Jim Jarrett, the Old Dominion University athletic Director who helped put the college’s women’s sports programs on the national map died last week at 88 years old.
Jarrett was ODU’s athletic director for 40 years, according to his obituary. Under his leadership, ODU became the first school in Virginia and one of the first in the nation to offer athletic scholarships for women.
It turned the college into a basketball powerhouse by luring top recruits like All-Americans Nancy Liberman, Inge Nisssen and Anne Donovan.
While Jarret was Athletic Director, ODU won three national championships in women’s basketball, nine national championships in field hockey, 15 in sailing and the men’s basketball team won the 1975 Division 2 National Championship.
“I can tell you that no one would know who I am were it not for Jim Jarrett,” Liberman said in a university press release.
“He did something no one else did before, he treated us as equals. From the uniforms to practice time. He was non-apologetic for wanting to treat women as individuals. He was so proud of us. He loved all the programs, but we (the women’s basketball team) stole his heart.”
During Jarrett’s four decades at ODU, the school made several major investments in athletics buildings too.
The list includes the Bud Metheny Baseball complex, the ODU sailing center, the ODU soccer stadium and office complex, the Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building and the ODU boat house.
The university also made improvements to the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center. Jarrett was an avid tennis player, his obituary says.
After his retirement in 2010, Jarrett said his biggest accomplishments at ODU wasn’t just winning records or new buildings.
"There have been many successes for our program over my 40 years, but significant ones for me personally include the graduation rate of our student-athletes, national championships, our overall Division I success, and leadership role in women's athletics, the development of our athletic venues and the ODU Sports Hall of Fame, our long standing rivalry in women's basketball with Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols and the accomplishments of Beth Anders and our field hockey program," Jarrett said, according to the university’s press release announcing his death.
Jarrett’s successful athletics programs had friendly rivalries closer to home, too. Former Virginia Commonwealth University Athletic Director Dick Sander paid his respects to Jarrett on social media.
"VCU and ODU were big rivals, but we respected each other," Sander wrote. "The rivalry made both programs better.”
Jarrett’s family is collecting memorial gifts to the Dr. James Jarrett Athletic Scholarship at the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation in Jarrett’s honor.
