Editor's Note: In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, Truman State University Athletics will recognize the important milestones and accomplishments of female athletes, teams and staff members throughout the celebration. Please check back often for more honorees.
Deborah Graves (Carter) was the first female All-American and national champion at Truman State University. Graves graduated from Kirkwood High School near St. Louis in 1975 and competed for the Bulldog Track and Field team from 1976-1979. Records indicate that she was the first university female athlete to receive an athletic scholarship and earn a varsity letter.
Graves was the 1978 AIAW indoor champion in the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.82 seconds, one hundredth of a second of breaking the women's American record at that time. In the outdoor national championships, Graves was fifth in the 1978 AIAW 100-meter dash and fourth in the 1979 event. She held school records in the indoor 50, 55 and 60-meter dashes as well as the outdoor 100 and 200 dashes. To this day, she still hods the 55-meter dash school record and the outdoor 100-meter dash with a time of 11.68 set in 1977.
The AIAW or Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was the main governing body for women's athletics from the enactment of Title IX to the early 1980s when the NCAA began organizing women's championship events.
Following graduation in 1979, Graves returned to Kirkwood to coach and eventually served as a high school guidance counselor. She was inducted into the Truman Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.
