If You Can't Join Them, Support Them!

Women did not have the opportunities to play sports when they first came to Beloit. Men’s sports were huge at the time, so women devoted their time to supporting them. They came out to sporting events to cheer their teams, even out-of-town events. They also raised money for the athletics department.

Sophomore women and men pose after the 1910 Cane Rush.

Sophomore women cheer their men classmates on behind a safety rope at the 1911 Cane Rush.

From left to right: Edna Amborn, Hazel Fuller, Vera Smith, Elizabeth Wicham, Laura Nye, Gertrude Chesborough, Gladys Gregory Martin, Cordelia Emerson, Chrissie Crawford, Winifred Bares, Mary Brittain, Louise Pierce, Gertrude Taylore, Eleanor Eakin, Edna Thompson, Gertrude Blazer

Freshman women watching the Cane Rush from behind the safety rope.

Sophomore women leading a procession at the start of the 1913 Cane Rush.

The Cane Rush was an annual competition between freshman and sophomore men, with the sophomores trying to break the canes the freshman held. It was an extremely popular event, but women were not allowed to participate because of how physically violent it was. Instead, the women of each class would coordinate their clothes and support the rival teams. They cheered winning classmates on and consoled those who lost. They were even dedicated enough to cheer them on during snowstorms!

Football coach H.G. Wells tried to reassure them of the importance of their support in a letter he wrote to the women students, but women continued to feel excluded for years to come.

Women’s thoughts on sports were often decided for them. When a proposal to allocate more funds to the athletics department appeared, the school paper The Round Table claimed that “women are no less enthusiastic than the young men” and that, while they cannot play sports, they are “glad to play their part in this way [cheering men on, raising money].” Yet, at the same time, men claimed women lacked enthusiasm for sports.