Sewanee The University of the South inducted two members into the Trailblazers wing of the school’s Sports Hall of Fame Friday night, including Jeanne Burrell Parks of Gainesville C’82 posthumously. Established in 2022, the Trailblazers are Hall of Fame members who were the trendsetters for women’s athletics at the University of the South.
Sewanee did not have a conference that sponsored a women’s swimming and diving championship until the Liberal Arts Swimming and Diving Invitational broke off a mixed championship to men and women in 1983.
While Angela Dickey was the first swimmer on a men’s roster in 1976, Jean Burrell Parks was the first to score when she joined the men’s team in 1980.
In 1982, she was voted as the team captain of the team. During her senior campaign, competing with male athletes, she posted as the top woman in the event, swimming to a fifth place time of 1:06.23 in the 100 backstroke at the Liberal Arts Swimming and Diving Invitational (LASDI).
Later in the 200-yard race, she collected bronze with a 2:20.23 result.