BLANFORD — Margaret Gisolo’s extraordinary life ended peacefully in her home in Tempe, Ariz., on Oct. 20, 2009, a few hours before her 95th birthday. She was a first-generation American, born Oct. 21, 1914, in Blanford, to Italian immigrant parents, Nicolao and Metilde Bellezza Gisolo.
Margaret Gisolo enjoyed a long and distinguished career in athletics and dance. She was a pioneer in women’s sports, helped establish and served as chairperson of the dance program at Arizona State University, received honorary degrees from two universities, and was an inductee into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, for lifetime achievement, among other honors and accomplishments.
While playing American Legion baseball at age 13, she sent the world of youth athletics spinning and helped open the door for increased acceptance of women in sports. On June 18, 1928, Gisolo’s Blanford Cubs took on the Clinton Baptists to crown the champion of Vermillion County. In the top of the 12th, Gisolo knocked in the winning run. Clinton protested the loss, saying that the League was only for boys. A three-man commission, including Major League Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, eventually ruled Margaret could play. The small-town team went on to capture the Indiana state championship and compete in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Because of her accomplishments and the high profile of the case, thousands of girls across the country wanted to sign up for American Legion baseball, but the rules were changed the next year barring girls from play. This ruling stood until the 1970s.
Margaret attended Jacksonville Elementary School in Blanford, and was a 1931 Clinton High School graduate. This gifted athlete turned her attention to dance in college and she graduated from Indiana State University in 1935. She served as the first full-time executive director of Terre Haute Girl Scouts from January 1936 to August 1937, resigning to teach in Paris, Ill. After serving as the supervisor of the Physical Education Program for schools in Paris, Ill., for five years, she earned the Master of Arts Degree at New York University. She enlisted in the Navy WAVES to serve in World War II and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war, she taught dance at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1952 and studied dance at Columbia University for a year before moving to Arizona in 1953. Further study included work with Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, and Doris Humphrey.
She joined the Arizona State University faculty in 1954 and served as chairperson of the program in dance until 1977. During her tenure, she built what now is recognized as one of the top university dance programs in the country and was invited in 1974 to become a member of the prestigious national Council of Dance Administrators. Margaret also established and funded a Summer Study Award program that gave scholarships to gifted students for professional summer training. She was a founder and supporting member of the Friends of ASU Dance and the Arizona Dance Guild. In 1979, Margaret received the Arizona State University Distinguished Teacher Award.
After retiring in 1980, she wrote a History of Dance Companies in the State of Arizona. Copies of this unpublished document are housed in the New York City Public Library Dance Collection and the Lincoln Center Library, among others.
She also resumed playing tennis and soon was traveling on the national circuit. Margaret was nationally ranked until 2000, when at age 86, she stopped traveling to national matches. She was ranked first in doubles and second in singles.
Margaret has received numerous accolades for her work in dance as well as sport. In 1982, Indiana State University named her a Distinguished Alumna. In 1985, she was awarded the ASU Fine Arts Distinguished Achievement Award. In 1994, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree by Arizona State University. Indiana State University also awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 1996, and she was inducted into ISU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998 for lifetime accomplishments.
Margaret was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago in May 2004. She is included in Diamond Dreams, a permanent exhibit celebrating women in baseball, in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The permanent exhibit opened in May 2006 and features a baseball autographed for Margaret in 1928 by Major League Baseball Commissioner Landis.
Margaret Gisolo was preceded in death by her parents; as well as siblings, Toney Gisolo, Joe Gisolo, Louise Gisolo Cox, Dom Gisolo, and Mary Gisolo Oppenheimer.
Her legacy lives through the many persons whose lives have been touched by her knowledge, enthusiasm, professionalism and pioneering spirit. She is an inspiration to, and will be missed by her nieces and nephews, Larry and Mary Kay Gisolo Burton of Little Rock, Ark.; Keith and Jane Gisolo Goetz of Ottawa, Ill.; Myron and Carol Frohbieter Oppenheimer of Fairfield, Ill., Robert Oppenheimer of Los Angeles; Albert and Donna Gisolo Christenberry of Terre Haute, Ind.; four great-nephews, Daniel Christenberry, Jonathan Goetz, Anthony Burton and Ben Oppenheimer; four great-nieces, Annamary Thompson, Ellen Gross, Mary Sacadat and Riann Zurliene; nine great-great nieces and nephews; cousin Cesare Lamberto of Lanzo, Italy, and legions of friends, colleagues, students, and other admirers.
A Celebration of Life will be 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009, in the Dance Studio Theatre, Physical Education Building East, on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe. Memorial contributions may be made payable to the ASU Foundation, Attn: Margaret Gisolo Scholarship in Dance. Mail to: Development Office, Herberger College of the Arts, Arizona State University, PO Box 872102, Tempe, AZ 85287-2102. Contributions may be made via credit card by calling Christine Austin, (480) 727-7785.
Cremation has taken place, according to her wishes. She will be buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery, in Clinton, at a later date. Giovanini Funeral Home, in Clinton, is assisting with local arrangements.
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Women’s sports pioneer Margaret Gisolo dies at 94
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