Bates College

Hardly noticed, pioneering female Bates athletes like Janet Swallow Young '69 quickly established a serious winning sports tradition.

 

Bates' first intercollegiate women's sports teams in the late 1960s played before few fans — even fewer if one does not count the Bates men who whistled at the women athletes from their John Bertram windows. Hardly noticed or even taken seriously, these pioneering athletes, typified by three-sport standout Janet Swallow Young '69, quickly established a serious winning sports tradition, routinely posting undefeated seasons vs. Maine colleges in field hockey, volleyball, basketball, badminton and skiing. Jan played volleyball, field hockey and basketball, captaining that squad for two years. So versatile was she, in fact, that when The Bates Studentpublished a rare story on women's sports, it was Janet who stepped up to author an article. In her business career as a Bates alumna, she continued to break new ground. Regional sales and marketing manager for several family-owned California wineries for nearly three decades, she was among the first female sales reps hired by these firms. Today, she resides in Hudson, Mass., and stays physically active with golf, skiing, aerobics, spinning, kayaking and white water rafting.