Janet Kohl Hoskins is part of the 2020 Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame induction class. The class will be inducted on Sat., Jan. 25.

Janet Hoskins grew up outside of Maize, helping raise sheep, baling hay and playing sports.
 
Children from nearby farms became her teammates and they played football, baseball and basketball. They made a high jump pit in the front yard and shoveled snow off the driveway for 5-on-5 basketball games.
 
"The only neighbors I had were nine boys," she said. "Therefore, we played sports. We were outside 90 percent of the time."
 
In the summers, she played baseball until age 10, when she said someone decided it was too dangerous for a girl. She switched to softball and played shortstop.
 
Hoskins, of course, played multiple sports, as they existed in the late 1960s for female athletes, at Maize High School. In basketball, she played rover, the lone athlete allowed to play offense and defense, in the six-on-six format. In track and field, she participated in softball throw and high jump.
 
It was a natural progression to play even more sports at Wichita State from 1968-72. She played field hockey, basketball, volleyball and softball on Wichita State's first female varsity teams. She later coached basketball, volleyball and track and field at Wichita State.
 
Hoskins, for her role as one of Wichita State's athletic pioneers, will be inducted into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. She retired in 2014 after a career in education and lives in Chapman with her husband, Merle Hoskins.
 
Hoskins earned Outstanding Woman Athlete honors from The Sunflower in 1972 and as a senior led the field hockey, volleyball and basketball teams in scoring.
 
"She was the person you went to on the court because she could always be depended on to come through," teammate Marcia Alterman said. "She was an amazing athlete for her time. She was the person you passed the ball to in basketball and set the ball to in volleyball."
 
Hoskins considered basketball her favorite sport and she had some experience in all those sports, except field hockey. She played in the first game she witnessed.
 
"I was not very good," she said. "As a freshman, my first class was field hockey/volleyball with Miss (Yvonne) Slingerland. She asked me if I wanted to come out and play for the field hockey team. I had no idea what I was doing."
 
While Wichita State dabbled in women's athletics in previous years, the programs didn't take on institutional permanence until the fall of 1969. Physical education professors Natasha Fife, Sue Bair and Slingerland coached the start-up programs, while continuing to teach.
 
"They just came up to the PE majors room and said 'Anyone want to play volleyball?'" Alana Pharis said. "We all said yes."
 
The Shockers played in-state opponents during those days, ranging from Kansas and Kansas State to Washburn and Marymount. Schedules often consisted of a Saturday trip by car to play several matches or games. There were no scholarships and the university didn't keep records until 1974, when it hired Fife as women's athletic director and joined the AIAW.
 
Many members of those teams remain friends, bonded by car rides and play days and fighting for meal money and recognition during the beginnings of women's athletics.
 
"Those of us that started it and played together are lifelong friends," Hoskins said.
 
Hoskins, 5-feet, 11 inches, played center in basketball and middle blocker in volleyball. She played hard because of her roots on the farm running, jumping and tackling with the boys.
 
"I'm a tad bit overly aggressive," she said. "I didn't waste my fouls."
 
She also served as a leader off the court.
 
Alterman remembers her convincing her teammates to help her finish farm chores, such as baling hay, so they could get to practice or play for fun. Hoskins, Alterman said, led an infamous trip through a blizzard to watch the AIAW national volleyball tournament in Lawrence in February 1971.
 
"Our mothers were all aghast," Alterman said. "But Janet said it was a good idea, so we went. She drove her 57 Chevy eight hours to Lawrence – yes, I said eight hours. It was one of the best experiences we ever had."