Ione Genevieve Shadduck

Ione Genevieve Shadduck was an educator, women's rights activist, and attorney. She is known for advocating for equal pay and her work in physical education at Drake University. She was a veteran of the Korean War.

Early life and education

Shadduck was born in Mattoon, Wisconsin on October 28, 1923. She grew up on a farm, attending a one-room schoolhouse for her elementary education.

Her first job was at a local electric company, where she asked for equal pay and was refused, leading her to quit. During World War II, she became a Rosie the Riveter and tested out steel drums. In May of 1949, Shadduck joined the Women's Army Corps and later served in the Korean War. She graduated with honors. She later earned her MA and PhD from Michigan State University. She was responsible for hiring Drake's first women's basketball coach and their first women's athletic director.

Shadduck lobbied the school's athletic department to transition Drake's women's basketball from six-on-six to the traditional five-player teams. At the time, only Iowa and Oklahoma still restricted women to playing the six-by-six variant of the game, and Shadduck argued that this was incorrectly based on the idea that "girls could only run half a court... (and) couldn’t throw that far." She also argued this made it harder for women to get college basketball scholarships without five-player experience. Shadduck also argued for more female hires and better pay equality, saying that: "While Iowa was ahead of other states, sexism continues in the number and salaries of women coaches and in media coverage".

Shadduck created a coordinated physical education program for men and women at Drake, but the leadership position of the new program was assigned to a man. She filed a discrimination lawsuit against Drake, which was eventually settled. She also served for 12 years on the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and was a leader in the Older Women's League. In 2008, she called out the media for the negative attention given to Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Death and legacy

Shadduck died on May 7, 2022. She is buried in Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, Iowa.

In 2019, Shadduck was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.