Kittie Blakemore Street Dedication Scheduled

West Virginia University schedules street dedication for former women's basketball coach Kittie Blakemore

On Wednesday, the West Virginia University Athletics Department announced former women’s basketball coach Kittie Blakemore will have a street on the Evansdale campus named in her honor when the University dedicates Kittie Blakemore Drive on Feb. 24 before the women’s basketball game against Baylor. 

WVU Press Release

Previously known as Rec Center Drive, the street begins at Morrill Way and terminates at the Student Recreation Center. The road will now honor one of the pioneers of West Virginia University’s women’s sports and her overall contributions, not only to athletics, but to the University’s then School of Physical Education. The prominent road was picked because of Blakemore’s impact as a professor of physical education, a leader in WVU’s intramural sports programs prior to Title IX and her success in intercollegiate athletics. 

“Kittie Blakemore played a pivotal role in the history of our University,” President Gordon Gee said. “Her determination to implement Title IX, her status as a beloved coach of women’s basketball, and her mentorship through many decades of service made our campus a better place for countless students and colleagues.”

The dedication comes after Athletics celebrated 50 years of Title IX last year and during the current 50 years of women’s basketball celebration this year. The Feb. 24 date culminates the season-long celebration of WVU women’s basketball’s first 50 years with an alumni reunion weekend and the dedication of Kittie Blakemore Drive. 

“In conjunction with our 50 Years of Women’s Basketball celebration, dedicating Kittie Blakemore Drive is a great way to honor Coach Blakemore,” WVU Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker said. “Many of her former players will be back and able to take part in the dedication, and I know that is important to them. It certainly is an honor well earned.”

Blakemore came to WVU in 1960 as an instructor in the School of Physical Education before becoming an assistant and then associate professor at the University while overseeing the women’s intramural program on campus. Teaming with professor Dr. Wincie Carruth and future tennis coach Martha Thorn, the trio tirelessly advocated for the adoption of women’s sports at WVU long before the passage of Title IX.

Blakemore had researched budgets, equipment, funding levels and the overall operational efforts required to start women’s sports at WVU. Aside from the implementation, then Athletic Director Dr. Leland Byrd hired Blakemore to be the school’s first women’s basketball coach, and the Manassas, Virginia, native grew the program from its infancy.

Starting formal competition in 1973, she compiled a career record of 301-214 over 19 seasons, including the 1989 Atlantic 10 tournament championship, the 1992 regular season A-10 title and NCAA berths in 1989 and 1992.

The 1984 and 1992 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, Blakemore was a member of numerous regional, conference and NCAA committees. She brought in co-head coaches Bill Fiske and Scott Harrelson to work with her in improving the basketball program, which produced All-American Rosemary Kosiorek, all-conference players Donna Abbott, Alexis Basil, Olivia Bradley, Jenny Hillen, Cathy Parson and Georgeann Wells, the first player to dunk in a women's collegiate game.

Following her retirement from coaching, she served as WVU's assistant athletic director for sports development and became the department’s first senior woman administrator until her retirement in 1997 ended a 36-year career at WVU. Among her many accomplishments as SWA were the creation of women’s soccer at WVU and the hiring of Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, who still leads the highly successful program today.

She was the 1989 recipient of the Morgantown Touchdown Club's Proficiency Award, the 1992 recipient of the Mary Catherine Buswell Award in recognition for service to WVU women and the 1993 recipient of the Celebrate Women Award from the West Virginia Women's Commission in the field of sports.

Blakemore was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and was an inaugural member of the WVU Legends Society in 2017. She was named the Outstanding Teacher in the School of Physical Education five times and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1994. Blakemore died on July 29, 2020, in Warrenton, Virginia, at the age of 91.

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