50 Years of Title IX: USC's First Dynasty
1/9/2022
June 23, 2022, will mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which stated that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
This allowed women to compete in college sports at the same level as men, changing the course of sports history.
In celebration of 50 years of Title IX, USC will highlight some of its biggest women's sports moments, starting with USC's first women's sports dynasty.
In 1976, Barbara Hallquist signed a scholarship to play tennis at USC, making her the first female scholarship athlete in USC history.
She earned every penny of that scholarship, helping lead the Trojans to their first national championship in 1977. She and the Trojans also won the title in 1978 and 1979, and the Trojans won again in 1980 after Hallquist went pro.
The back-to-back-to-back-back national championships made tennis the first women's dynasty at USC.
1977
In 1977, the Trojans went 17-0 under the direction of head coach Dave Borelli.
Fun fact: Borelli (who had played on the men's team at USC) was working on his USC law degree at the same time.
Leslie Allen was a walk-on on the 1977 team, but went on to become just the second African American woman to ever win a major tennis tournament.
Four Trojans earned All-American honors: Hallquist, Diane Desfor, Gretchen Galt and Sheila McInerney.
Hallquist won the USTA National Singles title for the second year in a row.
1978
The Trojans went 16-1 on the season and won the USTA National Team Championship for the second year in a row.
Freshman Stacy Margolin, who had played No. 1 on her high school boys' varsity team, went undefeated and won the USTA National Singles title.
Margolin was named an All-American alongside Hallquist, McInerney and Lea Antonoplis.
1979
The team was stacked in 1979, resulting in a 20-1 record and the AIAW National Team Championship.
Anna Maria Fernandez and Anna Lucia Fernandez — twin sisters from Torrance — joined the team.
They earned All-American honors alongside Hallquist, McInerney, Margolin and freshman Trey Lewis.
1980
In 1980, Hallquist had graduated and gone pro, but the Trojans didn't miss a beat. They completed the four-peat after an undefeated 30-0 season and won the AIAW National Team Championship.
Sophomore Trey Lewis teamed up with freshman Anne White to win the AIAW National Doubles Title — the first in USC history.
Lewis, White, McInerney, Nina Voydat and the Fernandez twins all earned All-American honors.
The members of these national championship USC teams would go on to achieve great things.
Barbara Hallquist was ranked as high as No. 30 in the world in singles and competed in all four Grand Slam events. She eventually returned to USC for two separate assistant coaching stints.
Sheila McInerney played on the pro circuit before turning to coaching. She is now heading into her 38th season as the head coach at Arizona State.
Leslie Allen became the first African American woman to win a significant pro tennis tournament since Althea Gibson in 1958 when she won the Avon Championships of Detroit in 1981. She was ranked as high as No. 17 in the world in singles and competed in all four Grand Slam events. She went on to create the Leslie Allen Foundation to introduce young people to the careers behind the scenes in pro tennis.
Diane Desfor went pro, achieving a ranking as high as No. 32 in singles and competing in all four Grand Slam events. After her tennis career ended, she got her law degree.
Stacy Margolin went pro after two seasons at USC, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 18. She competed in 25 Grand Slam events.
Anna Maria Fernandez competed in all four Grand Slam events and reached No. 19 in the world singles rankings. She married a fellow tennis player and had two kids, one of whom — Gabriela Ruffels — played golf at USC and is now playing on the pro circuit. Anna Lucia also had a brief pro career. The Fernandez twins had a younger pair of twin sisters as well, who both went on to play collegiate tennis. Cecelia Fernandez, who came to play at USC, won two NCAA team titles with the Trojans.
Trey Lewis went pro, as did her doubles partner Anne White, who would reach a No. 9 world ranking in doubles and No. 19 in singles. White would gain notoriety for wearing a bodysuit at the famously conservative Wimbledon tournament.
Dave Borelli continued to coach at USC until 1988. In total, he won seven national titles. He was inducted into the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012, alongside Hallquist. Stacy Margolin was inducted in 2014, while Anna Maria Fernandez was inducted in 2021.
