The Mangold sisters played both singles and doubles tennis at Iowa State with only one good racket between the two of them.

“We’d flip a coin to see who got to play with the better racket,” Cathy Mangold Harrington said. “It’s nothing like today, where people have three or four rackets.”

Christine Mangold and her twin sister, Harrington, played Cyclone tennis from 1969-73.

Harrington said there were around 12 women on the tennis team during the time period the sisters played. The team didn’t receive any rackets, ISU clothing or even uniforms from the university.

“Everyone wore their own tennis skirts and tops,” Harrington said. “So when we took our team picture we were a mismatched bunch; none of us looked alike as far as our clothing.”

The tennis team trekked to places such as Luther, Drake and Southern Illinois, but usually didn’t compete against Big Eight schools. At that time, there wasn’t a lot of travel involved in women’s athletics.

“Traveling with the team to these different little schools, we just felt cool,” Mangold said. “There weren’t a lot of women’s teams going on the road and playing then.”

Love of the game

The pair remembers a time when sports were played solely for the love of the game.

“From early on, we loved our sport and money had nothing to do with it,” Harrington said. “I think [the love of the sport tied] everyone together from our era; we didn’t have notoriety or anything like that.”

The twins came to Iowa State from Sioux City, where they grew up playing tennis. There weren’t any scholarships or recruiting going on during the launch of women’s tennis at Iowa State.

“I guess there was somewhat of a tryout, but they sure didn’t do recruiting or anything like now,” Mangold said. “We were all local Iowa girls — it’s certainly not the same now.”

Besides the changes in team composition, Mangold said current women athletes are in better shape.

“Women’s conditioning has changed so much,” Mangold said. “With the weight room and conditioning [today] you have to be a physical specimen and have a real good body.”

Now and then

Thirty years later, the twins are still active tennis players. Mangold is a freelance graphic designer in Minneapolis and still loves sports of all kinds.

“I play tennis, I ski and I play volleyball,” Mangold said. “Sports have always been a part of my life and that has not stopped. For me, [sports are] just fabulous and to not have sports in my life would [leave] a big hole.”

Harrington is a middle level art teacher in Lincoln, Neb. She still plays on a United States Tennis Association team, but recently left the court and went into the pool for rehabilitation.

“I had knee surgery in the fall and I’m trying to recover,” Harrington said. “Hopefully I’ll be rearing to go this spring and summer to play tennis.”

The women both have daughters who are following in their mothers’ footsteps. Mangold’s daughter, Kelsey, is a freshman at Concordia in St. Paul, Minn., where she plays on the varsity volleyball team.

“I would take her out to play tennis [when she was younger],” Mangold said. “I think she’s quite athletic and if she put more time into [tennis] she’d be good, but she loves volleyball.”

Harrington has four children and said all of them have been on the tennis court, but chose to play other sports such as football and volleyball competitively.

“They all love [tennis, because] it’s something they can do in their free time. It’s more of a pastime for them,” Harrington said. “They don’t play [tennis] competitively, but they all enjoy going out and hitting the ball. I think when football and volleyball are over, they’ll be able to remember tennis is something they’ll be able to play all their lives.”

In fact, the twins’ daughters came close to meeting on the volleyball court. Harrington’s daughter Molly plays volleyball for Rockhurst in Kansas City, Mo. Both Kelsey and Molly’s teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen of the Division II volleyball championships, and the two cousins were one match away from meeting in the Elite Eight.

“It’s really interesting,” Harrington said. “We’ve got these two daughters who are extremely close cousins and they have so much in common.”

Wonderful memories

Mangold said she has wonderful memories of her time at Iowa State and her time in Cyclone athletics has filtered over to other aspects of her life.

“Sports were in my life before I went [to Iowa State], and going there made it even stronger,” Mangold said. “It’s carried over to the rest of my life and that is a very important thing to me.”

Five years ago, Iowa State held its first celebration of women in athletics, and Harrington said she is again looking forward to reuniting with fellow ISU women athletes.

“We had a great time five years ago,” Harrington said. “It was such an emotional weekend because [they] remembered those of us who were early in women’s sports. I think we felt no one really remembered us and then someone came up with this celebration.

“It’s nice they are recognizing that we loved our sport just as much as people love it now. It’s just, at that time, there wasn’t the money for it, so it wasn’t as prominent as it [is] now. We loved what we did and we didn’t care if we got money or not.”

Other attendees at the Celebration of Women in Athletics

Monica Missel Youngblut 1984

Monica Missel Youngblut was a forward on the ISU women’s basketball team from 1982-86. She won the Ralph Olsen Award in 1984 and 1985 for the most outstanding contributor to the team. The honor was given from 1983-97 and named after the late Ralph Olsen, who was a lifelong friend of ISU athletics.

Until recent years, Youngblut was on Iowa State’s top 10 list for free-throw percentage. During the 1984-85 season, she made 77.5 percent of her free throws.

Today, Youngblut lives in Davenport where she is a registered nurse in cardiac research.

Earlier in her life, Youngblut spent time coaching but since has taken a role of spectator.

“When [my daughter Mallory] was young, I coached for Davenport Assumption [High School] in the early 1990s until I had our second child and decided to be home with them more and watch them play from the sides,” Youngblut said.

Youngblut’s daughter Mallory currently plays for Davenport Assumption, the No. 1 team in Iowa’s Class 3A. Youngblut said she spends most of her time watching her daughter and has noticed a difference in today’s female athletes.

“They’re a lot bigger and faster,” Youngblut said. “They seem to have a lot better range than we ever did. We didn’t have the 3-point shot when I was playing, so that’s changed the game a lot, especially at Iowa State.”

Susan Nosal Wiseman 1987

Susan Nosal Wiseman was a 1987 All-Conference honorable mention member of the ISU volleyball team. She was also a first-team Academic All-Conference selection.

Currently, Wiseman lives in Appleton, Wis., where she is the member service director at the Heart of the Valley YMCA.

Wiseman said her time on the ISU volleyball team taught her not only about the game, but also about life.

“I learned a lot about life, not just the sports life,” Wiseman said. “It opened up a lot of avenues and doors.”

Twenty to 30 years ago, women didn’t have a lot of opportunities in sports and Wiseman said playing volleyball gave her confidence.

“[Volleyball] gave me an opportunity. [It was] a head start that helped me immensely to work for the companies that I worked for when I got out of college,” Wiseman said. “I’m forever grateful to Iowa State for giving me the opportunity and memories.”

Wiseman said she is excited for this weekend and someday hopes to share Iowa State with her daughters, Mary, 10, and Sarah, 6.

“I think [celebrating women in athletics is] a great way to touch base with women who have given their time and energy to a sport they loved,” Wiseman said. “I love Iowa State for doing that.

“I’ve always loved Iowa State; they’ve always set themselves apart from everyone else, which is why I originally went to school there. I think [the celebration is] a nice touch for female athletes. It makes you feel unique and special, and I appreciate it.”