USF Athletics

Sold-Out Luncheon Celebrates Launch of USF's Stampede For Women Initiative

February 03, 2022

By Joey Johnston

The Stampede for Women — a fundraising initiative focused on generating funds, raising awareness and creating focused opportunities to support USF women student-athletes — is picking up steam.

The Stampede held a sold-out, public kickoff luncheon on Wednesday — coinciding with National Girls and Women in Sports Day — at the Pam and Les Muma Basketball Center. The gathering provided an up-close look at the initiative's progress to date and goals while charting a course for its future.

More than $150,000 has been raised since the Stampede was formally introduced last February. Last summer, Bulls football coach Jeff Scott made a $10,000 donation following a combined team event with his football team and Denise Schilte-Brown's AAC champion women's soccer team.

Fundraising will generate money for scholarships, career development and capital improvements, while seeking dedicated donors for the growth of USF women's athletics. And it provides momentum for an athletic department that already has major projects under way, such as ongoing construction of the Indoor Performance Facility, renovations to the outdoor track and baseball and softball facilities, and planning for a proposed on-campus stadium.

It also hopes to establish a fresh community of female leaders in the Bay area, who could become professional mentors for USF student-athletes. The program also appeals to males who see the benefit of expanded women's athletics, particularly if they are fathers of sports-loving daughters.

"We want to grow our resources and support for women's athletics,'' said USF vice president of athletics Michael Kelly, who announced the addition of beach volleyball as the school's 12th women's sport after previously announcing plans for women's lacrosse in the 2023-24 school year. "There's an opportunity to build mutually beneficial relationships between community members and our women's student-athletes. We want people to know about the great accomplishments happening with our women's teams because they are doing big, big things.''

There have been conference champions, top 25 rankings, NCAA Tournament bids, national television appearances and All-America honorees. Clearly, women's athletics at USF have established a winning brand and top-flight expectations.

How far has it come?

In the beginning, fan support was sparse, budgets were tight, infrastructure was modest and news coverage was often non-existent. That has all changed. For more signs of progress, you could point to a stunning three-week juncture last summer.

Former USF women's basketball player Courtney Williams was named to the WNBA All-Star Team and scored 15 points in the game. USF coach Ken Eriksen earned a silver medal with his U.S. softball team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Former USF student-athlete Evelyne Viens earned an Olympic gold medal as a member of Team Canada, which defeated Sweden in the women's soccer championship match.

"I'm so proud of all of our current athletes, but also the former female athletes, who continue to put USF on the map,'' said public-relations executive and former USF golfer Sally Dee, a member of the Stampede for Women's steering committee. "We don't have professional sports that are very sustainable in women's athletics, but our athletes go on to success in the corporate world and they become winners in life. Just imagine the ripple effect in our community.

"For 50 years, most of the donations have gone to men's sports, so it's high time we did something to make sure we have a focused approach on how to grow women's athletics. We want great programs and happy coaches who want to stay here. Money won't necessarily make you happy, but it makes your life easier, it pays your bills and it will give the needed resources for USF women's athletics. That's what we want to accomplish.''

The steering committee includes Dee, former USF president Betty Castor, donor Joanne Nelson, donor Cindy Kane, women's soccer coach Denise Schilte-Brown and Abby Ritter, USF's assistant athletic director for development who had the original idea for a fundraising program to exclusively benefit women's athletics.

Castor was USF's president when the school added football in 1995. She was adamant about proper Title IX compliance throughout the athletic department. As part of football's addition, USF added a women's soccer team that has become a conference powerhouse (winning AAC titles in each of the last five years) and gained national prominence.

"I think the Stampede for Women is long overdue,'' Castor said. "Obviously, there's a lot of attention and resources given to the men's sports. But if people aren't aware, they need to be educated on what's going on with the women's sports. It's staggering. It's a major, major plus for our university.

"I have a lot of experience in my life with major fundraising. It's a great idea to be targeted and be an advocate for specific needs. We can shine the light on what is needed and tell the story of our successes. Women's athletics at USF is a great story.''

That was the attraction for Ritter.

"This is my passion and it's an easy thing for me to be passionate about,'' said Ritter, a former USF cross country/track and field athlete. "I had such a great experience and I want the same — or even better — for all of our female athletes because their accomplishments are off the charts.

"Beyond establishing new sports, having great facilities and making sure our coaches have everything they need, we want to establish a whole network of mentors for our female athletes. That could be a game-changer. I had a mentor when I was an athlete and it made all the difference in my overall experience and the path I took.''

From a marketing standpoint, Ritter hopes the Stampede for Women concept, brand and logo will become omnipresent around USF. She loves anything that can raise awareness and tell the story.

"And that story pretty much has three components — this is where we've been, this is where we are and this is where we're going,'' Ritter said.

USF's scholarships for women's athletes are fully funded and the Stampede program will assure that commitment.

"We want all of our sports to offer the maximum allowable for all the scholarships,'' USF senior associate athletics director Marquita Armstead said. "Our coaches do a great job of always doing the best with what they have. If they go on foreign tours or need extra stuff, sometimes they have to find ways to get the money, whether it's through fundraising or holding a golf tournament. Our goal is to make sure this initiative can provide everything that is needed.''

Armstead said the Stampede's unique approach will be something to rally around.

"It's centered on women donors — and a lot of times, it's the women who control or monitor finances in a household,'' Armstead said. "It's centered on women athletes and that's not something you see often because the (fundraising) campaigns in the past have generally been used for men's athletics and facilities.

"We all know the importance of revenue sports. But here's an opportunity to help our overall women's programs. They have proven their abilities — time and time again — and it's certainly the right thing to do to keep that momentum going.''