UW-Oshkosh’s only women’s athletic director and five-sport head coach, Helen Briwa grew up in a time when the concept of women’s collegiate sports was simply a dream. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Briwa and other pioneers of women’s athletics dedicated their lives to making this dream a reality.
Briwa held the position from 1971-88 and during that time UW-Oshkosh's seven women's programs combined to win three national championships and 18 WIAC titles.
Briwa grew up when the concept of participating in women's collegiate athletics was simply a dream. In college, the Hudson, N.Y., native participated at the highest level of field hockey, lacrosse, basketball, softball and tennis offered to women. Those teams operated on a weekly sign-up, practice and competition basis. As a field hockey player, Briwa made the Mohawk Association First Team and Northeast Region Second Team. In lacrosse, Briwa's team qualified for regional and national tournaments.
Briwa brought her competitive drive and passion for women's athletics to UW-Oshkosh in 1968. In 1970, Briwa was a member of a three-person committee that drafted the constitution for the then-called Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The conference was formed the following year and Briwa was named UW-Oshkosh's Women's Director of Athletics. Briwa was a member of the Search and Screen Committee that selected the WWIAC’s first commissioner. She served as the league's President in 1982 and Past President in 1983. Shortly after, UW-Oshkosh women were competing for collegiate glory on courts, in fields, in pools, and on tracks across Wisconsin as well as the country.
In 1971, Briwa became UW-Oshkosh’s first women’s athletic director. Athletic director was not Briwa’s only title during this time as she was also an associate professor in the UW-Oshkosh Physical Education Department, head coach of women’s badminton (1974, 1978-79), field hockey (1968-92), softball (1971-72, 1976), track & field (1969, 1974-77) and volleyball (1968-73). Besides those duties she also was the Charter Commissioner of the Midwest Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) and president of the WWIAC.
As UW-Oshkosh field hockey coach, Briwa coached several players to individual honors in both the College North Field Hockey Association (NCFHA) and WWAIC during her 14-year stint as head coach. Many of these standout performers, such as Danielle Bauer, Sharon Butz, Darla Deville, Linda Hobbs, Ellen Krabbe, Janet Mueller and Faye Salisbury were beginners before Briwa took them under her wing and showed them how to soar down the field. In 1981, Briwa was selected as the WWIAC’s field hockey coach of the year.
Briwa’s never-ending dedication to women’s athletics and expectation for excellence is most apparent in the number of championship teams produced by UW-Oshkosh during her time as women’s athletic director. From 1971-1988 Briwa oversaw two NCAA Division III titles, one NAIA crown, one Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division III championship and 18 WWIAC titles.
Briwa retired as a professor in UW-Oshkosh's Physical Education Department in 1994. She received a Special Recognition Award from the WWIAC in 1989 following her retirement as women’s athletic director in 1988 and was inducted into the WIAC Hall of Fame in 2022.
Briwa earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Skidmore College (N.Y.) in 1953, master’s degree in physical education from Smith College (Mass.) in 1956 and doctorate degree in physical education and guidance from The Ohio State University in 1966.
Briwa resides in Oshkosh, where she continues to serve as a member of the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame Committee, Badger Dachshund Club and Dachshund Club of America.
Updated February 14, 2025
