Editor’s word: In March, Nevada Sports Net will honor influential females in native sports activities to have fun Women’s History Month. Our newest characteristic is on former Wolf Pack All-American gymnast Candy Oliver Borda, who was the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship at Nevada in 1969. This sequence is introduced in partnership with IBEW Local 401.
The proper particular person at the proper place at the proper time is the approach Candy Oliver Borda described her gymnastics profession at Nevada in the late Nineteen Sixties the place she became the first Wolf Pack feminine athlete to earn a scholarship.
“When I came to UNR there was an instructor here and he said, ‘What would you like to do with gymnastics?’” Borda recalled. “And I said, ‘I want to see how far I can go.’ And he said, ‘Let’s do it.'”
Born in a small city in Pennsylvania, Borda was raised in Fresno the place she was a Central California champion swimmer earlier than raking up a special sport in faculty. She competed in gymnastics at San Francisco State for 2 years, competing in the first nationwide meet for females throughout her brief stint in the Bay Area. Borda moved again to the Central Valley and danced at Fresno State from 1968-69. Shortly after enrolling at Fresno State, a theater group on campus was in search of extra members to take part as a dancer abroad on the USO tour in Korea, Japan and Guam.
“Some of the spots couldn’t be filled, so they had tryouts and I had danced in some presentations at Fresno State,” Borda mentioned. “So, when I tried out, they picked me right away. I didn’t even hardly walk off the stage and they said, ‘You’re in.’ We spent a month-and-a-half entertaining troops overseas at different hospitals and recovery rehabilitation camps and so on for the Vietnam War. That was quite an experience in itself because we went at Christmas time, so we were gone December and January and that was eye-opening for me to talk to these servicemen.”
After returning house, a buddy satisfied Borda to switch to Nevada in 1969 with the aim of changing into a bodily training instructor.
“I was a physical education major and I met the head of the department, Ms. (Ruth) Russell, who was a very, very tall woman compared to me,” Borda mentioned. “But she was amazing, and she convinced me if I came, she said, ‘I’ll give you a teaching job while you go to school and get your degree,’ and I took the opportunity and it grew out of that.”
Candy Oliver Borda doing a promotional photoshoot in the United States’ leotard for the University World Games. (Photo supplied by Candy Oliver Borda)
At Nevada, she earned a bachelor’s diploma in bodily training, overcoming challenges alongside the approach. Borda exhausted her funds from the instructing scholarship and was in search of tuition help as an out-of-state resident. Nevada’s gymnastics coach at the time, Lee Newell, informed Borda she’d have to ask athletic director, Dick Trachok, if he’d give you the chance to discover her a scholarship.
“I was so sure he’d say ‘no,'” Borda mentioned. “I went and I said, ‘Hi, I need a scholarship, if possible. Do you think you could find an athletic scholarship for me?’ And he just said with a big grin on his face, ‘Sure. I’ll give you one of my football scholarships,’ and he did. It allowed me to compete that one more year as an undergraduate.”
Borda became the first feminine in Wolf Pack historical past to receive an athletic scholarship in 1969, serving to her end her bachelor’s diploma and proceed her gymnastics profession. She competed for a number of extra years as a graduate pupil, receiving graduate scholarships as she earned a Masters diploma in bodily training as Newell continued advocating for her teammates to receive cash, too.
“It opened doors across the United States,” Borda mentioned. “It wasn’t a factor the place my coach was going to say, ‘Ok, we’ll keep it quiet,’ that type of thing. He made it very public, and that was important.”
Gymnastics meets were lightly attended during her early years at Nevada, but the crowds grew as the years went on, in part because the team would perform at halftime during men’s basketball games.
“I loved this gym,” Borda said of the Virginia Street Gym. “It was home. It wasn’t near as nice as it is now. We would run the circuit up above (in the bleachers), but we’d also go up and down all the steps as part of our conditioning because my coach was an ex-wrestling coach. But we learned about gymnastics together, and he made me a real athlete. The things that stand out are my crashes, when I bit the dust. One time, we were doing a demonstration at a basketball game and I ended up hitting my chin on my knee. The back of one of my tooth fell off. I remember some of the crashes before I became a gymnast that could stay on the equipment.”
Borda was voted an All-American and Nevada state champion gymnast in 1969. She also qualified for the Cup of America trials in 1969 and secured a spot at the University World Games in 1970. Borda was also selected to compete in the North-South All Star Gymnastics Championships in 1971 and was a Pacific Coast All-Around Champion. She led the Wolf Pack women’s gymnastics crew to the Southwest Regional Collegiate Gymnastics Tournament championship in 1971 and likewise helped design the United States’ leotard for the University World Games with an area seamstress in Reno. She was the solely feminine from the West to symbolize the small crew.
“They all came from the south and they all had funny accents,” Borda mentioned. “I was the girl from Ne-vah-da, and I go, ‘No, it’s Nev-a-da.’ Let’s learn how to say this right.”
Candy Oliver Borda was the first woman to receive and athletic scholarship at Nevada in 1969. (Photo supplied by Candy Oliver Borda)
Newell was the head coach at Nevada from 1968-74 and opened the gymnastics and dance studio “Sports Dance West” with Borda in Minden after leaving the Wolf Pack. Gymnastics was dropped as a college sport following the 1978 season. But a decade later in 1988, Borda made extra Wolf Pack historical past. She became the second woman to be inducted into the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame, becoming a member of alpine skier Dodie Post Gann, who was a part of the inaugural 13-person class in 1973.
“It was very special,” Borda mentioned of her Hall of Fame induction. “I got to say thank you to my coach and to my parents for giving me the gifts I was given and my coach for allowing me to develop them to that level.”
After her athletic profession ended, Borda coached monitor and subject, tennis, swimming and volleyball, producing many state champions alongside the approach. She spent 49 years as a instructor and coach between Douglas and Fernley excessive faculties. Her husband, Ted, is from Gardnerville and coached at Douglas High after taking part in soccer at the College of Idaho. The Bordas have three youngsters and three granddaughters.
She mentioned her aim has been to promote feminine success in athletics.
“I don’t think I’ve made a difference,” Borda mentioned humbly. “I think Nevada made a difference, and this university. I just love this place, especially this gym, especially the university because the people I worked with saw where women’s athletics should go and they were ahead of the game. But I’ve been lucky enough to be the right person at the right place at the the right time.”
You can watch the full interview characteristic with Candy Oliver Borda at the prime of this web page.