Celebrating the trailblazers who paved the way
Kathy Mullane MBA’89. Photo: James MacLean
Today, the women’s Huskies at Saint Mary’s University are among the top-ranked teams and individual athletes, both provincially and nationally. But in the 1970s, the leadership of a few dedicated Santamarians helped blaze a trail to women’s varsity success.
Women at Saint Mary's have played field hockey, basketball and volleyball at the club level since the university opened its doors to women in the late 1960s. As the clubs grew in popularity, and the men’s varsity teams earned national titles, the women sought to form organized teams. In 1973, Dr. Owen Carrigan, then President of Saint Mary's University and father to several athletic daughters, recognized the need for a formal women's athletic program. Bob Hayes, then Athletic Director, agreed that a women's varsity program could attract more students and provide equal opportunities in sport.
Dr. Carrigan hired Kathy Mullane MBA'89 to establish a women's varsity program and coach the basketball team. Acknowledging that most women athletes were playing more than one sport, Mullane insisted on coaching the field hockey team at the varsity level as well.
Susan (Dunbrack) Beazley - 1973
"When Saint Mary's was looking to join the varsity league, other universities were hesitant and thought that we would recruit players in a way similar to the men's teams. To prove that we could be competitive on our own, we spent a year playing at the junior varsity level before moving up to varsity," says Mullane.
The 1973 Field Hockey and Basketball junior varsity teams were determined and dedicated, earning their spot in the varsity program the following year. Despite the newfound support for a women's varsity program, the teams faced challenges—including sharing the already stretched-thin men's athletics budget. With little funding for the women's program, the team got creative with their day-to-day operations. Mullane remembers mopping the gym floors and cleaning the showers and toilets herself. Undeterred, Mullane and the women on the teams made the most of it.
1974-1975: Varsity Basketball Team. Front: Susan Dunbrack, Patsy Pyke, Cindy Britten, Wanda Williams, Cathy Fifield, Jody Hayes. Back: Wendy Purkis, Jane May, Kim Robson, Neila McCabe, Kathy Ells, Leslie Simpson, and Kathy Mullane (Coach).
While they had earned their spot at the varsity level, recruiting new students to play was also a challenge. "As a new program, it was difficult to compete in recruiting athletes with the universities that offered physical education or kinesiology," says Mullane. She recalls searching the residence halls for students interested in playing. Creatively, she also tried to recruit students from the commerce program, selling the opportunity to develop business-related skills by participating in competitive sports.
Mullane would be the university’s first full-time female coach, remaining at the university until 2011. In her 37 years at Saint Mary’s, she held various roles within the Athletics department and enjoyed many successes including leading her teams to four Atlantic Universities Athletics Association (now Atlantic University Sport) titles and being inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1998.
The 1970s marked a significant turning point for women as they forged new paths and explored areas they had always dreamed of reaching. One of Saint Mary's most notable actions during this time was developing the women's varsity athletic program, made possible by the initiative of the women who came together and formed the initial club teams, the support of the university administration, and the significant leadership and guidance of Kathy Mullane.
In 2022, the Kathy Mullane Fund for Varsity Women’s Sport was created in recognition of Mullane’s leadership at the university. The fund contributes to scholarships, coaching development and support for women interested in sports administration.
Help celebrate this momentous time by supporting women's athletics at Saint Mary's—donate to the Kathy Mullane Fund for Varsity Women's Sport.