Elaine Coll

Founder of Ripon College’s women’s athletics program

Elaine Meador Coll was hired in 1973 as the first coach of the modern-day women’s intercollegiate athletic program at Ripon College.

She was born in 1943 in Akron, Ohio, and received her undergraduate degree in physical education from Ohio University and later a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University.

During her 20-year career at Ripon College, she organized and coached women’s volleyball, basketball and track and field teams until her retirement in 1993. Those teams won 10 conference championships. Her combined basketball and volleyball record is 391-326. She coached two All-Americans and 60 All-Conference players. She is a member of the Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame.

After the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex or gender, the door was opened for women’s athletic competition at colleges and universities, including Ripon College.

“Women’s sports were not on most peoples’ radars in 1972,” she said, “until Title IX was passed. Coaching as a career was always a dream of mine but because there were no women coaches or varsity women’s athletics, it was a far-off dream. Teaching physical education and dance was the closest a woman could come to being involved with collegiate sports and the feel of movement, and that’s what I prepared myself to do with my life. But with the passage of Title IX, something that was not possible was all of a sudden a reality.

“It was so fun,” she said. “It was all new. I found women just wanted to be on the field and court and play. As time passed, players, of course, became more confident, assertive and successful. The act of competing seemed to make them more mature in many ways.” Of course, it took time to insert the new women’s athletic program into the existing structure of sports at Ripon College, but that was accomplished, too.

Whenever any of her players showed a lack of motivation, she would ask, “‘How many of your mothers got to play on a college team, or on any team?’ They would stop and think about what Title IX had given them, and they responded accordingly.”

When Ripon College awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2016, the Commencement theme was “Women, Athletes and Coaches: A Half-Century of Progress.” In introductory remarks, then-Ripon College President Zach Messitte said, “Elaine Coll is part of the fabric of Ripon College and a pioneer in NCAA Division III athletics.”