As the story goes, they spent at least one night before a big game sleeping in a barn. School colors were sometimes absent from their bargain basement jerseys. Occasionally, their coach might miss a match because he was making decent money parking cars at a classy Seattle restaurant.

Yet no one took the Washington Huskies lightly. These Huskies bonded tightly together, relishing their results achieved against formidable, better funded opponents. In fact, they once marched unscathed through an entire season to win a conference championship and later snapped the longest unbeaten streak in collegiate state history. They did so while not costing UW athletics a single dime.

The 15 years preceding the advent of varsity women’s soccer at Washington were full of lofty accomplishments and colorful characters in that self-funded club. The shame is that U-Dub leaders never saw fit to support them and, more than three decades later, their feats have gone unrecognized and have been largely forgotten.

Family members around the world scour libraries and online archives to uncover their bloodlines and cultural heritage to better understand themselves. They develop a deeper sense of self, belonging and what has effectively sculpted their existence. They come to know, at least partly, why they are who they are.

While the official UW soccer record book starts with the first varsity team in 1991, here are stories of their forerunners, the club. They loved the game, and they enjoyed one another and playing for their school. Together, they were the outright first women of Washington Huskies soccer.

Absolute First All-American

Missing from that record book is the name of a future United States international. More than that, Denise Bender was the first player from any college in the state, male or female, to be voted All-America. Bender, who grew up on Mercer Island, started her studies and played for the pre-varsity club at Washington State. Along with her identical twin sister Laurie, who was a member of Western Washington’s varsity, they were voted all-Northwest Collegiate Soccer Conference defenders as freshmen and sophomores. Wazzu and Western shared the NCSC title in 1978.

After two years on the Palouse, Bender opted to return home. Once she enrolled, “it was a no-brainer to play for the U,” she said. Around that time, she had begun playing for former UW coach Mike Ryan’s PCI Sharks, the state’s top amateur side. The Sharks won the inaugural U.S. Amateur championship in 1980 and, under subsequent sponsors Ramlosa and Lowenbrau, would eventually threepeat in 1982.

Whereas WSU practiced daily, training was only twice a week on Montlake. “There’s a high commitment to just the college itself,” Bender noted, “and most of the people were committed to academics.” Without scholarships most of the players held part-time jobs to pay tuition.

Oregon’s newly minted varsity and UW would finish with identical conference records of 9-1-3 in 1980. Half of the NCSC was comprised of varsity programs (UO, Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark, Whitman) and the other half clubs (UW, WSU, Oregon State and, due to a one-season funding cut, Western). With Bender and Sharks keeper Patti Cox anchoring the defense, the Huskies allowed only nine goals.

Following that first year at Washington, Bender was voted to the national coaches’ 1980 All-America team. Not until 1985 would another program in the state be represented. UW got its first male All-American, Eddie Henderson, in 1989, and in 1993 Melanie Brennan first represented the women’s varsity.

The All-America honor surprised Bender, who still doesn’t know who nominated her. There clearly was no promotional effort by the UW sports information office. It was simply soccer coaches recognizing excellence and voting accordingly.

She had been an all-around athlete as a youth, competing in gymnastics, diving, basketball and track. At 15, she added footy, playing for the Jockettes. Bender then played on the first three Mercer Island High School varsity teams (1975-77).

Traci Brown initially took notice of Bender when the Huskies met the Cougars. “Denise Bender is in a whole different class,” said Brown. “When I first saw her playing for Wazzu, I just remember thinking, ‘She’s another level.’ I was good at destroying, but she was thinking a few plays ahead of everyone.”

Ryan was named the first U.S. Women’s National team coach in 1983. While there would be no actual matches those first two years, Ryan issued “paper teams,” effectively naming who he would’ve picked to play. Bender was selected for both teams. When the USWNT finally received sufficient funding to travel to Italy for the first international games in 1985, Ryan named the 26-year-old as captain.

Michelle Akers, the 19-year-old from Shoreline playing for those 85ers, was impressed by Bender as well. “Denise was just calm and cool. Reliable and consistent,” said Akers. “And an incredibly nice person.”

The Traveling Sisterhood

Nothing came easily for those pre-varsity Huskies. For uniforms, the players reached into their pockets. For travel, they occasionally held garage sales at University Village, and the university would sometimes provide the use of a van, which could accommodate around 10 players, plus gear; the others packed into private vehicles. For field time, it was a scramble for space, along with the intramural sports.

