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UH sports gender equity pioneer Donnis Thompson dies

By Star-Bulletin staff and news services

POSTED: 07:39 p.m. HST, Feb 02, 2009

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Former University of Hawaii women’s director of athletics Dr. Donnis Thompson died today at Leahi Hospital. She was 75.

 

Thompson was UH’s first women’s track and field coach and oversaw the commencement and growth of the women’s intercollegiate athletics program as it’s first athletic director.

 

A prominent figure in the world of U.S. women’s track and field, Thompson arrived in Manoa to start the women’s track and field program in 1961. She coached the team for three years and returned to the islands after receiving her doctorate of education degree to head the women’s athletics program in 1972, the year Title IX began, and served in that capacity until 1981.

 

For the first four years as women’s AD, her duties were divided between directing the intercollegiate program and instructing physical education classes.

 

During her nine-year tenure, Thompson increased the number of women’s sports programs from two to eight, the number of women’s athletic scholarships from a handful to 30, and enhanced the women’s athletics program into the national spotlight.

 

In 1976, she spearheaded a committee that brought national women’s volleyball powerhouse UCLA to Hawai‘i to play the Rainbow Wahine in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,813 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena. A year later, she was instrumental in bringing the AIAW National Golf Tournament to Hawaii, and since 1981, the Rainbow Wahine golf program hosts the Dr. Donnis Thompson Golf Invitational at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course.

 

"We are so grateful to her," said UH associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano, a former Rainbow Wahine volleyball player. "A thousand Rainbow Wahine have had the opportunity and privilege to represent the university."


Thompson was inducted into the school’s Sports Circle of Honor in 1988 and the Hawaii Sports Hall of Honor in 2007. In October 2007, a sculpture in her honor was erected on the UH campus and sits at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

 


Former University of Hawaii women’s director of athletics Dr. Donnis Thompson died today at Leahi Hospital. She was 75.

 

Thompson was UH’s first women’s track and field coach and oversaw the commencement and growth of the women’s intercollegiate athletics program as it’s first athletic director.

 

A prominent figure in the world of U.S. women’s track and field, Thompson arrived in Manoa to start the women’s track and field program in 1961. She coached the team for three years and returned to the islands after receiving her doctorate of education degree to head the women’s athletics program in 1972, the year Title IX began, and served in that capacity until 1981.

 

For the first four years as women’s AD, her duties were divided between directing the intercollegiate program and instructing physical education classes.

 

During her nine-year tenure, Thompson increased the number of women’s sports programs from two to eight, the number of women’s athletic scholarships from a handful to 30, and enhanced the women’s athletics program into the national spotlight.

 

In 1976, she spearheaded a committee that brought national women’s volleyball powerhouse UCLA to Hawai‘i to play the Rainbow Wahine in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,813 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena. A year later, she was instrumental in bringing the AIAW National Golf Tournament to Hawaii, and since 1981, the Rainbow Wahine golf program hosts the Dr. Donnis Thompson Golf Invitational at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course.

 

"We are so grateful to her," said UH associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano, a former Rainbow Wahine volleyball player. "A thousand Rainbow Wahine have had the opportunity and privilege to represent the university."


Thompson was inducted into the school’s Sports Circle of Honor in 1988 and the Hawaii Sports Hall of Honor in 2007. In October 2007, a sculpture in her honor was erected on the UH campus and sits at the Stan Sheriff Center.

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