IX AT 50: Becky Endicott leads Title IX compliance at WSU for 20+ years

WICHITA, Kan. (WIBW) - In 1991, three officials walked out onto the court of a Kansas high school basketball state championship game.

All three were women.

“The minute we walked on the court, we got booed,” Becky Endicott, one of the first women to officiate basketball in Kansas, said. “We hadn’t even started the game. That was really an opportunity to show that women can do these kind of things.”

The Wichita-native and Emporia State graduate had been working toward that mission for years.

“I look back and go, ‘I think I made a difference,’” she said. “I got a lot of women in officiating. In the job that I had, I think I’ve taught a lot of women how to be an advocate for women.”

After coaching stops at Buhler High School and Hutchinson Community College, she joined Wichita State’s staff in 1993, eventually being promoted to Senior Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman’s Administrator in ‘99.

Among her many duties, she led Title IX compliance and coordinated the yearly athletics gender equity plan and minority opportunities plan.

“In a nutshell, just treat people the way they deserve to be treated, treat athletes the way they deserve to be treated - whether they’re male, female, whatever they are,” she said. “Treat them the way they deserve to be treated.”

Endicott retired in 2020, passing off the torch to the women she helped pave the way for.

“We can’t quit saying, ‘Hey, this needs to be better,’” she said. “Unturn every piece of the puzzle to try to continue to make it better.”

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