Lady Razorbacks Making Their Mark

Home: Snapshot: Lady Razorbacks Making Their Mark

The University of Arkansas Women’s Athletics Department salutes the achievements of its pioneer African American athletes and staff members as a part of the Silas Hunt Legacy Award program.

The Women’s Athletics Department expanded during the 1970s, and took a dramatic step forward in 1976 and 1977 with the addition of women’s basketball and track and field. These sports brought the first African American female student-athletes to the University. It is notable that women of color were a part of the inaugural women’s basketball team in 1976-77. Joy Dillard was a two-year letter winner as a participant in the first two Lady Razorback basketball teams. Deborah Cooper also lettered on the inaugural basketball team. In track and field, Linda Bedford and Rochelle Armstrong were members of Ed Renfro’s inaugural squad in 1977-78. Bedford became a four-year letter winner.

Two years later, Diann Ousley became the first female national champion in any sport and the first track and field All-American for the Lady Razorbacks. A native Arkansan, Ousley won the 1979 national indoor 600 yard title for the Arkansas women’s track and field team. Almost three decades later her daughter, Whitney Jones, became the first legacy athlete for the Lady Razorbacks when she joined the women’s basketball team in 2005.

Veronica Campbell Veronica Campbell became the first Lady Razorback Olympic gold medalist during the 2004 Athens games. Campbell is also the first multiple medalist, earning gold in two events for her native Jamaica and one bronze. Campbell turned professional just prior to the 2004 Olympics, but continued at Arkansas as a student, completing her degree in international business.

One of the greatest athletes in Arkansas women’s basketball history, Delmonica DeHorney, became the first Kodak All-American and was the only player in Southwest Conference history to be named player of the year three times in her career. DeHorney led Arkansas to its first and second conference basketball championships in 1990 and 1991, and she was the national player of the week by Sports Illustrated when she paced Arkansas to one of the most historic upsets in the history of NCAA women’s basketball as the Lady Razorbacks broke the 183-game conference winning streak of the Texas Lady Longhorns in 1990.