The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...

and initially supported by Olympic athletes

Donna de Varona Donna de Varona Pinto (née Donna Elizabeth de Varona; born April 26, 1947) is an American former swimmer, Olympic champion, activist, and television sportscaster. Biography Swimming career de Varona attended Santa Clara High School, whose sw ...

and Suzy Chaffee, its stated mission statement is "To advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity."

History

The Women's Sports Foundation was legally set up in 1974 by

, her business manager Jim Jorgensen, and her then-husband

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

. The Foundation was originally supported by Olympic swimmer

and Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee. In 1972 and in 1973 King was awarded the Bob Hope Cavalcade of Sports for the "Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year". In 1974, she donated her winnings of $5,000 to incorporate the Women's Sports Foundation. Simultaneously, she started a new magazine titled '' womenSports''. The WSF began its multi-sport emphasis at the 1975 ABC TV show Women's Superstars which was held at the Houston

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated around 50,000 fans, with a record atte ...

. It was there that

working as an ABC Billie Jean King invited the women athlete contestants to join in on the effort. For ten years, from 1976 to 1986, under the direction of Executive Director, Eva Auchincloss and Associate Director Holly Turner and the Chairwoman Billie Jean King, the Board of Trustees was expanded to include Olympian Peggy Fleming, ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

'' creator Charles M. Schulz, and Vice-President of Bristol-Myers Marvin Koslow,

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

, CEO of Colgate Palmolive. In 1979, Donna de Varona was appointed the first president of the Foundation. Under the leadership of Executive Director Eva Auchincloss and her team, the foundation grew from an organization with $500 in the bank to one with a $1M endowment and an operating budget of $1M. In 1990, in recognition of King's long standing efforts to promote the rights of women, ''Life'' magazine named her one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century", in part because of her promotion of sports for women such as the Women's Sports Foundation. Women's Sports Foundation advocates equal opportunity for girls and women's sports in the United States and around the world. Past presidents include Donna de Varona, Carol Mann, Lyn St. James, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Wendy Hilliard, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley,

Nancy Lieberman Nancy Ilizabeth Lieberman (born July 1, 1958), nicknamed "Lady Magic", is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) who is currently a broadcaster for the Oklahoma City Thun ...

, Julie Foudy, Dawn Riley, Dominique Dawes,

Aimee Mullins Aimee Mullins (born 1976) is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs beneath the knee. She is the first amputee to compete against nondisabled at ...

, Jessica Mendoza,

Laila Ali Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the World Boxing Council, WBC, Women's ...

Angela Ruggiero Angela Marie Ruggiero (born January 3, 1980) is an American former ice hockey Defenceman (ice hockey), defenseman, gold medalist, and four-time Olympian. She was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018 and served as a ...

, Angela Hucles, Grete Eliassen, Elana Meyers Taylor, Alana Nichols, and Phaidra Knight. The current president is Meghan Duggan and the current Board of Trustees Chair is Sandra Vivas. A statement by 16 women's rights organizations including the Women's Sports Foundation, the National Women's Law Center, the National Women's Political Caucus, Girls, Inc.,

Legal Momentum Legal Momentum, founded in 1970, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the nation's first and longest-serving legal advocacy group for women in the United States. Betty Friedan and Muriel Fox were its co-founders and Muriel Fox is an ongoing leader of th ...

, End Rape on Campus, the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...

and Equal Rights Advocates said that, "as organizations that fight every day for equal opportunities for all women and girls, we speak from experience and expertise when we say that nondiscrimination protections for transgender people—including women and girls who are transgender—are not at odds with women’s equality or well-being, but advance them" and that "we support laws and policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, including in participation in sports, and reject the suggestion that cisgender women and girls benefit from the exclusion of women and girls who happen to be transgender."

Initial goals

The main goal of the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) was to educate women and the general public. The WSF mainly wanted to educate with respect to the idea of women in sports and the ongoing discrimination against women in sports. The WSF also wanted to normalize the female athlete's capabilities and achievements on the same playing field as men. Promoting equal rights and opportunities for female athletes was a big issue that the WSF really pushed. Once this issue started to resolved, more women participating in sports became a popular trend. This was a trend that lead to an important subject for feminist attention because sports helped these women shape their own, personal identities. The WSF also wanted to support women in their athletic good sportsmanship and keep encouraging fair play in the sports world. However, most importantly, the WSF really encouraged and supported the participation of women in sports for their overall health, enjoyment, and future career opportunities.

