Marilyn Thompson-A Leader in Girls' and Women's Athletics

	Marilyn Thompson, class of '69 [BA Physical Education; minor in Art], played both basketball and tennis during an era of women's athletics that was significantly different than that of today. In retrospect, the late 60's were still the pioneer days compared to today's environment for women's intercollegiate competition The Women's Athletic Association (WAA) was governed by the students and supervised by the women instructors of the Physical Education Department. The sole agent for funding was the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC). Each quarter of the school year had intercollegiate sports team competition and intramural sports competitition available to the Cal women students.
Women athletes were not allowed to practice nor play in Harmon Gymnasium, now Haas Pavilion. Basketball practices and games were played in *Hearst Gym*, Room 230, a small court with large concrete posts very close to the sidelines. The team uniforms for basketball were "whites", a shirt and shorts (checked out from the P.E. locker room supply), and a blue and gold numbered pinnie. The women's teams were not yet part of the PAC-8. Instead, competitions were on a northern California circuit, depending upon the sport. Schools included were Cal State Hayward (now CSUEB), Chico State, Mills College, San Francisco State, San Jose State, University of Santa Clara, Stanford, and UC Davis.	Marilyn at 2007 Big C Golf & Social	The Cal coaches were all members of the physical education staff. Joan Parker provided much of the leadership for women's athletics. She was the faculty advisor to the WAA as well as a coach. In the WAA, Marilyn served as treasurer in her junior year and was its president in her senior year. She will never forget the day she had to appear before the ASUC senate in her role as WAA president to make an appeal for the next year's budget allocation. The university was already in the throes of slighting traditional activities in lieu of more radical third world interests. The previous budget had been $1,000. Joan Parker told Marilyn to ask for $2,000…a 100 percent increase! Despite some trepidation on Marilyn's part, she was able to convince the senate of the need for the money. The $2,000 was granted!
Marilyn is very appreciative of her experiences playing sports for Cal and leading the WAA during turbulent times. She gained life-long skills, a vision for excellence, and a strong desire for the inclusion of women into sporting activities that guided her through a 36 year career teaching secondary physical education, art, and coaching basketball, track and field, and volleyball. Early in her career, she started girls' basketball teams at every school in which she taught! Throughout her career, she was always creating new opportunities for students to participate in sports every chance she got. More recently, Marilyn provided the leadership to revolutionize the physical education curriculum at Piedmont Middle School, Piedmont, California to place a heavy emphasis on lifetime sports. Instruction in more than 30 sports is now provided to students throughout grades six, seven, and eight. Her goal as a teacher always was that each student would discover at least one sport he or she would want to pursue throughout life. She enjoys playing tennis, golf, hiking, downhill skiing, trout fishing, and travel. She recently retired from her education career and is now pursuing another passion: nature and landscape photography. As a professional photographer, she can now be found capturing some of the most beautiful landscapes throughout the West and the world!
	Marilyn Thompson, was inducted into the Piedmont Sports Hall of Fame on Friday evening, May 9, 2008. She was recognized as an outstanding physical education teacher who helped develop numerous sports as regularly offered Physical Education classes. She coached basketball and volleyball. Marilyn helped bring women's sports into the high school mainstream. Mary Dresel, a long-time friend and colleague, introduced Marilyn at the dinner/ceremony which took place at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, California.