From the origins of Redbird volleyball to the launch of the University’s Department of Special Education, historian Tom Emery explores this month in Illinois State University history.
September 5
On this date in 1973, tryouts were held for a new varsity sport on the Illinois State campus—women’s volleyball. It was a humble beginning for one of the historically most successful women’s programs at Illinois State.
For years, female student-athletes at Illinois State, as elsewhere, were relegated to intramurals (IMs), club teams, and other non-varsity level competition. Though the school had a reputation for well-developed IMs, there were virtually no opportunities for intercollegiate varsity action.
With the passage of Title IX in June 1972, the winds of change were quickly felt in Normal, and several women’s varsity sports appeared at Illinois State. But like other places, they were badly underfunded and understaffed, and received almost no media coverage. Few fans attended, and female coaches and athletes struggled for recognition and respect.
The tryouts on September 5 (and the next day, September 6), though, did not indicate what was to come. The first Illinois State women’s volleyball team fashioned a solid 15-9 record under the direction of Lynne Higgins, a member of the Illinois State athletic department since 1964.
A professor of physical education, Higgins had coached both volleyball and swimming, and participated in numerous volleyball clinics, officiating conferences, workshops, and evaluation committees. She also wrote numerous articles on various aspects of the game of volleyball. In 1982, Higgins was inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame.
In the beginning, volleyball matches were best-of-three (unlike today’s best-of-five format). The first listed opponent in 1973 was the University of Illinois, and Illinois State lost, two games to none.
However, the Redbirds later ripped off winning streaks of five and seven matches to rack up a formidable first season. That set the stage for the 1974 team, which rolled to a 35-9 mark and the program’s first-ever trip to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national tournament.
The upstart Redbirds beat a string of big-name programs during that second season, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Florida State, and Kentucky.
Higgins left the program after the 1974 campaign, but the foundation was set for years of success. She was succeeded by Linda Herman, who led the Redbirds to a combined 99 victories over the 1975 and 1976 seasons.
Since 1982, the Illinois State volleyball program has earned 17 NCAA tournament bids, with 12 regular-season conference titles and 13 conference tournament crowns. It all began in 1973, as women’s athletics at Normal, and around the nation, gained a foothold on the path to respect and achievement.
September 8
On this date in 1923, The Vidette carried a report on the hiring of the first university physician in the history of Illinois State.
The job went to Dr. Florence Ames, who became a beloved figure in her time at Normal. A native of Fargo, North Dakota, Ames was just 28 years old when she accepted the job at Illinois State.
A graduate of now-defunct Fargo College, Ames earned a degree from the acclaimed Rush Medical School in Chicago in 1921, then completed an internship at Cincinnati General Hospital in Ohio. She came to Illinois State from a similar position at present-day Minnesota State Moorhead, another teacher training school, where she spent one year.
The Vidette described her duties as “the general supervision of the health of the students, medical examinations, the teaching of hygiene, and private consultations with students in regard to their personal health.” For ill students, “all excuses for absence … will be presented to Dr. Ames.” Her office was located on the first floor of present-day Moulton Hall.
In addition, Ames taught seven classes in personal hygiene each week. She was also to examine “all women on admission to the school and all men on athletic teams” as well as conduct daily inspections “of the rooms of the training school.” She did not collect any fees from students for her services and did not engage in any outside private medical practice.
Even though Illinois State was much smaller than today, with just 2,700 students, The Vidette correctly reported that “watching the physical condition” of the entire student body was “a big task.” Ames only had two student workers to assist her.
For the 1924-25 school year, The Vidette reported that Ames had “attended approximately 5,900 cases … ranging from headaches and slight colds to scarlet fever.” The peak was during the first summer term, when 979 cases were handled by her office in six weeks.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ames also presented outside programs, such as an address at the Thomas Metcalf Parent-Teacher Association on April 1, 1924. There, she discussed health issues of children, particularly malnourishment.
Though The Vidette called her “a well-known figure to practically every student” and “a competent and popular instructor,” Ames resigned in September 1925, as her father had recently died back in Fargo. Her position was filled by another female doctor, Dr. Minnie Phillips of Mattoon.
Ames was in private practice in Fargo before settling in Monroe, Michigan, where she was the first female physician in the city’s history. In over four decades of practice in Monroe, she was credited with delivering over 2,600 babies.
In 1929, she was a founder of a hospital in Monroe, and played a pivotal role in the building of another new hospital facility for the city in 1962.
During her life, she amassed a fine collection of antique furniture and glassware, part of which she donated to Monroe County Community College. The school later sold her collection to provide funding for the Dr. Florence Ames Fine Arts Scholarship.
Florence Ames died in March 1985 and was buried back in Fargo. Her years at Illinois State were part of a productive and remarkable career that touched countless lives across the Midwest.
September 15
On this date 26 years ago in 1999, Major League Baseball team owners voted to abolish the position of presidents of the National and American League. The A.L. President at the time was Gene Budig, who had served as president of Illinois State from 1973-77.