The men would regularly train and play home games on the crowned Husky Stadium turf. The women would get the odd date at the stadium. More often they practiced and played on the shaggy grass pitches east of the stadium, “where all the ducks and geese pooped,” remembered Kathy (Ballew) Graves.

“At times our games were played at the same time as the football games,” added Graves. “Sometimes our biggest fans were the guys peeing on the wall outside the stadium and turning around and rooting for us.”

In 1980 Jerome Rauen, a UW player recruited by Ryan and having recently completed his senior season, became the women’s head coach. Rauen would eventually become the club’s longest tenured coach, staying through 1984. With minimal resources from the Department of Recreational Sports, he learned to schedule games around sorority rush and dances, searched for dollar deals on balls and jerseys and throughout his time strongly advocated for giving the club varsity status.

Unable to afford hotels on the road, the players worked every possible connection. For example, during their first Bay Area trip, the team stayed at a Stanford professor’s home for a few nights while the prof was off traveling. Other times, sorority members phoned their affiliated houses at other campuses and arranged to have the team sack-out on the kitchen floor. 

Bonnie (Broughton) Wharton once missed the van/car caravan and, consequently, drove herself across the state to Pullman in her dad’s small pickup. She parked, ate and slept outside a fast-food joint, then changed into her uniform in the restroom the next morning. “Now thinking back, I can’t imagine,” said Wharton. “If my kid did that, I’d freak out.”

En route to Eugene for a 1980 game, the Huskies stayed at the farm of midfielder Nancy Kestek’s grandmother. “Her grandma opened her house to us, cooked us a huge dinner and big breakfast the next day,” Brown recalled fondly. “We slept in the barn, played with the cows and maybe smoked some weed.”

On the way home from a northern California trip in 1984, Wharton was in a car with three others trailing the team van, when the vehicle broke down on Interstate 5, outside of Chico. A passerby kindly towed them to a convenience store. They had no way of alerting Rauen or anyone in the van. Finally, a store customer called his mechanic and offered them lodging in an unused trailer on his bull farm.

“For a while it seemed kind of sketchy, and we wondered what we’d gotten ourselves into,” confessed Wharton. While waiting for parts and the repaired head gasket, they stayed three nights, dining with the farmer’s family.

Playing for Perfection

The Husky women started the Eighties by going 16-2-6 the first two seasons. As younger, more developed players joined the club, the caliber of play was elevated. With Oregon (which dealt the only two losses; the ’81 Ducks reached the national semifinals) demoted to club status, Washington was primed for something special in 1982.

First came an eight-goal onslaught versus Evergreen, in its second year as an NAIA varsity. That was followed by a 4-0 win at another varsity newcomer, Seattle University. The pummeling continued through October. By November the Huskies were on the verge of clinching the conference. Still, they were the beneficiaries of good fortune when visiting Puget Sound, their closest challengers.

Playing in a heavy rain at Tacoma, the Loggers were pulling away, up 3-nil in the first half. Washington was unable to venture out of its end due to standing water. However, during halftime the referee ruled that the rapidly deteriorating conditions made the entire field unplayable. The game was abandoned. Ten days later, after winning 2-1 against Portland’s varsity, Washington won the replay 2-0 at UPS to remain perfect. Another romp over Evergreen raised the record to 17-0-0.

The season’s final game was at home against Washington State. It marked the first time the student newspaper, The Daily, staffed a women’s home match. Connecting with Kathy Johnson’s cross, Tracy Cook staked UW to the early lead with her 24^th goal. With 20 minutes remaining, Ballew – who had hit the post earlier – put away the Cougars from close range. The 2-0 victory was the 15^th shutout by a defense featuring Bender, Mary Guisti and keeper Arlene Beerman.

“Denise innately knew the game,” remarked Graves. “She was our sweeper and a super great leader, aware of where to move players. It felt like it was impossible for anyone to score on us.”

But Nowhere to Go

“It was an amazing team,” said Graves. “Here we were, going to U-Dub and we were part of this amazing team. We had such high expectations for the program.”

Graves and teammate Karen Eans filed paperwork for a Title IX-based lawsuit against the university administration. What they really wanted was varsity status. Without it, the Huskies could not be considered for the NCAA tournament and thus compete with the likes of North Carolina for a national championship. For UW’s club, 18-0-0 was as good as it would get.

“We had these t-shirts made that said, ’18 and O and Nowhere to Go,’” said Graves.

The Daily’s Scott Reid wrote: “By itself, the women’s championship is quite a feat, but then when one considers that women’s soccer at the UW isn’t a varsity sport, it is all the more impressive.”

