The W Athletics

The current Mississippi University for Women athletics program, as well as those who have been a part of the Long Blue Line before, owe a quintet of ladies - the late Dr. Jo Spearman, Dr. Dorothy Burdeshaw, Dr. Joan Thomas, Dr. Martha Wells, and Dr. Barbara Garrett – a debt of gratitude for their love and diligence on behalf of the University.

In November 2002, a tornado ripped through the Columbus campus and destroyed the Physical Education and Assembly Hall. In addition to leveling the structure, gone were the physical archives of the University's long athletics history and as a leader for women's intercollegiate competition.

When the school subsequently discontinued athletics in 2003, these five retired Health and Kinesiology faculty members (and former coaches all) felt the call to do something to make sure that the significance of the university's alumnae and history would not be forever lost. Out of that time of despair, they authored "Legacy of the Blues," an exhaustive 536-page reconstruction project of MUW's proud athletic heritage.
 
Without these ladies, it is highly unlikely that The W would have any sort of record of its athletic heritage. Thanks to these five ladies, the rest - as they say - truly is history.