A street in the new Sorority Village at UT has been named in honor of Ann Baker Furrow, a 1967 alumna and pioneering female golfer who also was the first woman to serve on the UT Board of Trustees.
The street sign now displays “Ann Baker Furrow Boulevard.” The campus will hold a formal dedication in the spring.
“We are pleased to honor Ann in this way,” Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek said.
“The university traditionally has not made it a practice to name the campus streets, as many of the streets named throughout the 1990s are city-owned streets. However, this newly created street provided a special opportunity for the university to honor a distinguished alumna for her numerous accomplishments.”
The first woman to play a men’s varsity sport at UT, Furrow was a member of the men’s golf team in 1964 and 1965. She was the first recipient of Robert R. Neyland Academic Scholarship. In 1991, she helped get women’s golf added as an official UT sport. She served as interim head coach of the women’s golf team until 1992 and then volunteered as an assistant coach for fifteen years. She has helped raise more than $2 million to endow the UT women’s golf team.
She went on to have a very successful amateur golf career. She was a five-time Tennessee Women’s Amateur Champion and the 1978 Women’s Southern Amateur Champion. She has been inducted to the Tennessee, the Greater Knoxville, and the Blount sports halls of fame.
Furrow was the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the UT Board of Trustees. She was appointed in 1970 and served for eighteen years. During her tenure, she served as the board’s vice chair and chaired the Academic Affairs Committee.
She also became the first woman to give a commencement speech at UT in 1971.
Furrow is a founding board member and vice chairman of Spiritual Heritage Knoxville. She previously served on the boards of UT Athletics, UT Medical Center, Covenant Health, Fort Sanders Foundation, National Board of AnGeL Ministries, Tennessee Valley Authority, and International Board of Joni and Friends.
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C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)