Dr. Christine Grant
GRANT, ORR, TYRIE, WEISS
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 2/5/2022 at 07:57:41
Dr. Christine Grant, 85, of Coralville passed away peacefully on December 31, 2021, at the Bird House – Hospice Home of Johnson County surrounded by her friends.
Christine was born on May 27, 1936, in Bo’ness, Scotland, the daughter of Donald and Jean (Orr) Grant. From an early age Christine enjoyed sports, especially field hockey. Her love of sports motivated her through high school and college at Dunfermline College of Physical Education in Scotland. After graduating in 1961, she travelled to Canada. There Christine found that Canada was lacking an organized association for field hockey. With help from other field hockey enthusiasts, Christine helped develop the first national women’s field hockey team and the Canadian Field Hockey Association.
In 1968, Christine came to the University of Iowa to continue her physical education studies. After receiving her doctorate degree, she began teaching and in 1973 was appointed the University of Iowa’s first women’s athletic director. During her tenure as the UI Director of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the school had twelve NCAA championship sports and won twenty-seven Big Ten titles. She held that position until 2000. She continued teaching until her retirement in 2006.
Christine’s passion for sports and education transcended the classroom. Fighting for gender equity and women’s empowerment in academics and athletics, in 1978 she assisted the Title IX Task Force and testified before Congress as an expert witness throughout the Title IX lawsuits and remained a force, influencing gender equity until her death.
She has been honored with many awards including being named one of the one hundred most influential sports educators in America by the Institute of International Sport, inducted into the National Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, received the Gerald R. Ford Award from the NCAA, served as president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the UI field hockey field is named after her, and in 2019, Christine Grant Elementary opened its doors in North Liberty, IA.
As Willard “Sandy” Boyd, former UI president said in a 2018 article in the Daily Iowan, “Christine is more than a leader in terms of athletics, important as that has been, but she was a leader in the feminist movement, opening the university to women.” “She is a true leader, and people warm to her,” Boyd said. “She’s not an abstraction, she’s a real human being. She is the most exceptional leader one finds.”
Christine is survived by her brother, Hugh Grant of Bo’ness, Scotland; nieces, Stephanie Tyrie of Lambert, Scotland, Lisa Grant of Binfield, England, and Andrea Weiss of Howell Township, New Jersey; nephews, Donald Grant of Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, and Christopher Grant of Penicuik, Scotland; her close friends, Bonnie Slatton and Peg Burke, and numerous extended family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Alexander.
A celebration of Christine’s life will be scheduled for a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the University of Iowa Foundation: Christine Grant Scholarship Fund, Friends of the Animal Center Foundation, Iowa City Hospice, or the Bird House – Hospice Home of Johnson County.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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