Historic Profile: Janet Shock and Eva Shorb
Women Making History Playing on Men's Teams
JANET SHOCK AND EVA SHORB: WOMEN MAKING HISTORY PLAYING ON MEN’S TEAMS
Women’s collegiate golf in the 1930s was essentially non-existent. In fact, it wasn’t until 1941 that a women’s national intercollegiate golf tournament would be started at Ohio State. While several women in the past had attempted to join their college’s golf team, nearly all of them were either turned away or outright banned from what was deemed the “men’s team” as only a handful of colleges across the country had anything resembling an organized women’s golf team. Remarkably, two women at schools in the Ohio Conference were able to come together for a match in 1938 as representatives of their respective college golf teams. This is the story of how Janet Shock (Beardsley) and Eva Shorb (Weiskopf) made college golf history.
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1938: Shock vs Shorb Matches
In the Spring of 1938, both Denison University and Wooster College were members of the Ohio Conference with fairly new golf programs. Another commonality they shared was having a highly-touted female golfer on campus who was not content with the lack of competitive options. Although both faced similar challenges at their respective schools, Janet Shock of Denison and Eva Shorb of Wooster had wildly different collegiate golf experiences. Even so, this pair of extraordinary women made college golf history when they played against each other on two separate occasions as members of their college golf teams...sort of.
Making the Team
Several Ohio newspapers in early February through March 1938 were peppered with stories headlined with the names Eva Shorb and Janet Shock along with words like “Feminine Golfer” and “Banned” or “Barred.” Given the timeframe, you’d be forgiven for assuming that at least some of these articles would scoff at the idea of a girl golfer on the boy’s team. Perhaps there was the odd article that espoused this notion, however, practically all of newspaper writers expressed support for the women. In fact, the decision to prevent the players from competing elicited reactions ranging from mild disappointment to outright derision at the decision makers. Even with this backing, the chances of either woman making her college team seemed bleak.
Things turned around in late April as a few obstacles were cleared. First, Denison AD Walter Livingston was able to get things squared away with the school’s head of the Women’s Physical Education Department, Helen Barr, so that Janet Shock would be allowed to try out for the team. She didn’t waste the opportunity. Janet earned the number 4 spot on the Denison University golf team with a 15-foot putt on the 54th qualifying hole, edging out one of her male peers by a single stroke. With Janet’s spot (finally) secure, the next obstacle was Eva’s. As the first match of the season against Denison loomed, Wooster’s Coach L.C. Boles overruled his college’s Women’s Physical Education Department and (finally) added Shorb to the Wooster golf team roster. Thus, the match was set.
Denison vs Wooster Match #1 [Apr 22, 1938]
Like most college golf matches of the time, each of the Denison players - in this case 5, although matches usually had anywhere from 4 to 6 players - paired up against a Wooster player for an 18 hole medal match. The popular Nassau scoring system was used in each match, awarding a point for the lowest score on the front 9 holes, a point for the lowest back 9 score, and a point for the lowest total 18 hole score. Half points were given to each player in the event of a tie in any of these categories. At the end of the match, the players would determine their point total which was then added to the team total.
On this day, Denison University outscored Wooster College by a score of 13.5 to 1.5. Most of the talk was about the historic match between the two women who each became the first to earn points in a varsity golf match for their teams as Janet Shock took the individual match by a score of 2.5 to Eva Shorb’s 0.5. Several newspapers put the match in context by declaring these the first points earned by women playing on a “men’s” collegiate golf team in the entire state of Ohio. It seems likely based on current research that they were one of the first to do so (at least on a varsity team) across the entire country in the history of the sport. With pressure like that, it’s no wonder their scores were a little higher than usual.
Denison vs Wooster Match #2 [May 17, 1938]
A little less than a month after their first match, Denison and Wooster were scheduled to play their second and final dual match of the season. Between these two matches, Janet Shock had earned several more points for the Denison golf team, never failing to at least tie her (always male) competitor in the 8 additional matches. Conversely, Eva Shorb had not been allowed to compete in another match as a full member of the Wooster golf team. Unfortunately this was also the case for the second match against Denison as school officials declared that even though Shorb could play 18 holes at the same time as the other Wooster and Denison players, her score and any subsequent points would not count towards the official team total. Thus the second match between Shock and Shorb was deemed an “exhibition” and Janet’s official opponent was a male member of the Wooster team, Herb Boyle. While Shock and Shorb split points in their exhibition match, Boyle became the first of Shock’s opponents to beat her in an individual match, taking all 3 points.
The Rest of the Story
Even if this was the end of the collegiate golf careers for both players, the 1938 matches between Janet Shock and Eva Shorb would be incredibly historic. Fortunately, through great effort and determination, this was not the end for either woman and there was even more history made. Below we’ll get into some of the details regarding each of their collegiate golf careers as well as touching on a part of their lasting legacies.
JANET SHOCK (BEARDSLEY)
Background
The daughter of a golf course manager, the aptly named Janet Shock and her brother Don were exposed to the game at an early age. She joined her high school’s first ever golf team as a freshman and would go on to letter all four years. Not only was she succeeding against male players her age, she was also dominating against older players, winning both the Dayton City Amateur and the Dayton District Golf Championships multiple times between 1935 and 1939. Although she played mostly regional and state tournaments, Janet was already a renowned player before entering college, even going so far as making the Ohio Women’s Championship Finals.
1938
Due to the rule that freshmen could not play on intercollegiate teams, it wasn’t until Shock’s sophomore year in 1938 that she made the push to join “men’s” golf team. Initially it seemed that she would follow the same pattern as the women who had attempted this same path before: no clear rules against her competing and a coach/AD who was willing to give her a chance to try out for the team, but ultimately blocked by administrators with a number of reasons why they thought it was a bad idea for women to compete against men. As mentioned above, however, the pathway did clear up for Shock and she went on to have a very successful season.
