The First, But Not the Last: Trailblazing Women in Sports

The firsT, buT noT The lasT:

trailBlazing Women in sPorts

There are so many trailblazing women in sports that there is no way we could list them all here. A few notable names that belong alongside Toni Stone’s as women who broke the glass ceiling in the world of sports.

Ryneldi Becenti. Photo Credit: Associated Press

Ryneldi Becenti - In 1997,

Becenti became the first American Indian woman to play in the WNBA. Becenti was also the first woman inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.

Serena Williams - One of the most formidable athletes of all-time, Serena Williams has won numerous championships, come back to the tennis court as a mother, continued playing into her late 30s, and been an activist and advocate for women of color in sports.

Kathryn Smith - Hired in 2016 by the Buffalo Bills, Smith was the first full-time female coach in the NFL.

Janet Guthrie - Guthrie was the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 in 1977.

Althea Gibson - The first Black player to play at Wimbledon in 1956, Gibson won the tournament the following year.

Manon Rhéume - In 1992, she became the first woman to play in any of the major four American sports leagues when she played an NHL pre-season game for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Alice Coachman - Coachman was the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the high jump in 1948.

Florence Griffith

Joyner - Considered the fastest woman of all-time, “FloJo” set records and won medals as a sports icon in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.

Florence Griffith Joyner. Photo Credit: Essence.

Billie Jean King - King fought for equal pay for women in tennis, but is most famously known for owning Bobby Riggs in the infamous “Battle of the Sexes,” disproving his claim that women’s tennis was subpar to men’s tennis.

Wilma Rudolph - Her successes at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics made her an international icon and raised the clout of track and field in the United States.

Babe Didrikson

Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Photo credit: Olympic.org.

Zaharias - In 1938, she was the first woman to appear in a PGA event. She was also an accomplished athlete in baseball, boxing, track, tennis, swimming, and basketball. Didrikson Zaharias was selected the best female athlete of the first half of the 20th century by the Associated Press.

Victoria Roche - Roche was

the first girl to play in the Little League World Series in 1984.

Victoria Roche. Photo credit: Little League Baseball.

Nancy Lieberman - At the age of 17 she made the U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1976 and in 1986 she became the first woman in a men’s pro league with the Springfield Fame of the United States Basketball League.

Steffi Graf - Graf is the only tennis player to ever achieve a Golden Slam in history, winning all four Grand Slam tennis titles and an Olympic medal in the same calendar year at only nineteen years old.

Sarah Attar. Photo credit: Associated Press. Sarah Attar - In 2012, Attar was the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in track and field at the Olympics.

Ronda Rousey - The MMA superstar began her career as an Olympian in judo, and then transitioned to Mixed Martial Arts where she dominated the traditionally male-oriented sport.

Kathrine Switzer - Switzer was the first woman to “officially” run the Boston Marathon in 1967, although Roberta Gibbs had done it the previous year by jumping out of the bushes and onto the race route.

Chantal Petitclerc - Canada’s Petitclerc dominated the wheelchair racing competitions at multiple Paralympic Games, sweeping all races in back-to-back games in 2004 and 2008, at the ages of 34 and 38.

Trischa Zorn - Zorn won an unprecedented 46 Paralympic medals, in various swimming events between the years of 1980 and 2004. 32 of those medals were gold. Her total medal count is eighteen more than the winningest Olympian, Michael Phelps.

Trischa Zorn. Photo credit: International Paralympic Committee.

Mianne Bagger - Bagger, a Danish professional golfer, was only the second transgender woman to be accepted into a professional competition, playing in the 2004 Ladies European Tour.

Bianca Smith. Photo credit: Boston Globe. Bianca Smith - Hired in early 2021, Smith is the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball for a Red Sox minor league team.

Ibithaj Muhammad. Photo credit: Time. first American woman to compete at the Olympics while wearing a hijab, Muhammad won bronze in Women’s Individual Sabre fencing in 2016.

Dara Torres - Torres was the first Olympic swimmer to represent the U.S. in five Olympic games and at 41, was the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the team.

Viridiana Álvarez

Chávez - An accomplished Mexican mountain climber, Chávez climbed three of the world’s tallest mountains in under a year, placing her in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Viridiana Álvarez Chávez. Photo credit: CNN.

Surya Bonaly - Bonaly was known for her acrobatic jumps and combinations during her figure skating career as well as her identity as one of the first Black skaters at her level of competition. She is the only Olympic figure skater of any gender to execute a backflip and land on one blade. Dr. Renée Richards -

Renée Richards. Photo credit: Tennis.com.

Richards is a transgender tennis player who fought for the right to play when the United States Tennis Association barred her from competing in 1976. She later became a coach to other tennis players, and coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon victories.

Victoria Manalo Draves

- The first Asian-American Olympic Champion in 1948, Manalo Draves won gold medals for both platform and springboard diving.

Victoria Manalo Draves. Photo credit: Crescenta Valley Weekly.

Michelle Kwan - Kwan is the most decorated American figure skater of all-time with five world championships, nine national championships, and two Olympic medals (silver and bronze).

Kim Ng. Photo credit: NPR. Kim Ng - Ng is the first woman to be named General Manager of a MLB franchise, the Miami Marlins.