REVIEW

Many Beginnings: A History of Women in Sports at Midwestern State University by Sherry Ann Gill Gillespie with Karen K. Rogers explores the account of women’s athletics since the start of the university. It takes you year by year through the decades and provides a play-by-play of each sport’s upbringing.

Women’s sports at Midwestern State have come a long way since its start in the 1920s. Their presence on campus over the years, or sometimes the lack thereof, has been tied to various world events in history. The Great Depression and World War II provided strong resistance and sometimes stopped athletics all together. Women’s sports teams already had continuous problems with staying afloat, many dissolving under pressure on their own without the outside influence of world events. Constantly fighting for funding and sponsorship as well as equal opportunity, the Lady Mustangs represent coming of age and exhibit a no nonsense attitude when fighting for their place on campus.

Gillespie and Rogers don’t just present facts and pictures in this book but evoke a sense of proud excitement in the reader. It draws you in arms against the struggle women athletes experienced and you find yourself rooting for their advancement each year or being disappointed during their years they were absent from the spotlight. Many Beginnings gives hope to the future of women’s sports because of the advancements in current day social justice and feminism that are sure to reflect in the upcoming Lady Mustangs.

Though sports related books may sometime be a dry read, I found this book to be a pleasant way to pass time and I’m happy I gave it a chance. Yes, it is full of facts and figures and sometimes confusing acronyms, but beyond that is a story of courage and hardships as the women struggle to make a name for themselves in sports and to blur the line between what is considered masculine and feminine.

The future of women’s sports and athletics is now. Gillespie and Rogers give account to the stepping stones that got our women’s teams where they are today. We have high hopes for our Lady Mustangs this year to continue to uphold the standards set in place by their predecessors and to continuously push the boundaries set by society to show everyone that they are here ready to dominate.

PRICE: $35 at the MWSU Bookstore

RELATED STORY ON KFDX: History of MSU Women’s Athletics Put into Words and Pictures