Frances Baker: Women’s Athletics During the Jazz Age

A 1918 edition of the Marquette Tribune said it best: What about female athletics? In the years following World War I, physical education for women was increasingly recognized as a healthy and beneficial endeavor. By the early 1920s the university offered instruction in golf, volleyball, basketball and hockey. Students also had access to a swimming pool at the Knights of Columbus and an ice rink near the new Clybourn Street Gymnasium.

Baker organized the Women’s Athletic Association at Marquette.

Frances Baker energized the campus when she arrived in 1924 as Marquette’s first women’s athletic director. A Barnard College graduate and an experienced coach, Baker taught physical education courses and organized women’s teams. She encouraged all women to consider athletics. Baker told the Marquette Tribune she wanted “everyone to come out and make coed athletics interesting to the whole university.” Women’s teams formed in soccer, basketball and track.

During her first semester, Baker organized the Women’s Athletic Association at Marquette. The purpose of the WAA was to sponsor all women’s sports and promote the lively spirit of leadership, sportsmanship and loyalty among its members. In 1926, the WAA became affiliated with the American Conference of Athletic College Women, all thanks to Baker. Women’s athletics remained popular in the decades between the world wars.

Baker stepped down from her post in 1926, but her impact on Marquette women’s athletics has not been forgotten. Her determination and success in the formation of the WAA and sports teams forever changed Marquette women’s athletics.

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