Not only did Janet make history by making the Denison team, earning points in several matches, and even competing in a match against another female player, she also did something that very well might not have happened before or since. The conclusion to the 1938 Denison golf team’s season was the 3rd annual Ohio Conference championship, a 36-hole stroke play only tournament that included Denison, Marietta, Oberlin, Wooster, Ashland, Kenyon, and Toledo. Janet had cemented her role as the number 4 player on her team, and thus became the first woman to compete in a golf conference championship, at the very least in the state of Ohio. She didn’t just compete, however, she finished 8th (of 32 players) individually and her score made the difference in Denison leaving with the team title.
For all of her considerable efforts, Janet earned one final piece of history that first season when she became the first woman (again at least in the state of Ohio) to earn a varsity letter for golf.
1939
Along with all of the collegiate accolades from the previous season, Janet entered her Junior year as the reigning Ohio Women’s State champion, a title she would claim again in 1940 and 1942. Unfortunately this wouldn’t stop an attempt at keeping Janet off of the team again. Losing her spot in qualifying seemed like it might give all of the needed leverage to bar her from the team, however she was able to regain her spot in a final qualifier and from there the rest of her season was never in doubt.
Once she was finally able to settle back into her familiar spot on the team, Shock would repeat many of the same feats as the previous year, minus the competition with any other women playing in a similar role on other teams. Janet continued to impress in all of her matches against male competitors, and she again represented Denison well at the Ohio Conference Championship, although the team fell short of retaining their title. At the end of the season she was awarded her second earned varsity letter, a rare, if not completely unique, accomplishment for women at that time.
Life was apparently very good for Janet both on and off the course. During the year she met basketball star and eventual husband, Charles “Chuck” Beardsley. The two would eventually get married in 1943 and have two children together.
1940
Surprisingly, not much is known about what happened during the 1940 season as none of the biographies this author could find mentioned Shock’s final year at Denison. The school yearbook has her listed as a Senior and having been a member of the golf team, but very little info can be gleaned regarding her collegiate golf exploits this year. It’s possible that she was finally barred from playing, however it’s likely that would have made headlines. In any case, Janet seems to have successfully completed all of her coursework and graduated from Denison before moving on to live a rich, full life.
Legacy
Janet Shock Beardsley was inducted into Denison’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980. Over the course of her life she served as a member of the USGA Junior Girls and Senior Women’s Committees, and was a regular competitor in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur as well as the Ohio Senior Women’s Championship, which she won in 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1981. These achievements as well as several others eventually earned her a spot in the Ohio Golf Association Hall of Fame. Mrs. Beardsley passed away in 2007 at the age of 89, leaving behind an incredible legacy that earned her the moniker of The First Lady of Dayton golf.
EVA SHORB (WEISKOPF)
Background
Eva Shorb, one of seven daughters born to an avid golfer of a father, didn’t find her way to the sport until almost high school, but she picked up the game quickly. She was the first girl to earn a letter at her high school, a cool piece of history which was remarkably rediscovered in the 2000s at a garage sale. Shorb arrived at Wooster in 1936, the same year that she took legendary Patty Berg to the final hole in a match for the Women’s US Amateur title. Like Janet Shock, Shorb was another outstanding player who had won a number of regional tournaments and seemed likely to have been a standout collegiate player if she had been given much of a chance.
1938
A member of a Wooster women’s golf club along with a dozen or so other players, it seemed likely that Shorb would follow the only path available to most women at colleges across the country. It’s clear that Eva and Wooster’s golf coach, L.C. Boles, wanted her to join the “men’s”/regular golf team, however she was stymied by the school’s policy on women competing with men, which was staunchly enforced by Wooster’s Head of the Physical Education Department. It appears that Coach/AD Boles wanted Shorb to play badly enough that he made a last minute call to override the previous decision and let her join the Wooster team in a match against Denison’s Janet Shock in April 1938. That decision wasn’t able to stick, however, as by the next Wooster vs Denison match the following month, Shorb’s re-match against Shock was deemed an “exhibition” and Eva was never again allowed to play on the “men’s” golf team. Looking back in the Wooster yearbook, Eva isn’t listed as a member of the 1938 golf team and did not receive the same recognition that Janet did at Denison in the form of a varsity letter.
1939
Eva made the hard decision to leave Wooster after two years and transferred to Mount Union in the hopes of playing varsity collegiate golf. Due to transfer rules at the time, she was not allowed to play on the varsity team that first year, but made her skill known with a 6&5 match victory against Mount Union’s #1 (male) varsity player. By all accounts Eva’s Junior year was about as successful as possible, and she seemed prepped for the final payoff expected the following season.
1940
The details and reasoning are a little fuzzy, but what is known is that Eva left Mount Union in April, 1940. Multiple articles make it clear that she had made the varsity team, which makes her departure somewhat perplexing. It’s unknown based on the available info, but it appears that because she didn’t play for the season she did not earn the coveted varsity letter.
Legacy
Not long after college, Eva Shorb married a golf pro (not a touring pro) named Thomas Weiskopf. Together they had three children including a son named Tom who would go on to be an outstanding collegiate golfer at Ohio State, an even better PGA Tour professional, and 1973 British Open champion. Although it seems Mrs. Weiskopf did not pursue much competitive golf following the WWII years, her impact on the sport continued to be recognized long after her death in 1999. In the 2014-15 season, the Wooster Women’s Fall Invitational was renamed the Eva Shorb Weiskopf Invitational. The tournament, which still runs as of the 2023-24 season, has had a number of different teams play over the course of nearly a decade, but it’s fitting that among the six teams in that first tournament was both Mount Union and Denison.