Dr. Donnis Thompson's visionary ideas were far out.

Use empty bleach bottles filled with sand to serve as weights for women to strength train in 1969.

Charge admission to a women's volleyball match while packing a 7,000-plus arena in 1976.

In her office beneath the old swimming pool at the University of Hawai'i, Thompson had a vision as big and bright as a rainbow, one which saw a future of equity for women's athletics.

Thompson, who died on Feb. 2 at age 75, was UH's first director of women's athletics and creator of the women's athletics program in 1972. She tirelessly fought for opportunities for her athletes, knowing full well the constant battles against gender discrimination would blaze a trail for a generation of future athletes.

"She just felt there were so many inequalities for women athletes," said UH women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji, who was hired by Thompson in 1975. "She was an athlete and she felt like there weren't enough opportunities for women like her. She was the only person here that was fighting for women's athletics. She was visionary, she saw great things in the future for women."

HUMBLE BEGINNING

From a $5,000 beginning, Thompson started an athletic program that won national championships and one where women were given opportunities to play sports and to pursue college degrees and professional endeavors.

Leah Bennett Ferris didn't fully realize her track coach's impact until 2007, when nearly 250 people turned out for the unveiling of a commemorative sculpture of Thompson. Created by Jan-Michelle Sawyer, the sculpture stands in the Stan Sheriff Center concourse.

"That was probably the memory that had a big impact on me, just seeing all the women there afterwards," said Ferris Bennett, a retired teacher. "They had a reception at the Stan Sheriff Center and the things they talked about ... they got up and said the things she helped them through.

"These women became lawyers in town, had very respectable jobs in the community, and said how much having an athletic scholarship had affected their lives."

Armed with her master's degree and a desire to teach and coach, a young sprinter and shot putter who grew up in poverty immediately left Chicago to take up an offer to start the UH women's track and field program in 1961. She was one of a handful of female coaches nationwide.

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

She brought along athletes she was already coaching, and the Magnificent Seven's impact was immediate.

Third at nationals in 1962 with All-America honors for Lacey O'Neal, Cindy Wyatt and Ferris, who also held the world indoor 800-meter record. Cel Rutledge was the American shot put record holder and Ann Roniger was a three-time national pentathlon champion. Ferris, Wyatt and distance runner Cindy Dalrymple competed at the 1963 Pan American Games.

At age 14, O'Neal met Thompson in Chicago with no idea what the Olympics were. Thompson helped O'Neal make the Olympics in 1964 and 1972.

"She knew it would take me to more than the Olympics, she saw my ability to go to college," said O'Neal, who lives in Washington. "Coming from a poor family, she knew it would take me to a college."

The team ran on a dirt track and Thompson made $5,000 teaching in the physical education department and $700 coaching. They sold kalua pig to raise funds.

"She was determined to see things done decently and in order," said Anna Reed, who went on to coach at Kailua High and now lives in Georgia. "She was a persevering person that continued with the task until it was done.

"She also said, 'I'm doing my job, just trying to do my job.' "

LIFTING BOTTLES

Thompson left in 1965 to pursue her doctorate at Northern Colorado, and the track program was gone by the time she returned in 1967. She resumed teaching PE, which included a class called Physical Fitness For Women where they lifted empty bleach and starch bottles filled with sand. It was crazy, but had women lifted weights, it would have clashed with gender norms.

Hawai'i congresswoman Patsy Mink consulted Thompson on what would eventually become Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibited gender discrimination in education. Though it made no mention of athletics, Thompson knew it would change the playing field.

"She was in cahoots with (Title IX co-author) Patsy Mink," said former UH trainer Melody Toth, who was hired by Thompson in 1977 and now lives in State College, Pa. "It was a good start to give the women a bit of clout so to speak."

Thompson got $5,000 from the men's athletic department to start volleyball and track in 1972. Only one scholarship was offered, and it went to a drum majorette.

UH had eight sports by 1974-75, its teams were off to a great start, the budget grew to $65,000 and women had 53 tuition waivers and partial scholarships.

$6 HOTEL ROOMS

Still, it was an uphill battle against an institution not ready to embrace women's athletics. The volleyball team stayed at Motel 6 on road trips because the rate was $6 and there was hardly any money to spend. In 1976, a year after Shoji led UH to an AIAW runner-up finish, Thompson had the crazy idea of playing UCLA at the Blaisdell Arena — and charging admission for it.

Somehow, she convinced UH officials to put it on. Somehow, a sold-out crowd of 7,813 turned out to see UH rally from a 14-4 deficit in the fifth game to win.

"We knew we were going to get a pretty good crowd, but we didn't know that it would sell out," Toth said. "Nobody ever really believed that.

"Her face was aglow and her grin was ear to ear."

UH won its first national title in volleyball in 1979.

"People just started to listen to her because it was so constant," Shoji said. "It was never ending. She got her way a lot because people didn't want to listen to her."

FUTURE LEADERS

Thompson left UH in 1981 and was the state's first female superintendent of education. She returned to teach at UH from 1984 to 1991.

Meanwhile, women's athletics continued under the leadership of Cindy Boerner-Mazda (Thompson's former aide) in the 1980s and since the 1990s under current associate athletic director and senior woman's administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano. Today, there are 13 women's sports and a $6.5 million budget.

Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano was one of the early recipients of Thompson's vision, playing volleyball at UH in 1972 and becoming the school's first female Jack Bonham Award winner in 1976.

"She was my No. 1 mentor and I think I took a lot of the courage she had, the perseverance," Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano said. "Our traits, I look to her for that."

Diabetes took its toll on Thompson's final years. It took away her vision and her leg was amputated below the right knee last summer. Dialysis was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Yet, Thompson was home with friends, a reason she moved back from California several years ago. They bought her a big-screen TV so she could watch UH sports, put up pictures around her room, read books to her and rallied for her just like she did for them.

A FINAL HUG AND KISS

Reed, a chaplain for hospices in Georgia, flew in and helped Thompson settle into Leahi Hospital in Kaimuki. In her final months, everybody she touched visited, from former athletes to colleagues and friends to current athletes who may or may not have realized the impact Thompson had on their athletic pursuits.

O'Neal flew here to "give her one more hug and one more kiss."

"The last four to five months of her time, the only things that gave her joy was contact with athletes coming in," said Mele Welte, a retired teacher, longtime friend and Thompson's care manager.

"These two little boys next door were visiting their grandma and were so enthralled she was in the sports hall of fame, they were standing in awe, wondering if they could shake her hand."

Late last year, Thompson knew it was time. She told her doctor in December she wanted to stop dialysis. He replied by asking if she wanted to wait a few more weeks for Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

So she listened on her headphones on that historic day, then stopped dialysis the next day. Surrounded by friends, she died peacefully on Feb. 2.

Recalled Welte: "She said 'I'm not quitting, I'm surrendering myself to the next adventure in my life. I like that word, don't you like that word?' "

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

On April 1, a group of her friends gathered at the Kahala Zippy's to celebrate what would have been Thompson's 76th birthday. They were all there with Thompson to celebrate her 75th. With a seat reserved for Thompson, they ate and remembered their friend and pioneer.

"She was a brilliant scholar, very efficient, a professional administrator, classy, sophisticated, just a loving, caring, sharing person," O'Neal said. "Everybody she met, she tried to find something good in them and tried to develop it.

"I've never seen her go over the hurdles, I've never seen her dance, never seen her hit a golf ball or play a volleyball," O'Neal added. "She learned the skill and she'll tell you how to better your game, how to improve yourself both physically and mentally. She had that kind of insight to life. She was my mom and everybody that knew her was a better person after having met her."