Amanda Clement - Inducted 1982

Born March 20,1888, in Hudson. 1909 University of Nebraska grad. Clement is recognized as the first woman to umpire baseball games. An exhibit at the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., honors her accomplishments. In 1904, at age 16 she umpired a game for the first time. At that time, the baseball game was the main source of entertainment in most every town. The umpire stood behind the pitcher and made all the calls in the game. The 5-foot-10 Clement quickly got work throughout a five-state region, and she became the first person contacted to umpire a game of any importance. The 50 or so games she worked each summer, for a fee ranging from $15 to $25, paid her way through two years at Yankton College and two more at Nebraska. Clement only umpired for six years and never umpired pro games, but during those five years her fame grew and stories of her appeared in every newspaper in the country. While at YC, she refereed high school basketball games (probably being the first woman to do so). She also competed in basketball, tennis and track. After college, she was a teacher in South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming and coached individuals and teams in all manner of athletics before returning to Hudson in 1929. She spent 25 years in social work in Sioux Falls, retiring in 1966.