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Longtime Ohio State Administrator and Women’s Sports Pioneer Phyllis Bailey Dies at 96

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by Dan Hope
October 3, 2022 at 5:31pm
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An influential former Ohio State athletics adminstrator passed away over the weekend.

Phyllis Bailey, who led the way for the launch of women’s varsity sports at Ohio State during her 39 years at the university, died this weekend at 96 years old.

When Bailey arrived at Ohio State in 1956, Ohio State had only club teams for women’s sports. She helped those teams transition to the varsity level and served as Ohio State’s first-ever varsity women’s basketball coach from 1965-70. She became an assistant athletic director at Ohio State in 1975 and was appointed as Ohio State’s first administrator for women’s athletics when women’s sports became a part of the NCAA in 1981. Before that, Bailey helped create the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which governed women’s college sports before they became part of the NCAA.

Bailey was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 as part of its first class of women.

Current Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Ohio State president Kristina Johnson were among those who paid tribute to Bailey on Monday.

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