Claudia Lane Dodson

Claudia Lane Dodson was an American athlete, educator, athletic administrator and advocate for women's and girls' sports who lived from 1941 to 2007. Born in Washington, D.C., she played field hockey, basketball and softball at Thomas Dale High School and earned letters in basketball, field hockey and lacrosse at Westhampton College. In 1971 she became assistant director of the Virginia High School League, the first woman to hold such a role in Virginia, and over more than thirty years she helped implement Title IX, expanded girls' sports from one to thirteen and grew the number of girls state championships from zero to thirty-one. She also served on national basketball rules committees and the United States Olympic Committee women's basketball committee, and in 1996 she founded the Women in Sports Foundation in Virginia.