The Birth of the Spartans

One year after the era of co-education was ushered in with the enrollment of male undergraduates in 1964, Frank Pleasants was hired to coordinate competitive athletics for male students at UNCG. Campus administrators saw a robust athletic program as a significant way of encouraging male enrollment.

UNCG men's basketball head coach Jim Swiggett

In 1966, Jim Swiggett, a highly successful coach at a nearby high school, was hired as UNCG’s first men’s basketball coach. His inaugural squad was developed from the existing student body, with open tryouts for players across campus. In October 1967, after the first two days of team practice, Swiggett reported 14 men participating in workouts. He stated, “We have some boys who have played some basketball, and some who haven’t,” adding he had “15 uniforms, and if these boys who are out want to play, we’ll carry them.”

Also in October 1967 after discussions with athletes and other students, UNCG athletic teams officially adopted the “Spartans” as their mascot. Pleasants noted they “were looking for a name which had a masculine ring, and one also which had associated with it a tradition of courage.” Additionally, they avoided duplicating names of other teams in the region, specifically veering away from “animal names,” like the Wolfpack, Catamounts, or Tigers, for that reason. Strong consideration was given to the “Generals” and the “Brigadiers” in an effort to honor Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Greene. But Pleasants noted that Greensboro’s professional hockey team at the time was named the Generals, and argued that the Brigadiers “sounded a little too jazzy.”

Brian Emerson

With a roster and mascot in place, the first Spartans squad prepared for their opening game on November 20, 1967 against the College of Charleston. Days before the game, Swiggett noted, “The spirit on the team is excellent, and we’re really looking forward to beginning intercollegiate play. But actually, I don’t really know what to expect. We want to win, but we want to look good whether we win or lose.”

While the match with Charleston was a close one, ultimately a lack of height coupled with a lack of experience resulted in a one-point loss for the Spartans (80-79). The team lost its first seven games, with five defeats by a margin four or fewer points. The Spartans earned their first win against N.C. Wesleyan at home in Coleman Gymnasium by a score of 87-65. They finished their inaugural season with a 2-11 record, and secured their spot in the history books as the first in a long tradition of UNCG Spartans.

Co-education: Through a Woman’s Eyes

This blog post was written by Brittany Hedrick, an undergraduate history department intern who worked in University Archives in Fall 2015. As part of her internship, she also conducted two oral history interviews -- one for the University Archives' Institutional Memory Project and one for the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project. 

In 1963 Woman’s College was officially renamed the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This name change correlated with the decision to make all UNC system schools co-educational. There were several reasons for this new change. Parents and prospective male students sent letters insisting admittance to the school because of financial situations. Additionally, Woman’s College enrollment continued to steadily decrease and the state could no longer afford to refuse male enrollment. The decrease in enrollment was partly due to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s decision to begin admitting women as freshmen.

Opponents to co-education felt that female enrollment would decrease due to parents sending their children elsewhere. Some opponents felt that male applicants were apt to be rejects from Chapel Hill and State. Female students were divided on the issue, and reactions were mixed. Opponents and supporters of co-education took turns painting the McIver Statue pink and blue. In December of 1988, Maynard Southern spoke to the Greensboro News and Record stating, “Some resented the decision while others were pretty receptive.” In a 2006 oral history interview, Gail Hicks Fripp (Class of 1963) recalls feeling, “It would be the end of the university as we knew it…we thought we were equal to Ivy League Sister Schools. Many women thought it was going to be the end of the world, and there was no way we could fight it…so nobody protested.” In fact, public opposition was minimal and this might be due to the fact that women during this time period often did not challenge authority. They might have felt their voices would not be heard or their opinions would not matter. Some of these women had been following orders their entire lives.