Budig combined a love of academia and baseball into a remarkably successful career. His level of achievement came after a challenging beginning to his life. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 25, 1939, Budig was placed into an orphanage by his birth parents and later adopted.
In 1962, Budig earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln. He subsequently earned a master’s in English from Nebraska in 1963, followed by a Ph.D. in education from the same institution in 1967.
As an undergrad, he also served as bureau chief for a major Lincoln newspaper, one of three Nebraska papers he worked on from 1956-64. He later was an administrative assistant to the governor of Nebraska.
In January 1967, he returned to the University of Nebraska as an administrator, variously serving as vice chairman and director of Public Affairs, assistant vice chancellor, and assistant vice president. In June 1972, he left Lincoln to become vice president at Illinois State.
A year later, President David Berlo’s tumultuous administration ended with his resignation. Budig was on active military duty with the International Guard at the time of the Board of Regents meeting to appoint him as president, and he used a weekend pass to be able to attend the meeting. An active member of the Air National Guard, Budig retired with the rank of major general in 1992.
Budig was appointed acting president of Illinois State before being named to the position permanently in late 1973. He worked to repair the chasms left by the Berlo tenure as he rebuilt communication and trust across the campus.
He also secured approval from the Board of Regents for many new degree programs, including a master of business administration, master’s programs in art and theatre, and four doctorate programs in the arts. Budig also created 80 new faculty positions.
Critics charged that he was too student-friendly, and that he should have done more to end the controversial “Rites of Spring” that became an annual—and often destructive—tradition at Illinois State. But Budig’s time at Illinois State is viewed positively by many, particularly after the acrimonious Berlo years.
Budig resigned from Illinois State in January 1977 to become president of West Virginia University. In 1981, he left to become chancellor of the University of Kansas, a position he held until 1994. Under Budig, the Kansas campus grew exponentially, as did endowed professorships. A lecture hall at KU is named for him.
A lifelong baseball fan, Budig sat on the board of the Kansas City Royals during his time at KU. On June 8, 1994, he was named president of the American League, a position in which he performed admirably.
Budig took steps to increase diversity in the game, hiring Larry Doby, the first Black player in American League history, as a special assistant in 1995. He also stressed discipline for on-field transgressions while keeping critics, such as mercurial Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, at bay.
The decision by owners to abolish the positions of league presidents, and consolidate power in the commissioner’s office, surprised many in the game. It also brought an end to what some called Budig’s “dream job.”
Budig then worked briefly in an advisory role to the MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, and taught at Princeton University. He also was on the advisory board of the Pinstripe Bowl, an annual college football game at Yankee Stadium. In 2007, he became a minority owner in a minor-league baseball team.
On September 8, 2020, Budig died at his home in Charleston, South Carolina, of liver disease. He was the last man to serve as American League President, and a leader who helped stabilize Illinois State University at a critical time.
September 27
On this date in 1943, Illinois State University formally created a Division of Special Education. The approval placed Illinois State at the forefront of special education in the state and nation, a position it still holds today.
The move was in response to growing interest in the state to provide educational opportunities for children who were physically disabled or hearing- or visually-impaired. The state of Illinois had provided financial assistance to schools to offer educational facilities for exceptional children since 1923, and passed a law providing special education for physically handicapped students in 1943.
The introduction of special education at Illinois State was the concept of university President Raymond Fairchild, who worked tirelessly to bring the discipline to Normal. He recognized a clear need for it; there were only a handful of teachers statewide who were trained in special education, particularly downstate. Of the 3,723 children in special education classes in Illinois in 1942, 90% were in Chicago.
Fairchild recommended Dr. Rose Parker, Illinois State’s director of the Division of Rural Education, to lead the special education program. Parker was eminently qualified, as she had taught courses on exceptional children since 1932. Fairchild’s efforts for special education won him statewide acclaim and respect, and reaffirmed the University’s statewide leadership in meeting current educational needs.
A complete curriculum toward a bachelor’s degree in special education was in place by September 1944, and coursework for a master’s degree was introduced the next year. The program grew quickly; the number of students enrolled in the special ed curricula jumped from three in 1944 to 225 in 1955.
Beginning in 1945, the General Assembly allocated funding for a special education building at Illinois State, which was dedicated on March 2, 1951. The building was named Fairchild Hall, and it was the largest and most expensive building in the history of Illinois State up to that time.
At the dedication, Parker said that the new special ed programs had “been accepted in the spirit which has characterized this university from the beginning, to the end that teachers of courage, devotion, and intelligence may go forth ‘gladly to learn and gladly teach’ the exceptional child of Illinois.”
Today, the Department of Special Education at Illinois State is one of the largest and highest-ranked special education schools in the nation, with undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs.
The instructors and the future teachers that they guide continue to provide high-quality skills to meet the needs of young learners, just as Raymond Fairchild, Rose Parker, and the others had envisioned.
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher who, in collaboration with Carl Kasten ’66, co-authored the 2020 book Abraham Lincoln and the Heritage of Illinois State University.
