HONOLULU – Former University of Hawai'i women's director of athletics Dr. Donnis Thompson passed away Monday at Leahi Hospital at the age of 75. Dr. Thompson was UH's first women's track and field coach and oversaw the commencement and growth of the women's intercollegiate athletics program as it's first A.D.

 

A prominent figure in the world of U.S. women's track and field, Dr. Thompson arrived in Manoa to start the women's track and field program in 1961. She coached the team for three years and returned to the islands after receiving her doctorate of education degree to head the women's athletics program in 1972, the year Title IX began, and served in that capacity until 1981. For the first four years as women's A.D., her duties were divided between directing the intercollegiate program and instructing physical education classes.

 

During her nine-year tenure, Dr. Thompson increased the number of women's sports programs from two to eight, the number of women's athletic scholarships from a handful to 30, and enhanced the women's athletics program into the national spotlight.

 

In 1976, she spearheaded a committee that brought national women's volleyball powerhouse UCLA to Hawai'i to play the Rainbow Wahine in front of a sold-out crowd of 7,813 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena. A year later, she was instrumental in bringing the AIAW National Golf Tournament to Hawai'i, and since 1981, the Rainbow Wahine golf program hosts the Dr. Donnis Thompson Golf Invitational at the Kane'ohe Klipper Golf Course.

 

Dr. Thompson was inducted into the school's Sports Circle of Honor in 1988 and the Hawai'i Sports Hall of Honor in 2007. In October 2007, a sculpture in her honor was erected on the UH campus and sits at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

She left UH in 1981 to become the state of Hawai'i's first woman Superintendent of Education. In three years with the state, she authored a 10-year improvement plan for state schools, brought the high school graduation rate up, implemented early provisions for school success for kindergartners who exceeded national standards, obtained a federal grant for bilingual multicultural center for Hawaiian and American-Samoa students, teamed with the hotel industry with local high schools and established relationships with IBM to promote computer literacy and curriculum development.

 

Dr. Thompson gained national prominence when she guided the U.S. women's track team which competed against Russia and Poland in 1962. She is the author of three books on track and field and chaired the AIAW National Track and Field and Cross Country committees and the Southwest District Division of Girls and Women's Sport Committee. In 1981, Dr. Thompson was chosen as an administrator at the World Games in Mexico City.

 

A native of Chicago, Dr. Thompson graduated from George Williams College and received her doctorate in physical education and administration from the University of Northern Colorado.

 

She earned numerous awards in her lifetime including the NACWAA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, recipient of the YWCA Leadership Award in 2008, special honoree for the 2007 Women's History Month reception, Girl Scout Council of Hawai'i Women of Distinction in 1998, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Outstanding Service Award in 1991. April 15, 1981 was declared Donnis Thompson Day in the state of Hawai'i.

 

She was involved in many community service activities including a member of the Hawai'i State Civil Rights Advisory Committee, the American Cancer Society Public Relations Committee, the Board of Directors of the Teen Intervention Committee at Kapiolani Medical Center, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Commemoration in Hawai'i.