I enjoyed Joshua Walfish’s column in the April 19th edition of The Daily Northwestern about Northwestern’s golf teams – men and women. But I must comment on one statement in his article, “Luke Donald remains the only NCAA (golf) individual champion in school history.” That is true but perhaps should be augmented with a few more facts. Back in June of 1957, Meriam Bailey (now Leeke) completed her sophomore year final exams, put her golf clubs in her car, and drove to the University of Illinois for match play in the then 13th annual Women’s National Intercollegiate Golf Tournament. She won! NCAA championships for women golfers hadn’t been invented yet, so the intercollegiate championship was the top prize for women. During her college days at NU, while studying for finals, she competed in three straight U.S. Opens and made the 36 hole cut each year. She also won the Illinois Women’s Amateur, the Women’s Western Amateur, the Chicago District Women’s Amateur, and others. Meriam later represented the U.S. on the Curtis Cup Team, competing against the top women amateur golfers from Great Britain. She played for 10 years on both the amateur and professional golf circuits but always as an amateur. Her competitors were the top women golfers of that era – Louise Suggs, Patty Berg, Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls, Betty Jameson, Joanne Sunderson Carner, and others. Her years of competitive golf sharpened her skills in concentration and in operating under intense pressure. And public speaking. Later she had a private pilots license and piloted her own plane. Although Meriam had many victories on golf courses, she is proudest of having helped shatter the glass ceiling against women in business and university administration. Because of her reputation as a competitive golfer, she was appointed to be the first woman director on two major bank boards in Michigan and also on the board of two universities, one of which now has 30,000 students. Her NU degree in finance impressed her fellow board members who soon asked other women to join Meriam on their boards. Meriam is a member of NU’s Athletic Hall of Fame. You can spot her cheering for the Wildcats during football season at Ryan Field. So, although Meriam didn’t win an NCAA individual golf championship, her victory in the Women’s National Intercollegiate Golf Tournament in 1957 predated and was equivalent to an NCAA championship. Dale Park