Marie Hartwig - Advocate For Women's Athletics

Advocate For Women's Athletics

Hartwig was born in East Orange, New Jersey, but moved with her family to Detroit, Michigan where she graduated from Northwestern High School in 1925. She enrolled at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1929 with a degree in literature. Her initial ambition was to become a "cultured" private secretary working in the highest cultural circles. A month later, the Michigan League building opened, serving co-eds as the Michigan Union served men. Hartwig began by doing secretarial work there, when Dr. Margaret Bell, the head of women's physical education, spotted her. Bell offered Hartwig a job as a teaching fellow to work in intramurals and with the Women's Athletic Association (WAA). She earned her bachelor's degree in education in 1932 and a master's in physical education in 1938. Hartwig began her teaching career at Michigan in 1930. By the mid-1930s, she was in charge of the intramural/recreational sports program for women through the WAA, and she had developed a national reputation as a leader in intramural recreation and an advocate for women's sports. Hartwig also served as the national secretary-treasurer of the Athletic Federation of College Women (AFCW) from 1939-1947, on the National Basketball Committee from 1944-1950 and on the Board of Governors of Residence Halls from 1959-1969.

Hartwig assumed leadership of the Department of Physical Education for Women's recreational programs upon Margaret Bell's retirement in 1957. During her tenure, student interest in the WAA waned, and there was increased pressure from students and faculty to allow greater extramural competition.

Hartwig was for many years an instructor and lecturer in physical education at U-M and in the School of Education. In 1968, she was promoted to associate professor, and she became a full professor in 1969. She was acting director of physical education for women from 1968-1970, when the men's and women's departments were merged. When Michigan began giving women's sports equal treatment in 1973 or 1974 with the passage of Title IX, Hartwig became the first associate director of athletics for women, a position she held until she retired in 1976. Hartwig noted: "The first program there listed six sports -- swimming, volleyball, tennis, field hockey, synchronized swimming and basketball. . . . We've had winning tennis and swim teams right along; won the Big Ten swim title in 1974." She was granted professor emeritus status in June 1977. Hartwig recalled former U-M athletic director Fielding H. Yost advocating "athletics for all," and Hartwig helped make that phrase a reality at Michigan.