University of Minnesota Athletics
Belmar Gunderson - M Club Hall of Fame
Belmar Gunderson
Women’s Athletic Director, 1975-76
HOF Class of 2003
The first director of the University of Minnesota Women’s Athletics Department, Belmar Gunderson helped lay the foundation for future generations of student-athletes.
After working as the University’s extramural and intramural sports director, teaching in the physical education department and coaching several sports, she accepted an appointment to lead the new women’s department. She spearheaded the formation of the Patty Berg Scholarship Fund to provide athletic scholarships to women, and lobbied the state legislature in an effort that led to an annual department budget of $330,000.
Gunderson played tennis at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the early 1950s, earned a master’s degree from Penn State in 1962, and received a doctorate from Texas Women’s University in 1971. She competed in many premier tennis tournaments in the 1950s and 1960s as an amateur, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Lawn Tennis National Championships.
Nationally ranked as high as No. 11 in singles and No.2 in doubles, she continued to compete successfully in USTA and ITF World doubles events 40 and 50 years after her undergrad years.
Gunderson was a charter member of the UNC-Greensboro Athletics Hall of Fame.