Current initiatives and programs

Sports 4 Life: In October 2014, the Women's Sports Foundation, with support from espnW, launched Sports 4 Life, a national effort to increase the participation and retention of African-American and Hispanic girls, ages 11–18, in developmental youth sports programs. Through education, public awareness and grants to organizations nationwide, Sports 4 Life seeks to effect sustainable improvement to the overall health and development of girls in these communities. The Travel & Training Fund: The WSF was the first—and only—charitable organization to offer grants to aspiring women athletes with elite potential when it established the grant almost 30 years ago. The Travel & Training Fund provides direct financial assistance to aspiring athletes – in individual and team sports. Travel & Training grants allow serious female athletes a chance to fulfill their potential on the regional, national or international level through assistance for coaching, specialized training, equipment, athletic attire, and/or travel. Since 1984, WSF awarded grants to more than 1300 individual athletes and teams – including figure skaters

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...

and Rachael Flatt, diver Mary Ellen Clark, ski jumper Alissa Johnson, swimmer Mallory Weggemann and the US National Water Polo Team. The T&T Fund is supported by contributions by donors and WSF national sponsor

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

. GoGirlGo!: The WSF's GoGirlGo! works across the country to improve the health of sedentary girls and to keep girls involved in physical activity. We get girls moving not through direct service, but by supporting programs and organizations that work with girls. GoGirlGo! identifies and weaves together quality resources within each community and provides comprehensive support through education, funding, public awareness and networking. WSF Athlete Ambassador Program is another program within the Women's Sports Foundation. This program uses amateur athletes to professional athletes to work with a group. This works for players who want to serve as role models and help motivate younger players.

Partners

There are some partners with the organization. They are partners with Athleta, ESPNW, Gatorade, NBC Sports Group and Yahoo sports.

Research and Resource Center

SHARP, the Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center for Women and Girls, was established in 2010 as a new partnership between the Women's Sports Foundation and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

's School of Kinesiology and Institute for Research on Women & Gender. SHARP's mission is to lead research that enhances the scope, experience, and sustainability of participation in sport, play, and movement for women and girls. Leveraging the research leadership of the University of Michigan with the policy and programming expertise of the Women's Sports Foundation, findings from SHARP research will better inform public engagement, advocacy, and implementation to enable more women and girls to be active, healthy, and successful. The Women's Sports Foundation Library and Resource Center contains a large collection of books, magazines, articles, photographs, films, videos, and artifacts.

Outreach

The '' WomenSports'' magazine was part of the Women's Sports Foundation's outreach. It was one of the first magazines that was dedicated to women in sports that featured female athletes and highlighted their successes. The magazine served as an advertisement purpose with a close connection to

and the Women's Sports Foundation. It focused on the trends and current issues of women in sport and provided background information on certain events. The magazine ultimately folded after years of publication, despite a dedicated following.

Women's Sports Hall of Fame

In October 2006, the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) and the Sports Museum of America announced the establishment of the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center. The museum opened in May 2008 and closed in February 2009.

Award ceremonies

Annual Salute to Women in Sports

The Annual Salute to Women in Sports celebrates the achievement of female athletes across all sports. Held in October at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the Annual Salute features a cast of celebrities, champion athletes and supporters of girls and women in sports. The fundraising gala is a charitable fundraising event with proceeds benefiting the Foundation's grants, research, educational and advocacy-related programming. The

Sportswoman of the Year Award The Sportswoman of the Year Award is given by the Women's Sports Foundation every year. This foundation recognizes both an individual and a team Sportswoman on their performance over a 12-month period. This award is given based on their new records ...

- Team and Individual, the Billie Jean King Contribution Award and the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award are presented during the gala. The Sportswoman of the Year Awards are voted on by the public. Prior to its debut at Cipriani in 2011, the Annual Salute was held at the Waldorf–Astoria and

Marriott Marquis Marriott Marquis is a hotel brand owned by Marriott International and denotes flagship, large-format hotels similar to Hyatt's Hyatt Regency brand. Notable hotels using this branding include: United States * New York Marriott Marquis in Times Squar ...

hotels in New York City.

