The women's teams competing for the University of Arkansas (sometimes referred to colloquially as the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks, or Lady'Backs), refers to any of the women's sports teams that competes officially for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. The term Lady'Backs evolved over time as newspaper editors would shorten the mascot name. It was adopted by the Women's Athletics Department for secondary usage in 1991. (It is a deliberate contraction — always with the apostrophe between the two parts and a capital "B".) While many university sports teams have dropped the "Lady" portion of their nickname, it remains at the University of Arkansas as a marketing tool to emphasize the separate identity of the women's program. The Women's Athletics Department was formed at the University of Arkansas in 1971–1972, but merged with the Men's Athletics Department on January 1, 2008 to create one athletic department, much like the structure which most universities in the United States employ. Bev Lewis, who was the women's athletics director at the time of the merger, still heads women's programs in the unified structure.
For the 2007–2008 academic year, the University sponsors 11 varsity women's teams that compete in NCAA Division I. The Lady'Back "A" logo is the official logo for the Women's Athletics Department, but teams also employ the traditional University Razorback on uniforms.
Read more about Arkansas Lady Razorbacks: Famous Athletes
Famous quotes containing the words arkansas and/or lady:
“The man who would change the name of Arkansas is the original, iron-jawed, brass-mouthed, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the wilds of the Ozarks! He is the man they call Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, dam’d by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the smallpox on his mother’s side!”
—Administration in the State of Arka, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A lady of a “certain age,” which means
Certainly aged.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)