Caitlin Clark’s historic scoring record shines a spotlight on the history of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women

University of Iowa guard Caitlin Clark celebrates after making the game-winning shot against Michigan State on Jan. 2, 2024. Matthew Holst/Getty Images by Diane Williams, McDaniel College When University of Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark drained a 3-pointer against the University of Michigan on Feb. 15, 2024, she secured the NCAA women’s scoring record. Announcers noted that Clark had surpassed Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 points. But few added that there was still one more Division I women’s scoring title remaining. That one belonged to guard Lynette Woodard, who scored 3,649 points while playing for the University of Kansas from 1978 to 1981. Her record was set before the NCAA offered women’s championships, when the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, or AIAW, was in charge. When Clark surpassed Woodard’s AIAW milestone on Feb. 28, 2024, in the fourth quarter of a game against the University of Minnesota, it opened up another chance to revisit this buried piece of sport history. The AIAW launched in 1972. Within a decade it was bigger than the NCAA, with nearly 1,000 member colleges and universities. It sponsored 19 sports in three divisions, was the sole organization for women’s intercollegiate athletics and the only one...