OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The name Susan True might not be familiar to you, but it should be if you’re a fan of girls and women’s sports, especially in Kansas City.
“Her entire life was dedicated to making sure that girls and women got equal opportunities in sports. Period,” Brenda VanLengen, a women’s basketball announcer for ESPN, said.
When VanLengen moved to Kansas City 30 years ago, she met True — who had co-founded the fledgling Women’s Intersports Network, or WIN for KC, in 1994.
“She wanted to be a part of something that really made a difference,” fellow WIN for KC co-founder Pamela Sloan said. “(WIN for KC) was something that she could see everyone could gain from it — not just girls and women, but fathers who had daughters or wives. She wanted to be a part of that.”
Sloan considered True (née Schober), who died Saturday at the age of 87, a mentor in addition to a friend and catalyzing force.
“It’s people like Susan who opened that door for other girls and women to participate in sports like they've never been able to in the past,” Sloan said. “She's the one that helped open the door to make it progress to the level that we're at today. ... I would hope that people in Kansas City realize and can appreciate the fact that she was a person who helped open the door for many of us. That would be my overall desire for her, because she did — she was the key that opened the door.”
Kansas City was hailed for its embrace of women’s sports after the Current opened the world’s first professional sports stadium purpose-built for a women’s team last year, but that milestone was built — at least, in part — on a foundation True helped lay.
“She was one of the pioneers that made sure that all that we enjoy in women's sports today got started,” VanLengen said. “She was there to encourage, hold people's feet to the fire, make sure Title IX was enforced, make sure that resources were available for girls and women who wanted to be involved with sports. She was just one of those people that really made a difference and we all owe so much to Susan True.”
'Pioneer, trailblazer, Energizer Bunny'
Kansas City Sports Commission President and CEO Kathy Nelson credited True as a massive influence in her career, describing her as “a ball of energy — an energy of ideas, of opportunities and passion for equity.”
“Pioneer, trailblazer, Energizer Bunny at times as needed, but also that calming voice in the room who insisted women should be at the table, women should be making decisions, women should be involved, and women should be active,” Nelson said.
Because of True’s influence, many are.
“There was a whole generation of women that had been denied opportunities to play, and Susan True was one of them, so she wanted to make sure in her career that girls did get opportunities that she had never been afforded,” VanLengen said.
Nelson, who has daughters of her own, appreciates True’s tireless advocacy for girls sports and the impact its made — and will continue to make — on subsequent generations.
“I think about my two daughters and Camp WIN,” Nelson said. “Susan was a loud voice in making Camp WIN happen, and now we have a camp for 1,000 girls every summer. It’s because of her standing up and saying, ‘We need to get this done.’ That's what I look back on. We probably took her for granted locally, but on a national level the impact she's made for women and girls in sports for decades to come is so understated.”
WIN for KC honored True with the UMBFC Charitable Foundation Lifetime Sportswoman Award in February. She also was inducted into the USTA Missouri Valley Section Hall of Fame in December 2024.
An important voice
True — who was born May 1, 1937, in Topeka — cheered at Kansas State University, where she graduated with a degree in education in 1958. She later earned a master’s in exercise physiology at the University of Kansas and would become a professor, gymnastics coach and women’s athletic coordinator at Washburn University.
During her decade at Washburn, she also chaired the regional and national gymnastics committees.
Later, True became an assistant director at the National Federation of State High School Associations, where she became a renowned Title IX expert and exerted boundless but graceful influence in growing girls prep sports for nearly two decades.
During her career, she also worked on NCAA committees, served as a trustee for the Women’s Sports Foundation, and served on national boards for field hockey, volleyball and tennis.
“The number of people that Susan True knew around the country is amazing,” VanLengen said.
True — known by friends for her love of purple, immaculate nails and tidy hairdos — wasn’t often heralded, but her influence was undeniable.
“She was on so many important committees across the country,” VanLengen said. “Not only did she have influence here in Kansas City with WIN for KC, but she influenced opportunities for girls and women in sports across the country.”
She was passionate about girls and women's sports but ever optimistic as well.
“She could make anybody laugh in the room,” Sloan said. She always had a comment or something to say, to put a lighter side on things. Even when things were kind of grim, she would always bring the positive side to the room. It may not look good today, but tomorrow will be much better — that was something that I think really held true with her.”
It’s hard to argue her generational impact.
“Kansas City becoming this mecca of women's sports, it's taken us decades for you to be able to say that and Susan was one of the voices early on that had that vision of what we could be and what we should be,” Nelson said. “Does it happen without Susan? Probably not. It doesn't happen without her energy and her ideas at all.”
True will be celebrated at a visitation from 9:30 to 11 a.m. followed by a memorial service on Monday, April 14, at Platte Woods United Methodist Church, 7310 N.W. Prairie View Road in Platte Woods, Missouri.
KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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