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Bettye Giles played a pivotal role in the development of women’s athletics not only at the University of Tennessee at Martin but nationwide.
Known to many as “Ms. Bettye”, Giles was the primary advocate for women’s equality in sports in the state of Tennessee, as she was instrumental in their development of athletic opportunities. She served on numerous national committees promoting the growth of women’s sports, receiving the Pathfinder Award from the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports and founded the Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation.
A Clarksville, Tenn. native, Giles graduated from Austin Peay with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health in 1950 before receiving her Master’s degree in physical education and health from Tennessee two years later. By the fall of 1952, she began her tenure as a professor of physical education at UT Martin and fell in love with the campus.
That same year, Giles also began the women’s tennis program at UT Martin and was the head coach of the team for eight seasons. That program was the first women’s sport to achieve varsity status at UT Martin in 1956.
Women’s athletics began to gain momentum at UT Martin soon thereafter. In 1969, Giles was entrusted as the school’s first and only director of women’s athletics – a role she would proudly serve until 1994.
UT Martin was at the forefront in forming the Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation in 1970, as Giles served as the first president. After the organization started with 18 colleges or universities, the TCWSF membership list grew to 34 institutions by 1973.
Giles’ leadership and activism for women’s athletics coincided with the Title IX movement, which was enacted by the United States Congress on June 23, 1972.
In the fall of 1976, the first athletic scholarships for women were awarded at UT Martin when Amy Underwood was awarded a basketball grant-in-aid.
Six years earlier, Giles jokingly convinced a tall, skinny UT Martin freshman from Ashland City, Tenn. that she had to play volleyball as a “conditioner” for basketball season. That student-athlete was Pat Head Summitt, who would later establish herself as one of the best coaches in the history of basketball, winning 1,098 games and eight national championships at the University of Tennessee. Summitt was often quick to credit Giles with her success, as the two remained friends until Summitt passed away in June 2016. It was Summitt who established the Bettye Giles/Nadine Gearin Endowed Scholarship at UT Martin in 2003, honoring her first athletics director and first head women’s basketball coach.
Giles served as the university’s cheerleading sponsor from 1952-73 and also was the first sponsor for UT Martin’s rifle and dance (folk and square) programs on campus. She was a president of the UT Martin Faculty Senate and was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. She retired in 1995 but has remained an enthusiastic supporter of UT Martin’s athletic and academic programs.
During her tenure as a UT Martin faculty member, Giles was honored by numerous professional organizations for her outstanding contributions. She received the Honor Award from the Tennessee Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (TAHPERD) as well as the Honor Award from the American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), Southern District. She also earned the Joseph P. Kennedy Junior Foundation Special Olympic Appreciation Award and the Tennessee Society for Crippled Children and Adults Honor Award after directing the local Special Olympics for over 20 years.
Giles’ impact at UT Martin is immeasurable. The Skyhawk softball program branded its stadium as “Bettye Giles Field” in 1996. During Homecoming weekend of 2012, statues of Giles, Summitt and Gearin were unveiled outside of the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center. An award bearing Giles’ name is given out to UT Martin’s top female student-athlete at the annual awards banquet each May. She has also served on the UT Martin Athletics Hall of Fame selection committee for nearly four decades.
A longtime board member of the Martin Kiwanis Club, Giles was also recognized by the Ohio Valley Conference as UT Martin’s representative at a luncheon on the 40th anniversary of Title IX in 2013. She was named an honorary sister of the Chi Omega sorority at UT Martin in April 2017. Three years later, she was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020. In April 2022, she was presented with an official resolution by the Sports Authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County as part of the yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.