Constance Mary Katherine Applebee (June 4, 1873,

Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the London U ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

– January 26, 1981) is best known for introducing Field hockey in the United States. She was a co-founder of the American Field Hockey Association and served as its head for 20 years. She also founded Sportswoman magazine and was the athletic director at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

for 24 years. Applebee graduated from the British College of Physical Education in 1899. In 1901, she came to America and took a course in

anthropometry Anthropometry () refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthropology and in various atte ...

Dudley Allen Sargent Dudley Allen Sargent (September 29, 1849 – July 21, 1924) was a United States educator, lecturer and director of physical training. Biography Dudley Allen Sargent was born in Belfast, Maine on September 29, 1849, the son of a ship carpenter and ...

's Summer School of Physical Training at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. After a discussion among her classmates and instructors regarding the British sport of field hockey, she took them to a courtyard behind the Harvard gymnasium and gave a demonstration of the game. In the autumn of 1901 she embarked on a tour of women's colleges in the northeastern United States, introducing field hockey and giving coaching and instruction regarding the sport to the students and faculty at each stop. She was invited to

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

by Harriet Ballintine, the school's athletic director, and also visited

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, and Wheaton Female Seminary. She made return visits to each of those schools and the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics to coach field hockey through the spring of 1904. In 1904 she was hired as full-time athletic director at Bryn Mawr College, where she served in that capacity through 1928. In September 1922, Applebee established an annual three-week camp for intensive field hockey instruction at

Mount Pocono Mount Pocono is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. It is located nearly centered in the southernmost county of five in the northeastern corner that are part of the Pocono Mountains. The ...

, Pennsylvania, on the grounds of Camp Tegawitha. The camp was in business for more than 70 years before finally closing after the 1994 season. In 1924 she founded The Sportswoman, initially a field hockey magazine that eventually focused on all women's sports She was more commonly known by her

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

, "The Apple", and on January 26, 1981, she died at 107 at a

New Milton New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away. History Ne ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England nursing home. She is buried at St John the Baptist Church at Burley in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

. As well as a grave she is commemorated within the church in one of the stained glass windows. She was also active in establishing lacrosse as a women's sport in the United States of America. The U. S. Women's Lacrosse Association was founded at her camp in the summer of 1931. The USWLA governed the sport on the collegiate and club levels until 1981, when the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

inaugurated its national championship tournament for women. Applebee was inducted into the

International Women's Sports Hall of Fame This is a list of female sports athletes who have been inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, which recognizes the athletic and coaching achievements of women. Selections are made worldwide and are based on achievements, brea ...

in 1991.

References

Further reading