Fanny Graves Crenshaw
Director of Athletics, Westhampton College 1914 - 1955
Professor of Physical Education, Emerita, 1973-1984
Fanny Graves Crenshaw was born in Richmond, Virginia, January 17, 1890, the daughter of Spotswood Dabney Crenshaw, a native of Richmond, and Anne Warfield (Clay) Crenshaw, a native of Kentucky.
Miss Crenshaw received her preparatory school education at Virginia Randolph Ellett’s School in Richmond, Virginia. From the age of twelve until she reached college level, she was active in only one sport, horseback riding.
She attended college at Bryn Mawr – receiving her A.B. degree in History and Economics in 1912. While there, she served as Treasurer of the undergraduate Association Stage and Stage Manager for two plays. She was a member of the Dance Club, the Fencing Club, and the History Club.
It was on the field and in the gyms at Bryn Mawr where “she began the love affair with sports that launched a lifetime crusade for physical education for women.” She participated in Class hockey, and was a member of the basketball, track, swimming, water polo, and tennis teams. She was the Track Team Captain, a Track champion, and a member of the Varsity Hockey Team. She went on to set six world records in women’s track. Jane Thorpe (WC 58) recalls “at age 65, she could outrun us all.”
In 1912, after her graduation, she began teaching Mathematics and History at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond. She continued to teach there until 1922, when she decided to devote all her time to Westhampton College. During the summers of 1919 through 1929, she was the Director of Camp Pukwana on Sebago Lake, Maine. During the summer of 1942, Miss Crenshaw stayed on campus to spot planes with 18 students volunteering to aid the war effort.
Miss Crenshaw was one of the first hires at Westhampton College. She joined the faculty as the physical education and recreation instructor at the beginning of the first term in 1914. She recalls having the “girls run, hike, climb trees, jump ditches – anything [she] could think of to give them exercise. They girls wore bloomers and shirts in their class colors and stockings up high so that no part of the leg was shown.” With one basketball and North Court green as a basketball court, her strongest resource was the group of “enthusiastic girls.”
She used the lake as a resource as well – teaching swimming and lifesaving. This practice stopped “a few years after the college opened” since the lake became polluted. When they could, she transported classes to the Richmond YWCA, but ultimately class schedules became too tight. Saddened, Miss Crenshaw was unable to teach swimming for some time; she called it the “great hiatus.”
The North Court Green, the lake, and the YWCA were only a few of the many unusual locations that Miss Crenshaw held classes. At various times, they met in the North Court tower room, in a frame building below the powerhouse, and in the chapel building. “When the college was moved into town during World War I, she taught gymnastics classes on the roof of St. Luke’s Hospital.” When they returned, they transformed the Red Cross Building into a temporary home for athletics, sharing the space with the music and drama activities.
In 1916, Miss Crenshaw was able to introduce field hockey to Virginia; at the time, it was still virtually unknown in the state. In the fall of 1919, Sweet Briar invited Westhampton to play them in hockey in what was the first women’s intercollegiate athletic contest in Virginia.
Miss Crenshaw won national recognition for her work in Field Hockey, and with her coaching Westhampton College won distinction in this sport as well. She was elected vice president of the United States Field Hockey Association during the first year of its existence. After hosting the 1933 tournament, she was named president of the Virginia Field Hockey Association. Additionally, she served as a National Field Hockey Umpire, a National Judge for the sport, and member of the committees that selected the United States Hockey Team in 1954 and published the Hockey Guide. The All-English Touring Hockey Team chose Westhampton College as the site of the only Southern game played during their tour of the United States in 1947.
Field hockey was not the only team that excelled under Miss Crenshaw’s leadership. In 1946, the Westhampton Women’s Basketball team celebrated an undefeated season. As a coach, she had “a hand in all the sports played at Westhampton and had coached many of the teams through undefeated seasons.” One of her early students, Jennie Phillips (WC 1917), said “[w]e boast of an unusual interest in athletics at Westhampton, for almost all girls take an active part in either tennis, hockey, basket-ball, or track and a good majority are interested in more than one phase.”
Her other affiliations include her membership of the American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation; in fact, she served as president of the Virginia Association. She was a National Basketball official and a National Judge for the sport. She was a member of Mortar Board and was active with the campus chapter. She was a member of the Westham Research Club and the Preservation of Virginia antiquities.
The college opened at a time when many people still questioned whether women should receive physical education, but Dean Keller required Westhampton students to take four years of it. Keller Hall, the women’s social building and gym, was dedicated in November 1936 and was considered on of the “most substantial and beautiful” buildings on the campus.
Though in the original plans for Keller Hall included the pool, the Fanny G. Crenshaw Pool was not completed until fall 1963. Budget was tight for the project and the pool was eliminated from the initial scope. The pool was designed to be 35 feet wide and 75 feet, one inch long, an inch longer than the Olympic standard, at Miss Crenshaw's request. Miss Crenshaw herself served as chair and personal solicitor on the Westhampton College alumnae special gifts committee. It took three years to raise the funds for the pool; groundbreaking took place in 1962 and dedication at the 1963 Westhampton College Alumnae Day.
After four decades of service, Miss Crenshaw was still coaching all the Varsity teams in 1955. She was the final member of the “Old Guard” in service on the campus. She had been a vital part of Westhampton since the very beginning of the college. However, at her request, she retired at the end of the 1954-1955 session, having served Westhampton longer than any other faculty member at that time. One student shared that although Miss Crenshaw was not required to retire at age 65, that the “story goes that she said when she could no longer climb the rope to the top of Keller Hall gymnasium, it was time for her to retire.”
In retirement, Miss Crenshaw did volunteer teaching at McGuire Veterans Hospital, she was active in the Woman’s Club of Richmond, and with St. Paul’s Church. She traveled extensively, taking one trip around the world. During those travels, she attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and climbed North Cape on the tip of Norway. She was the first woman inducted into University of Richmond’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979. Her many accomplishments and involvements aside, she has said “the greatest thrill is [her] contact with the girls [at Westhampton College].”
In 1965, two days after her 75th birthday, Miss Crenshaw completed 50 miles of swimming in her namesake pool and was awarded a Red Cross card and badge reading “Swim and Stay Fit.” She swam regularly in retirement, three times a week for three-fourths of a mile on average.
In 1979 Miss Crenshaw was inducted into the University of Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame, the first woman to receive that honor. In 1984, at age 94, Miss Crenshaw died at her home at Westminster Canterbury, Richmond. Her accomplishments in women’s athletics continue to be her legacy today.
- Adapted from biographies in Faces on the Wall, The History of University of Richmond, 1830 – 1971, A Gem of a College, The Collegian
On April 15, 1993, Fanny Graves Crenshaw was added to the University of Richmond Trustees' Honor Roll of Distinguished Faculty, Administrators and Staff.