NUMBER 10… 1943
With America at war and Major League Baseball depleted of players, women step into the batter's box. For 11 years, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League keeps the national pastime alive for fans all over the country. At its peak, in 1948, the league draws nearly a million fans.
NUBMER 9… 1996Softball and soccer make their Olympic debut at the Games in Atlanta, and the U.S. women dominate! The Americans win gold in softball and soccer, as well as basketball, gymnastics and synchronized swimming. The Games make stars of athletes like Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm and Lisa Fernandez and give rise to professional softball and soccer leagues in the United States.
NUMBER 8… 1926American swimming champion Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel – a distance of more than 21 miles. Ederle not only completes the arduous crossing, but she breaks the men's record by almost two hours.
NUMBER 7… 1957Althea Gibson wins Wimbledon and becomes the first African-American crowned champion at the All-England Club. After her victory in England, Gibson returns stateside, to win the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills. New York honors her with a ticker-tape parade down its Canyon of Heroes.
NUMBER 6… 1932The United States is in the throes of the great depression, but the country's spirits are lifted by the fearless Amelia Earhart. On the fifth anniversary of Charles Lindberg's historic flight, Earhart becomes the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic.
NUMBER 5… 1999The Women's World Cup soccer final overtime leads to a shoot-out against China. Overbeck, Fawcett, Lilly, Hamm and Chastain kick for the United States as 90,000 fans in the stadium watch with anticipation. A billion television viewers witness the celebration as the U.S. women take the Cup.
NUMBER 4... 1960In Rome, Wilma Rudolph becomes the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympic Games. Stricken with polio, Rudolph spent years of her childhood in leg braces before becoming the world's fastest woman. Her courage and perseverance have been an inspiration to generations of young women who followed.
NUMBER 3… 1932At the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson becomes the first woman to take three track and field medals. In her typical fashion, Didrikson wins all the events she competing, but in the high jump, her head-first “western roll” technique is ruled illegal. She set world records in javelin and the 80-meter hurdles, and still holds more medals and records in more sports than any other 20th century athlete.
NUMBER 2… 1972President Nixon signs Title IX into law, prohibiting federal funding to schools and colleges that exclude women from participating in programs or activities. Title IX enables school girls and collegiate women to compete with the same support the men enjoy. The result has been nothing short of a revolution; since 1971, participation of girls in high school sports has increased from 300,000 to nearly 3 million today.
And the NUMBER ONE Memorable Moment in Women's Sports…1973… The Astrodome… Billie Jean… Bobby… The Battle of the Sexes… the most watched tennis match in history.
Houston is suddenly the center of American culture when more than 32,000 fill the Astrodome and another 90 million watch on television as King routs Riggs in three sets. The attendance record still holds today. The match does more to promote the game of tennis than any before it, but this triumph reaches far beyond the tennis court. For many, this is the event that will define the women's movement of the 1970s and change the social landscape for women forever.
The ranking was compiled by ESPN and the Women's Sports Foundation