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WIAC Celebrating 50 Years of Sponsoring Women's Championships
Warhawk softball complex dedicated to women's athletics pioneer Marty van Steenderen (May 3, 2015, via UW-Whitewater University News)
As the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference celebrates 50 years of sponsoring women's championships (1971-2021), University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Athletics profiles women's leaders who helped blaze the trail for female student-athletes, coaches and administrators who are a part of Warhawk athletics in the present day. UW-Whitewater Athletics will recognize several of the institution's female leaders throughout the 2020-21 year for this initiative, which is presented by Whitewater Family Dentistry.
Marty van Steenderen helped build women's athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from the ground up, building the foundation for scores of future Warhawks to compete at a championship level and enjoy the Warhawk student-athlete experience.
After joining UW-Whitewater in 1961 as an assistant professor in physical education with the special assignment of directing the Women's Recreation Association, van Steenderen grew the women's program from play days to sport days to intercollegiate contests, from an intramural program to full-fledged, funded intercollegiate athletic program. She served as president of the Wisconsin Division for Girls and Women's Sports in 1967.
In 1971, van Steenderen was named Women's Athletic Director at UW-Whitewater, holding the role for 15 years. During that time, she was integral in the forward development of women's sports at UW-W, building a strong base of coaches and other personnel while fundraising to support the programs.
During her tenure, van Steenderen served the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and served as president of the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC) in 1978, helping make it one of the nation's best Division III conferences by the mid-1980s.
Under van Steenderen's leadership, the women's basketball team, coached by fellow trailblazer Dianne Jones, reached the national tournament seven times, including five straight bids from 1981-86. The softball team, coached by Irv Madsen, also achieved national prominence, reaching the NCAA Division III World Series each year from 1984-86, including a fourth-place finish in 1984 and a third-place showing in 1985.
van Steenderen was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987, and was a member of the first-ever class of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2012. She taught physical education at UW-Whitewater and remained active in the sports community until her retirement in 1990, when she earned emeriti status from the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
The Warhawks' softball complex, which bears van Steenderen's name, was extensively renovated in 2009, and other improvements were made over the next five years. In 2015, van Steenderen was honored by the softball team as a second major renovation – which included the addition of a service building outfitted with a press box, team locker room, coaches' offices, showers and storage space – was completed.
A resident of Bonita Springs, Fla., van Steenderen graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955 and earned her master's from Indiana University in 1961.