Regardless of minimal opposition on campus, a large portion of women resented the change. This opposition was especially evident through Woman’s College alumnae. The 1974 summer issue of Alumni News illuminates alumnae opposition and states that initial reaction of alumnae in regards to male admittance were feelings of betrayal; a loss of ideals for which the institution once stood. Alumnae felt the presence of male students would ruin what was once a superior woman’s college. They believed the change would result in a loss of prestige and a decrease in woman’s participation. The alumnae regarded the pre-co-education time period as the “good ol’ days” when leadership potential was easier for woman to obtain while attending Woman’s College. Women feared leadership roles would fall to men and that women would gradually fall from faculty positions. Moreover, there were fears that co-education would bring demands for Greek life and football.

Opponents suggested the institution was shifting from a superior woman’s college to a mediocre university. In a 2015 oral history interview, Dr. Sue Medley (Class of 1965) stated, “There were different reactions, some people resented—to this day—but others were more accepting and realizing the need to perhaps to make some changes, but there was a culture and an atmosphere that was lost.” An October 1963 issue of the Carolinian student newspaper even stated that women were concerned about having to put rollers in their hair at night in order to be presentable for class and feared the loss of individuality and equality.

Although there was opposition and division among the female students in regards to the new changes, an increasing number of female students preferred co-education. The trend in American higher education was toward co-education nationwide; partly a response to World War II and the introduction of the G.I. Bill. Within this national trend, some opponents even compared single-sex education to racial segregation. Ultimately, co-education, to many, was simply an economic response to falling enrollments. For the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, co-education resulted in tripling enrollment. However, many student leadership roles previously held by women were held by men after co-education.

Celebrating 50 Years of Coeducation at UNCG

On July 1, 1963, the North Carolina State Legislature officially renamed Woman’s College to The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the decision was made that all UNC system schools would now be co-educational. But male undergraduates did not immediately arrive on the Greensboro campus. Instead, it was not until the following Fall that the first male undergraduates began their studies. With the start of instruction on September 17, 1964, the UNCG undergraduate student body officially included 282 men.

A group of male undergraduates, 1964

The decision to transition from a single-sex institution to co-educational was met with mixed reactions on campus. Students were divided on the issue; they formed Pink and Blue factions, and took turns painting the McIver statue and decorating the campus in these colors to show their support of or opposition to coeducation. The Carolinian student newspaper reported the division and ultimately supported the change. Some faculty feared that women would gradually be eliminated from the faculty or reduced to low-level positions teaching introductory courses only.

Campus administrators, however, favored the change, with most of them viewing coeducation as inevitable. With over 2,000 woman already enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State building its first women’s dormitory, administrators in Greensboro saw their monopoly over female students in the state eroding. Some also hoped that being coeducational (along with having university status) would bring more equitable appropriations from legislators and the UNC system.

When the male students arrived on campus, many faced challenges with both faculty and fellow students who were not in favor of coeducation. When the town students first elected a male representative to student government, some of the female representatives walked out when he spoke and repeatedly voted down any motions he offered. In a 1991 oral history interview, Charles Cole (class of 1969) recalls professors repeatedly entering classes with the greeting, "Hello, ladies," essentially ignoring the males' presence. In fact, Cole, an African-American man, found his identity as a male a greater challenge at UNCG than his identity as an African American.

Phillips-Hawkins Residence Hall, 1968

Other challenges were even more basic to student life. The first few male students who didn't live at home had to find rooms or apartments off campus. Several occupied a converted firehouse at Mendenhall and Walker, a block from campus, that was billed as the "first men's dorm." From 1965 to 1967, men were housed in three small apartment buildings adjacent to campus (but owned by the university). No on-campus dormitory housing was offered for male students until Phillips Residence Hall was completed in 1967 (the adjacent Hawkins Residence Hall was occupied by female students).

A 1966 Alumni News article quoted Michael Dean Daniels (class of 1968) discussing a whole different problem. "I have opened a door for a girl, only to stand for five minutes while fifty or sixty girls stream through," said Daniels. "Each one usually expresses a word of thanks, but these words don't help much when I try to tell my English professor that I was late to class because I was held up by a doorknob."

