Mabel Lee

Mabel Lee (18 August 1886 - 3 December 1985) was a physical education teacher, advocate, and author, best known for serving as the director of physical education for women at the University of Nebraska from 1924 to 1952, being the first woman president of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD), and being the first woman president of the American Academy of Physical Education (now National Academy of Kinesiology).

Life

Early years Lee was born in Clearfield, Iowa, on August 18, 1886, to Jennie Aikman Lee and David Alexander Lee, who worked in the lumber business for most of her childhood. Marie had three sisters and no brothers. In 1893, Lee moved with her family to Centerville, Iowa when David joined the coal business. She wanted to teach physical education, so she enrolled in the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, which was later acquired by Wellesley College.

The majority of Lee's career was as the director of physical education for women and a professor at the University of Nebraska. In her role, she expanded the PE department and served on several committees. In her time leading the UNL physical education department for women, participation in women's intramural sports expanded from 3% to 80%.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Lee substituted for First Lady Lou Hoover in presiding over the women's competitions. Her second book, Fundamentals of Body Mechanics and Conditioning (1949), was written with Miriam Wagner. Her final book on physical education, A History of Physical Education and Sports in the U.S.A. (1983), was published when she was 97.

Lee also received an Amy Morris Homans Fellowship Award from Wellesley College that resulted in two autobiographies: Memories of a Bloomer Girl, 1894-1924 (1977). and Memories Beyond Bloomers, 1924-1954 (1978). These books recount the history of the physical education movement in the United States in addition to Lee's life. Further, she served as the Academy's Interim President during 1938-1939, and President during 1941-1943.

Lee received several national awards including two from the American Association for Health, PE, and Recreation: the Luther Halsey Gulick Award in 1948 and the R. Tait McKenzie Award in 1968.