Tennessee State Museum

Welcome to the Tennessee State Museum! Once you are upstairs in the “Tennessee Transforms” exhibit, you’ll see several cases of sports memorabilia. One contains Pat Summitt’s blue shirt and trademark orange sweater vest, as well as her varsity letter from Cheatham Co. Central High School. Now look for a strange-looking statue with two figures standing on a rock with one holding a scroll. This is the 1957 International Basketball Federation World Championship trophy. Held in Brazil, the US women’s basketball team defeated the Soviet Union to win the championship. The team was coached by NBC’s John Head, and five of the players were from Nashville Business College, including superstar Nera White. Now exit “Tennessee Transforms” and walk across the hall toward the 1920s Marathon Motor car. Here you’ll see Marguerite Gaut’s championship trophy from the 1921 Women’s Southern Golf Association.

How did women’s sports like golf, track, and basketball breakthrough in pre-Title IX Tennessee? It goes all the way back to the New South and Progressive Eras, which began after the Civil War. In Nashville this included the establishment of many new educational institutions from 1865 to 1915. Some were co-educational like Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities, others all-female like Ward-Belmont School. These schools encouraged good health and physical fitness. As a result, college sports like football exploded, and women’s sports also became very popular. But in the 1920s, it was decided that interscholastic competition was “unladylike” and could even threaten a woman’s ability to have children. In 1926, Tennessee followed the lead of other states and eliminated women's varsity team sports.

Things started to change after World War II. Non-traditional schools, like Nashville Business College, fielded teams because there were so many good female athletes with nowhere to play after high school. Another Nashville team also benefited from post-WWII social reform movements—let’s head to our next stop and hear about the amazing TSU Tigerbelles.

Exit the parking lot by turning RIGHT onto Rosa L. Parks Blvd. Turn LEFT onto Jefferson St. and continue there for about 1.5 miles. Take our Jefferson Street Driving Tour to learn about the historic African American neighborhood that you are passing. Once you reach Twenty-Eighth Ave. N, turn RIGHT and it actually becomes Ed Temple Blvd! Then turn LEFT onto Dr. Walter S. Davis Blvd. to drive along the north edge of the TSU campus. Enter the campus by turning LEFT at the marquee sign and follow the drive to park near Olympic Plaza.