(1941- )
Aggie Kurtz was the innovative pioneer of women’s intercollegiate squash. A leading player at Smith College, Kurtz won the Delaware States and the Baba Lewis in Boston and was ranked in the top ten from 1964 to 1979. She represented the U.S. in the Wolfe-Noel Cup matches in England in 1968 and in Australia in 1972, and she coached the U.S. team at the 1990 women’s world championships. In 1965, while teaching physical education at Vassar, she founded and ran the first national intercollegiate tournament. Seven years later she moved to Hanover, New Hampshire to start a women’s team at Dartmouth. For seventeen years she coached the Big Green, earning over one hundred wins and compiling just one losing season. A diligent college squash administrator, Kurtz directed the women’s intercollegiate squash association from 1977 to 1983 and since 1991 has run the intercollegiate Howe Cup. She is the only person to twice be awarded the women’s division Achievement Cup. With her gracious style, infectious enthusiasm and behind-the-scenes activism, Aggie Kurtz has provided thousands of college women the opportunity to learn and excel at the game of squash.