Wilma Rudolph Courage Award

* 1996: Jackie Joyner-Kersee * 1997:

Silken Laumann Silken Suzette Laumann, (born November 14, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian champion rowing (sport), rower. Life and career Laumann was born in Toronto Township, Ontario, Toronto Township, Ontario, now Mississauga. Starting in 1976, Laumann won ...

* 1998: Willye White * 1999:

Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was ...

* 2000:

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...

* 2001:

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, soccer player who starred in the FIFA Women's World Cup 1991, 1991 and FIFA Women's World Cup 1999, 1999 Women's World Cup and Footbal ...

* 2002: Candace Cable * 2003: Kelly Sutton * 2004: Julie Krone * 2005: Yuliana Perez * 2006: Jean Driscoll * 2007: 2006-07 Rutger's Women's Basketball Team * 2008: Patience Knight * 2009: Tiffara Steward * 2010: Amy Palmiero-WintersHock, Lindsay
2010 Annual Salute to Women in Sports
. WSF official website. Retrieved 2010-10-15. * 2011: Visa Women's Ski Jumping Team * 2012: Kayla Harrison * 2013: Melissa Stockwell * 2014: Noelle Pikus-Pace * 2015: Tatyana McFadden * 2016:

Maria Toorpakai Wazir Maria Toorpakai Wazir (; ; born November 22, 1990, in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) is a professional Pakistani squash player. She dressed like a boy for the first 16 years of her life in order to participate in competitive sports as a Muslim girl, ...

* 2017: 2017 United States women's national ice hockey team * 2018:

Caster Semenya Caster Semenya Order of Ikhamanga, OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic medal, Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, World Championships in the women's 800 metres ...

* 2019: Marta Vieira da Silva * 2020: WNBA players * 2021:

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...

* 2022: Elana Meyers Taylor * 2023: Rosalie Fish

ANNIKA Inspiration Award

*2010: Caitlin Baker *2011: Winter Vinecki *2012: Lianna Thomas *2013: Vivian Hao

Yolanda L. Jackson Give Back Award

*2010:

*2011: Heather O'Reilly *2012: Sarah Hughes *2013: Lyn-z Adams Hawkins Pastrana *2014: Angela Hucles *2015: Elena Hight *2016: Sasha DiGiulian *2017: Phaidra Knight *2017: Esther Lofgren *2017:

Brenda Villa Brenda Villa (born April 18, 1980) is an American accomplished water polo player. She is the most decorated athlete in the world of women’s water polo. Villa was named Female Water Polo Player of the Decade for 2000-2009 by the FINA Aquatics Wo ...

Darlene Kluka Award

*2001: Barbara L. Drinkwater *2003: Mary Jo Kane *2005: Kari Fasting *2006: Gertrud Pfister *2007: Celia Brackenridge *2008: Ellen Staurowsky *2009: Anneliese Goslin *2010: Don Sabo *2011: Carole Oglesby *2012: Vivian Acosta & Linda Carpenter *2017: Maria Beatriz Rocha Ferreira

The Billie Awards

The Billie Awards (also known as ''The Billies'') was an annual awards ceremony in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, first held by the

Women's Sports Foundation The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player Billie Jean King and initially supported by Olympic athletes Donna de Varona and Suzy Chaffee ...

in 2006.

Flo Hyman Award

The Flo Hyman Memorial Award was conferred annually between

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and 2004.

International Women's Sports Hall of Fame

The International Women's Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1980, to give recognition to female

athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

who have made history in women's sports. The International Women's Sports Hall of Fame recognizes the athletic achievements of those who have competed at least 25 years prior to the present year in the Pioneer category. Athletes whose accomplishments came within the past 25 years are inducted into the Contemporary category. Selections are made worldwide and are based on achievements, breakthroughs, innovative style and ongoing commitment to the development of women's sports.International Women's Sports Hall of Fame
webpage. Women's Sports Foundation official website. Retrieved 2013-5-3.

Similar charities

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...

* PeacePlayers International * Achilles International

Notes

External links

{{Authority control Sports awards honoring women Sports organizations established in 1974 Women's sports organizations Women's sports in the United States Sports foundations based in the United States Women's association football trophies and awards