1967 actually saw a number of changes for the male students at UNCG. In addition to the construction of Phillips dormitory, UNCG officially began its first venture in men's intercollegiate athletics. Athletic Coordinator Frank Pleasants hired three new "instructor-coaches" to "guide the school through its first season of competition." James R. Swiggett was hired to coach basketball and golf, John Douglas directed wrestling and tennis, and William L. Russell, Jr. was named director of volleyball and intramural events. In addition, Douglas and Russell shared responsibility for cross country competition.

Lindsay Lamson, first male SGA president

The following years saw male undergraduates move into many of the high-profile student organization positions at UNCG. Lindsay Lamson became the first male Student Government Association president in 1969-1970. Jack Pinnix was the first male editor of the Carolinian in 1968-1969. And by 1973, according to an article in the Alumni News, "the presence of a number of male senators and representatives at Student Legislature meetings has become quite commonplace."

The same 1973 Alumni News article, written by David B. McDonald (class of 1971), concludes that "there is hardly any aspect of University life that has not been affected by the presence of men on campus ... The male entering this University today can be assured not only of receiving a superb education but also of having opportunities for full participation in sports and other extra-curricular activities, and for a most interesting social life." From 282 in 1964 (6.6% of the total student body) to 3,217 in 1980 (31% of the total student body), the undergraduate male enrollment saw steady growth -- even with a rocky start -- through the first 15 years of coeducation.

1932: The Year of the Co-eds at Woman's College

Until it was made co-educational in 1964, Woman’s College (now UNCG) was pretty clear in the fact that it was a single-gender institution. Male students were allowed to enroll in summer school courses and graduate programs (at least until the 1950s and 1960s when the UNC system asserted limitations over male enrollment at the school), but they did so in small numbers. Undergraduate education, however, remained reserved for women only - with a single exception.

The Men of 1932: Undergraduate male students at Woman's College

During the 1932-1933 academic year, President Julius Foust decided to allow young men from the Greensboro area to enroll at WC. Parents and the young men themselves petitioned for admittance, citing dire financial constraints due to the Great Depression. Were they not allowed to attend WC, they might not be able to enroll in college at all that year.

In total 80 men enrolled at WC that year (48 freshman, 21 sophomores, two juniors, and nine others). With the exception of a hygiene course, these co-eds took the same courses as the female students. While they represented only a tiny fraction of the 1,556 students enrolled at the college at the time, these men met resistance upon their arrival. An October 13, 1932 letter to the editor in The Carolinian argued that the men were “so abominably conceited.” They weren’t allowed to wear their own swimsuits for gym classes; instead, they were required to wear the same baggy tank suits used by the women. 

The men did adapt to life at the Woman’s College, however. They founded their own Men’s Association, formed for the purpose of “dealing with campus problems and administrative relations peculiar to the men students.” Wyatt Taylor, a former standout basketball player at the University of Texas who was serving at the time as a swimming instructor at the local YMCA, was hired to manage an athletic program for these men.

Officers of the 1932-33 Men's Association at Woman's College

Part of the athletic program included an intercollegiate basketball team, known as the Tom Cats. Games were scheduled against Elon, High Point, Guilford College, and other nearby institutions. In January 1933, the team scored its first victory, with a 14-11 win over Liberty. The Carolinian noted that the team was “starting off well, and when they get in condition they are due to show the college some real basketball.” A swimming team and a football team were also developed for competition against local schools.

Although the Pine Needles yearbook stated that “it is believed now that co-education will be a permanent fixture on campus,” the experiment with co-education at the WC lasted only a single year. Indeed, president Foust strongly advocated for co-education. In a September 1933 letter to Frank Porter Graham, president of The University of North Carolina system, he wrote, “we can not justify from the standpoint of justice, right and consistency, the admission of girls to the Chapel Hill and Raleigh units without extending the same privilege to boys at the Greensboro unit.” Ultimately, however, the undergraduate population remained reserved for women until the institution officially admitted men to classes in the Fall of 1964.