Slippery Rock University Athletics

A life-long educator, Martha Haverstick came to Slippery Rock in 1962 after beginning her education career teaching in public schools across New York and Pennsylvania followed by spending 12 years as a faculty member at the University of Maryland. 

In addition to coaching tennis at Slippery Rock from 1963-74 Haverstick was also named the first coordinator of women’s programs in physical education at Slippery Rock before retiring in 1985. 

“The women had requested to hire a woman who would be in charge of the women's program, although there wasn't a separate program, but so that they would feel that they had someone to go to,” Haverstick said to Joseph Riggs in a 1999 interview. ”I think up to that point Slippery Rock was basically a men's institution. There were many more men than there were women. In fact, I was the third, just the third woman doctorate that they hired.”

As the coordinator of women’s programs, Haverstick aimed for women’s activities on campus to be more inclusive to the student-body as a whole.

“When I came we had what we called the W.A.A. - the Women's Athletic Association,” said Haverstick. “I came from a background where recreation was emphasized more than athletics. We were to provide activities for every woman on campus, not just the talented ones. So I changed that to W.RA. – the Women's Recreation Association, in the hopes that there were women who would participate in more varied activities, not only team sports because that's about all we had then.

We established a student-run organization with officers and our own constitution and all of the scheduling of intramural and interest groups and so on was done by the students. Even though it was slower and less efficient probably, we felt that the experience that the students had gotten in organizing that was a very valuable one.”

An early advocate for women’s sports at Slippery Rock, Haverstick found that she had to be true to herself when it came to fighting for what was best for herself, her sport and her students.

“I remember I was on one committee when I was first there and some man said ‘well, you just don't understand that,’ Haverstick recalled. “I said ‘don't tell me whether I understand something or not.’ “That took care of that relationship from then on. That's how I felt though. You couldn't serve in groups when they were telling you how to think or what you understood and what you didn't understand. I couldn't stand for that.”

Outside of Slippery Rock, Haverstick, who obtained her bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and doctorate from Boston University, was a board member and past president of the Keystone Tall Trees Girl Scout Council. 

Haverstick passed away in 2006 at the age of 84.