Most impressive win in Norse sports history? This happened 44 years ago — NKU defeats Ohio State
One of the most overlooked events in the history of Northern Kentucky University sports history occurred on Oct. 23, 1979.
On that chilly Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, the NKU volleyball team knocked off a powerful Ohio State squad in five sets. The Norsewomen, coached by Jane Meier (née Scheper), pulled out a thriller on the road against the Buckeyes by scores of 15-8, 12-15, 15-4, 9-15, 15-12.
This is an Ohio State squad that would finish 37-14 in 1979 and sixth nationally in the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Tournament. The Buckeyes of head coach Sue Collins also won state and regional championships that season en route to the national finals.
At that time, women’s collegiate sports competed in the AIAW, while the NCAA only sponsored championships for men’s sports.
NKU won the 1978 KWIC championship by defeating Kentucky, 10-15, 15-11, 15-9, 15-9. The Norsewomen advanced to the AIAW Southern Region II Tournament at Durham, N.C., and knocked off South Carolina, North Carolina (twice), Duke and North Carolina State.
NKU finished as runner-up after a loss to Kentucky and earned a berth in the AIAW national finals at Tuscaloosa, Ala. NKU posted a 40-21 record in 1978.
The Norsewomen entered the 1979 campaign having to replace most valuable player Peggy Ludwig and star attacker Julee Hill, a pair of stalwarts who were later inducted into the school’s David Lee Holt NKU Hall of Fame. NKU also faced one of the most demanding schedules in the program’s history.
The team responded by winning its third consecutive KWIC championship, advanced to the AIAW Southern Regional and finished with a 23-15 record. In addition, NKU defeated both Duke and Tennessee three days prior to winning at Ohio State. The Norsewomen also knocked off programs such as Marquette, Kentucky, Louisville, South Carolina, Cincinnati and Clemson that season.
“What is so incredible is that the entire team members were local, from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati public and private schools,” Meier said, recalling the 1979 NKU volleyball team.
Members of that 1979 squad included Nancy Berger, Karen Bieger-Finan, Stephanie Brumback, Jeanne Ell-Melvin, Anita Epperly, Ceal Franz, Kim Gunning, Deb Hurley-Ogden, Amy Klopp-Hoffman, Connie Schultz-Cutter, Julie Thoman-Perry, Sandi Woeste-Kitchen and Nancy Tepe.
Northern Kentucky State College’s volleyball program made its debut as a varsity program in 1975 under head coach Marilyn Moore (née Scroggin) and immediately became a factor in the small-college division of the AIAW.
In 1976, NKU posted a 22-10 record in just its second year of play and finished second at the Kentucky Women’s Intercollegiate Conference small-college tournament.
After spending two years in the small-college division of the AIAW, NKU moved up to the major-college level in 1977. The Norsewomen responded by posting a 41-15 record — capturing both the KWIC and AIAW Southern Region II championships — and advancing to the national finals at Provo, Utah.
DID YOU KNOW?: One of the founding fathers of then-Northern Kentucky State College, Dr. James Claypool, was a major behind-the-scenes factor in the implementation of the athletics program in the early 1970s. Claypool also insisted that NKSC’s women’s sports programs be given equal scholarship funding as the men, something few schools around the nation did at that time.
In fact, Claypool recently confirmed that Northern was the first school in the nation to give athletic scholarships for volleyball and women’s basketball. He also said Miami (Fla.) was the first to give women’s athletic scholarships, but those were for swimming and tennis.
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| The 1979 NKU volleyball team. |
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