50 Iowa moments since Title IX: North Liberty school named after Christine Grant

Editor’s note: This is 25th in a series counting down the top 50 moments in Iowa Hawkeyes women’s athletics history in the 50 days leading up to the 50th anniversary of Title IX in June.

Former Iowa women’s basketball player Jaime (Printy) Brandt still remembers the first time she met Christine Grant.

The nationally-renowned Title IX pioneer addressed the Hawkeyes in their locker room after a practice.

“It was a privilege to listen to her speak about her own life and the accomplishments that she had,” Brandt said at Grant’s celebration of life service.

Now Brandt has a different privilege — teaching at Christine Grant Elementary School in North Liberty.

When the Iowa City Community School District named its future North Liberty elementary school after Grant in 2014, she already had plenty of awards and honors from national organizations.

But the naming of a school had a special meaning for the education-focused Grant.

“She would always say, of all of the awards and things that she had in her career, that was by far the biggest honor of her life,” said Lisa Cellucci, Iowa’s field hockey head coach.

Amy Wilson, the NCAA’s director for inclusion and an understudy of Grant, said Grant “firmly believed that education is power and that’s how you move forward.”

“Having Christine Grant Elementary School — I don’t know if there could be a better way to honor her,” Wilson said on Iowa’s HERkys’ Voice podcast. “That meant so much to her. It was so wonderful.”

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