The following season, Western’s re-formed varsity would return to the top of the league, going 14-0-0 and handing the Huskies their only two defeats. In 1984, the Vikings would repeat in the NCSC. Washington would leave its mark, though.

The season started with UW going unbeaten on a compacted, four-game trip to the Bay Area. A 3-1 win over California featured a Kris Jorgensen brace (Jorgensen would transfer to Berkeley in 1985 to play for the Bears’ varsity). The Huskies managed a 2-2 draw at Santa Clara.

Western beat UW to gain the inside track to the league crown before Washington reeled off nine straight wins going into the return match on Halloween night at Husky Stadium. The Vikings, unbeaten in 38 games, were beaten by Washington, 2-1, on goals from Karla (Hossfeld) Bunnell and Wharton. Highlights were shown on the local 11 o’clock news.

Wharton quipped: “We won, and when I was on the TV news that night I thought, ‘Huh, they’re showing women’s soccer on the news? That must’ve been a big game.’”

Bunnell had been well aware of the stakes. “They were our rival, Western. They had a crazy streak going,” she said. “They were already varsity. That was one of my most memorable games (and scoring the winning goal), that was my claim to fame.”

A Scrappy Attitude

When Wharton returned home from a U18 national team camp in Philadelphia following her high school senior year, there were no phone messages or mailings from college coaches offering scholarships awaiting her. “I thought that was the highlight of my career, and I was done.” She was planning to attend UW, then some friends told her and Bunnell about the club.

“Back then I don’t remember being looked at by other colleges. It wasn’t the thing,” said Bunnell, whose parents met at UW. “I wanted to go to U-Dub, and soccer was very important to me and playing for your school and especially your college was big for me.”

“It was important, we were still having fun doing it,” added Bunnell, “and we were pretty good. We never had a season where I wondered why I am playing.”

For four years, the on-field success and absence of rules made for good times. Many players over the eras remain close to this day. Brown, Bender and their teammates formed a book club that meets regularly. “We’ve matured, sort of,” said Brown.

Beyond abilities, one of Washington’s strongest attributes was the team’s oneness.

“We were very close as teammates, probably because we didn’t have anything,” reasoned Brown. “It was like boot camp, in that we didn’t have a lot of support around us, so we took care of each other really well.”

There was also a fire burning just below the surface. The frustrations with UW administrators over pleas for varsity status, the travel and training struggles – they no doubt had an effect. Rauen could rile Graves with just a subtle gesture, like the time a UPS player left cleat marks on her leg, and the coach responded by providing her a simple butterfly Band-Aid.

The club vs. varsity angle was always top of mind going into a game, said Bunnell. “Back in that day you always had something to prove if you were a club team playing against a varsity team.”

“For us, beating a team with a good reputation was our way of showing we could hang with them, that we were still a valid team,” said Wharton. “We kind of had that scrappy attitude that we could play against them. We couldn’t go on to any (postseason) tournaments, but we’ll show them. It was just our competitive nature. We were only club, but we could compete. You guys get money, and we’re sleeping in cars (on the road), and we can still beat you.”

Righting a Letter

In 2023, Denise Bender’s twin, Laurie, traveled to Bellingham for a luncheon ceremony. Those post-Title IX women’s club sports were brought back to campus after some 40 years to receive varsity letters from Western Washington.

Janet Charnley was among Laurie Bender’s teammates and a high school teammate of Brown. Charnley played three years when the Vikings were a club. “It was an amazing experience to be there, all the women athletes, some winning championships and breaking records and never being acknowledged (before).”

Western was not the first to reach back and attempt to make amends. Stanford did so in 1995, retroactively awarding varsity letters to 2,200 women. Oregon did much the same in 2011.

For the past two years, Denise Bender and her 1985 USWNT peers have been honored for their pioneering efforts around the 40-year anniversary of the federation’s first full international contest. Forty years earlier, making history had never crossed her mind.

“When you’re in it, you’re in the game. Your passion is driving you,” she shared. “With Title IX, I was 17-18 and not thinking about making a political statement when I’m playing soccer for the UW. It’s just a passion and you’re competitive. You’re just in the moment.

“At the time, you put up with a bunch of shit. You’re grateful that you get to do the things that you love so, you put up with it,” said Bender. “We practiced hard and committed our time, energy and finances to become the best at our sport. You’re not thinking that 40 years later you’ll get recognized for that. But when you look back, you think, ‘What we did was pretty amazing.’”