(Above) Female students play croquet in front of Davies Hall. (Photo from 1947 Obelisk) (Below) Dorothy Davies, longtime SIU physical education teacher, coach and administrator and proponent of women’s athletics. (SIU file photo)
October 08, 2025
Celebrate Davies Hall’s 100-year legacy at SIU on Oct. 24
CARBONDALE, Ill. — With an afternoon of special activities on Oct. 24, Southern Illinois University Carbondale will celebrate the centennial of Davies Hall, named for Dorothy Davies, founder of SIU women’s college athletics.
The Davies Centennial Celebration is set for noon-2 p.m. at Davies Hall, and special invited guests include alumni from Saluki women’s and men’s gymnastics. Guest speakers will include Dawn Richards, director of the School of Human Sciences and associate professor of nutrition and dietetics; Tim Leonard, SIU director of intercollegiate athletics; Molly Hudgins, executive director of the SIU Alumni Association, and Rick Tucker, outstanding 1960s SIU gymnast.
Current students will provide guided tours of Davies, and former SIU gymnasts will be able to display their memorabilia on special tables. In addition, all visitors are invited to add their names, dates of SIU attendance and memories on a special Davies poster. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome to attend the free celebration.
Lasting legacy
Dorothy Davies was a 35-year teacher, coach and administrator at SIU, and one of the most respected physical education teachers in the country. She coached field hockey, basketball, softball and tennis while teaching and serving as a proponent for women’s athletics. She was selected to the Saluki Hall of Fame in 1982, among the first class to include women.
Davies Hall, one of the eight original structures comprising “Old Campus” at SIU, was named for the groundbreaker who retired in 1974.
Bobbi Knapp, associate professor of the sociology of sport, has been spearheading efforts to collect information, photographs and other artifacts about Davies, Davies Hall, Charlotte West (a 42-year SIU athletics veteran who was an organizer and 1978 president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW)), and women’s physical education and athletics at SIU. Future plans call for raising funds to renovate Davies Hall as well.
For more information about her efforts or the Davies Hall Centennial Celebration, contact Knapp at bknapp@siu.edu.
(Editor’s note: Bobbi Knapp’s last name is pronounced nap.)