The first woman to serve on the Auburn University Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics recently became the first woman to have an athletic building named
solely for her.

The field of the Auburn Softball Complex was renamed Jane B. Moore Field to honor Moore's long-time service to Auburn University athletics.

Moore, a retired professor and director of graduate studies in the Health and Human Performance department, served for more than 20 years on the
Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics. She also was the Faculty Athletic Representative from 1992-1997.

"I can't think of a better way to honor such a fine person as Jane Moore than naming one of our facilities after her," said Auburn University athletic director David Housel. "She has dedicated a large portion of her life to the betterment of Auburn. Her leadership
and tireless work has greatly benefited our program and our institution."

Moore was appointed to the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics in 1975 on the heels of Title IX. The landmark legislation banning sex discrimination in schools passed in 1972 and paved the way for gender equality in athletics. In Moore's years on the committee, she helped bring Auburn University's athletic program in line with the new federal requirements.

"We worked for the implementation of Title IX in the early years of Title IX. Then more recently, in the NCAA program certification, there is a section on gender equity, so we measure our program by the principles of gender equity."

In Moore's undergraduate experience, scholarships were not available for female athletes and varsity sports for women were few. Times have changed, she said.

"We have at Auburn what I consider a culture of equity and it's not because it's a rule or principle but because it's the right thing to do," Moore said. "One of the greatest honors is related to the awareness of our women's programs through the naming of our softball field for me."

The $3.2 million facility seats 1,400 and includes a concession area, a press box, two luxury boxes, and an indoor batting cage with three hitting tunnels.

Moore, recipient of the prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan and Pam Sheffield Awards, joins only Cliff Hare and James Martin in the ranks of academicians to
have a sports facility named after them.

"It was a great honor," she said. "I have always appreciated the opportunity to serve both the athletics and academics at Auburn University in my tenure here as a faculty member."

Published in the Opelika-Auburn News, May 26, 2003
Contributed by Staff Writer Katie Poole