still required.
Ina had no trouble filling her classes as women were eager to learn new sports and activities. The problem was finding fields on which to play.
When the Department of Agriculture decided to give up one of its onion gardens, Ina argued to secure the grounds for a women’s field by asking, “Better girls, or better onions?’ She successfully acquired the field, but only if she would see that the onions were harvested.
“We struggled to get the girls everything they wanted to keep them interested,” Ina said. “It was quite a battle sometimes, but we succeeded.”
Looking to expand her teaching expertise, Ina acquired a master’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1925 and took graduate courses at New York’s Columbia University. She became director of physical education at the university and became a full professor.
In 1928, Ina homesteaded 480 acres just west of Oracle Road on what is now Ina Road, named years later for the enterprising woman, although if you addressed her as “Ina,” she would refuse to answer as the proper pronunciation of her name was “Eena.”
Extremely active within the Tucson community, Ina served on the board of the Red Cross as well as working with the YWCA, PTA, and the U.S. Physical Education Association. In 1931, she started what became known as the Arizona Physical Education Society.
At the onset of World War II, Ina served as a military advisor for women students. “Girls who were interested in joining some branch of the service would come to me,” she said, “and I would advise them on what branch was most suitable for them.”
She is credited with improving women’s sports at the university from what was once just a dirt tennis court and 150 women participating to over 950 female athletes enthusiastically taking to the fields in 1945 to play a diverse selection of sports.
For more than 30 years, Ina ran the women’s athletic department at the University of Arizona. She retired as director of women’s physical education in 1951 but continued to teach until 1955. In 1960, the university awarded her the prestigious Medallion of Merit.
Ina died on March 11, 1966, at age 81.
The year before her death, a new women’s physical education building was completed, and in 1985, the university renamed the facility the Ina E. Gittings Building, the first building on campus to be named after a woman faculty member.
It was women like Ina and her efforts to establish equality in sports and facilities for women that eventually led to the passage of Title IX in 1972, the law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any programs or activities in all federally funded educational institutions.
Ina once claimed, “If I’d been born 39 years later, I probably would have been an aerialist in a circus or a lady bullfighter.” Thank goodness, she wasn’t.
The University of Arizona hosted trailblazers and community members Thursday for a day-long celebration of the federal law that provides women equal opportunity to college athletics. The school's celebration of the golden anniversary of Title IX — a section of the Education Amendments — fell on the 50th anniversary of the day Title IX was signed into law: June 23, 1972. Celebrations included speeches, a lunch and sports/activities for kids. Pascal Albright / ӰAV
Jan Cleere is the author of several historical nonfiction books about the early people of the Southwest. Email her at Jan@JanCleere.com. Website: .