“Wearing that jacket makes us all proud.”
3/24/2022 2:00:00 PM | General
On March 21, the Mizzou Athletics first-time letterwinners from the 2020-21 season were presented with their jackets.
For a Mizzou student-athlete, nothing is sweeter than the thrill of victory, winning a championship, the camaraderie with teammates, the relationship with coaches.
But the singular point of pride of being a Tiger who represented the University of Missouri is to be able to walk across campus, or through the community, wearing the letter jacket – that classic snap-front jacket of black wool and gold leather sleeves with the gold block "M" over the heart.
On March 21, the Mizzou Athletics first-time letterwinners from the 2020-21 season were presented with their jackets in a ceremony featuring administrators, coaches and staff.
Unfortunately, though, that wasn't always the case for Mizzou's female student-athletes. When the women's athletic programs merged with the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics in 1979 the women received a letter jacket, but it was a lined wind breaker, not the symbolic coat worn by their male counterparts.
That changed starting in 1992, when the vinyl jackets were discarded, and all letter winners received the same adornment to reward their achievements. But a large gap remained of pioneer female Tigers who hadn't had the same opportunity.
Mitzi (Noelker) Clayton, who came to MU from Lexington, Missouri in 1990 on a track and field scholarship, experienced the disparity in letter awards. When she earned her first letter, she received the women's wind breaker. But by the end of her career, female letter winners were receiving the traditional leather-and-wool letter jacket.
"It was disappointing for sure," Clayton said.
During her five years as a student-athlete, she earned All-Big Eight honors in the javelin, was an Academic All-Big Eight selection and team co-captain. She spent 23 years working in the athletic department, advancing to the position of associate athletics director for compliance. She now works for the campus as director of community relations and NCAA certification.
Spurred by her leadership and the efforts of the Varsity M Association, an affiliate program of the Mizzou Alumni Association, the letter jacket situation was rectified in 2015 when former athletic director Mack Rhoades committed to provide the funds it would take to award the traditional letter jacket to all female letterwinners who competed from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
But the potential recipients had to be located, and Clayton said that "was a real challenge," noting that an extensive social media and letter-writing campaign was launched to bring the women back to campus.
At Homecoming that year, Rhoades hosted a reception for more than 200 women who had competed for the Tigers in 10 different sports. There they were presented with the new jackets they all had craved for many years.
"I can tell you; it was a lively bunch of women who walked across the stage to receive that honor," Clayton said. "It was an overlooked disparity for so many years."
The next day, the group tailgated before the Florida football game and were honored on the field, where they received a standing ovation.
"In my 23 years in intercollegiate athletics," Clayton said, "I think that was the most wonderful moment I ever experienced."
Afterwards, Clayton told her older sister, who had been one of the first women's basketball players at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T), what Mizzou had done and through her prompting, eventually the Miners did the same.
"I think Michigan has done something similar, too," Clayton said, "so I think Mizzou set a little bit of a trend."
"Wearing that jacket makes us all proud," Clayton said, noting that others she knows who live in Columbia and received their jacket in 2015 wear them often. "It means a great deal to all of us."
