Women's Sports History Driving

When it comes to women’s sports, most people know the name Pat Summitt—the girl who grew up in Ashland City, played college basketball at UT-Martin, and spent 38 years in Knoxville as the legendary coach of the Lady Vols. Pat touched every region of our state, and we’ll tell her story on several tour stops. But Pat was also part of something bigger—she helped make Tennessee a place that celebrates women’s sports. On this tour you’ll learn about coaches, athletes, and leaders who helped expand women’s sports in Tennessee. This includes swimming phenoms Tracy Caulkins Stockwell and Alex Walsh, world-class sprinters Wilma Rudolph and Chandra Cheeseborough, and don’t forget about Sarah Fuller—the Vanderbilt soccer star who became the first woman to score in a Power 5 football game. 

In large part, we have Title IX to thank for the growth of women’s sports over the last 50 years. As tennis and sports icon Billie Jean King said: “Modern women’s sports were born in 1972 with the passage of Title IX.” We’ll also highlight important moments before Title IX like the first women’s basketball game held at Vanderbilt in 1897, the TSU Tigerbelles, and the Nashville Business College women’s basketball team that won eight straight national championships from 1962-68. And while we don’t expect you to crisscross the state, this tour extends beyond Nashville with narrated stops for other cities like Memphis, Clarksville, and Knoxville that you can access virtually.

Hello, I’m Renee Schultz! I first came to Nashville in 1998 to play women’s soccer at Belmont University, and I have been the Associate Athletic Director at Belmont since 2016. This tour was written by Jessica Reeves, a public historian with the Nashville Historical Foundation and Mary Ellen Pethel, author of Title IX Pat Summitt, and Tennessee’s Trailblazers: 50 Years, 50 Stories. Belmont Honors students also assisted with records and images. 

As a reminder, this is a driving tour and you should not use your phone while driving. For each stop, you can listen from your car or get out, walk around, and enter athletic facilities and venues if open to the public. Directions and parking options are provided at the end of each stop. You can also take this tour virtually from your home or hotel room. We’d love for you to take pictures and tag us on social media @NashvilleSites. So crank up your car and let’s get started!

The tour begins at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, located in Bridgestone Arena. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 to 4. Visitors should enter the Hall of Fame through the Music City Visitor Center, located at the corner of Rep. John Lewis Way and Broadway. There are multiple paid parking options around Bridgestone, including garages at Music City Center and Fifth and Broadway, and the First Baptist surface lot at 6th and Demonbreun.