December 14, 2020
DURHAM, N.C. – Jameshia Levister has been announced as the assistant golf coach at North Carolina Central University, a position established through a Tara VanDerveer Fund for the Advancement of Women in Coaching grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF).
A former LPGA Futures Tour golfer, Levister played in the No. 1 spot on the NCCU men’s golf team during her time as a student-athlete under head coach Pete Hayes. In the 2001 season, she earned the Team MVP award and was selected as the CIAA Men’s Golf Rookie of the Year.
Levister played varsity basketball and varsity golf all four years at Belleview (Florida) High School, being named to the all-county golf team four times and named Golfer of the Year her junior and senior years.
After Belleview High School, she moved on to Lake City Community College as the captain of the women’s golf team. When the women’s team at LCCC was discontinued, she decided to attend NCCU and became the only woman to play on the men’s team among the CIAA institutions.
While living in Virginia after NCCU, she won the 2004 Virginia Women’s Amateur tournament, becoming the first African American to win a women’s state tournament in the history of the VSGA. That victory, alongside high finishes in several other tournaments, propelled her to become Virginia Women’s Golfer of the Year the same year.
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In 2006, Levister turned professional and became a member of the Professional Golf Association (PGA). She became a teacher of the game, as well as playing tournaments on the professional level. In 2010, she joined the LPGA Futures Tour (now Symetra Tour). She spent three seasons touring the world competing among the best female golfers in world and capturing multiple top-10 finishes.
Levister left the tour in 2014 after the death of her father, but continued to teach and play golf. In 2014, she won the Middle Atlantic PGA Women’s Championship, and just seven months later, won the MAPGA Senior-Junior tournament.
NCCU is one of 10 universities and colleges to receive this year’s Women’s Sports Foundation grants, which were designated for female coaching fellows across all three NCAA divisions in a wide variety of women’s sports as well as strength and conditioning.
WSF began awarding grants from the VanDerveer Fund in 2019 to address the lack of women in coaching positions at all levels of sport. Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, the percentage of women in head coaching roles for women’s NCAA sports has steadily declined from 90% in 1970–71 to 41% in 2019. Black women are particularly underrepresented, comprising a mere 3% of all NCAA women’s head coaching positions. This underrepresentation is systemic and cannot be attributed to just one sport or division. With the fellowships created through the VanDerveer Fund, WSF aims to create a pipeline that will give women the mentorship and experience needed to pursue a career in coaching.
To learn more about the VanDerveer Fund and meet the 2020 grant recipients, visit:
https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/wsf_programs/tara-vanderveer-fund/
About The Women’s Sports Foundation
The Women’s Sports Foundation exists to enable girls and women to reach their potential in sport and life. We are an ally, an advocate and a catalyst. Founded by Billie Jean King in 1974, we strengthen and expand participation and leadership opportunities through research, advocacy, community programming and a wide variety of collaborative partnerships. The Women’s Sports Foundation has positively shaped the lives of millions of youth, high school and collegiate student-athletes, elite athletes and coaches. We’re building a future where every girl and woman can #KeepPlaying and unlock the lifelong benefits of sport participation. All girls. All women. All sports. To learn more about the Women’s Sports Foundation, please visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org.
