Marlene Mawson, often called the “Mother of KU Women’s Athletics,” will be inducted into the Kansas University Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday, part of a celebration of 40 years of women’s athletics at KU.
The induction will take place at a dinner prior to the KU women’s basketball game against Nebraska. In addition to the dinner and the game, the weekend celebration includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house at KU’s new boathouse in Burcham Park. That ceremony takes place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
KU appointed Mawson to a full-time physical education faculty position beginning in 1968, with the added responsibility of initiating an intercollegiate women’s sports program sponsored by the KU Physical Education Department. The program was begun with six sports on an annual budget of $2,000.
Mawson was a professor and administrator at KU for 22 years.
