Boise State Athletics
Title IX Celebration: AnnMarie Johnson
11/30/2022 4:46:00 PM | General
As part of its year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, Boise State Athletics is celebrating the rich history of Bronco women in sports. Each month (July 2022-June 2023), the Broncos will feature a select woman or group of women whose contributions paved the way for future generations of female student-athletes, coaches and administrators.
In 1997, AnnMarie Johnson was recruited to join the gymnastics team at Boise State. Now over 20 years later, she is still deeply involved in Boise State athletics, but now as the Assistant to the Athletic Director for Special Projects, specially focusing on Title IX.
Johnson grew up in a small town outside of Denver, Colo., where she was introduced to gymnastics through parks and rec. As her love for the sport continued to grow, she began competing at higher levels of gymnastics and was eventually recruited to be a gymnast for Boise State.
The confidence and strength that being a student-athlete taught Johnson, allowed her to graduate in Spring 2001 and to apply to an open position in the department only a year later. Overnight, Johnson went from being teammates and friends with student-athletes to being their administrator, and Title IX played an integral part in opening that door for her.
“I understand now that [Title IX] really supported the sport that allowed me to become a collegiate graduate and [gymnastics] may not have existed if it weren’t for Title IX,” said Johnson.
Johnson was a first-generation college student, so the financial stability and opportunity for an athletic scholarship to pay for her education was significant in her growth personally and professionally.
During her time as an advisor, Johnson helped create BroncoLife, a program that blossomed from the NCAA CHAMPS Life Skills and embraced the concept of student-athletes being more than just students or athletes, and their life beyond athletics in the professional world.
BroncoLife stemmed from Johnson’s time as a student-athlete and coming into a professional environment that she was not fully prepared for.
“[BroncoLife] helps shape who these student-athletes want to be and one of my favorite things is watching student-athletes excel professionally because of it,” said Johnson.
Through BroncoLife, one of the most profitable charity events Boise State hosts is the ‘Serving Up Wishes’ fundraiser, which Johnson helped put into place. The original goal was to have football players be the celebrities serving dinner to guests while also providing entertainment for the evening. However, Boise State’s athletic department has a policy that requires all sports to have the same opportunities to earn community service hours.
The first year Serving Up Wishes faced challenges, including Johnson and a group of staff walking around campus begging professors and others to attend the event so that they could fill up the room. Twenty years later, however, it is one of the most profitable fundraisers the athletic department hosts, bringing in almost $500,000 yearly for the Make-a-Wish foundation.
In addition to her work with BroncoLife, Johnson also helped initiate the availability of a full-time nutritionist for student-athletes on campus.
As both an academic advisor and former student-athlete, Johnson saw a need within athletics for a sports dietician. Through a partnership with the health center on campus, she was able to bring in someone that could provide support to all Boise State student-athletes.
Johnson’s contributions to Boise State’s athletic department were made possible through her time as a student-athlete, which ultimately came from the support from Title IX.
“I think Title IX is one of the most remarkable things that our country has,” said Johnson. “I’ve watched women and student-athletes elevate in a way that wouldn’t have been imaginable because of it.”
