The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Elizabeth (Betty) Mortimer at age 103. Betty was among the first graduates of the School of Physical and Health Education, the precursor to our Faculty today. To honour her memory, we share this article from 2020 written on the occasion of Betty’s 100th birthday. The article has been edited for length and clarity.
On April 20, 2020, Dr. E.M. Roberts celebrated her 100th birthday some 77 years after receiving her BPHE degree. In 1943, Elizabeth (Betty) Mortimer was a member of the first School of Physical and Health Education graduating class.
She retired in 1989 after spending 28 years on the Physical Education/Kinesiology faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M). Betty remained mentally alert and relatively active, writing to a former student, “unfortunately I am only able to swim laps 3 times a week, these days.”
Approximately four hours of an interview with Betty in 2010, part of the UW-M Oral History Program, reveal many recollections of her childhood, schooling, academic pursuits and personal life. She grew up in Toronto, attended Bishop Strachan School and spent summers with her family at a rustic cabin in Pointe au Baril on Georgian Bay. During one summer when she was 8 or 9, her Irish mother (who couldn’t swim) tried to teach her the breaststroke. Betty figured out what motions worked and became proficient at this stroke. She was inducted into the University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 as the intercollegiate breaststroke champion in 1939.
As an undergraduate during the war years, Betty was a member of the U of T Women’s Service Training Detachment, earning the Canada Honour Award in 1942. After graduation, Betty served in the British Auxiliary Territorial Service for two years. While stationed in London, she took the driver training program, of which she said, “I was in the same driving school as the Queen, though she was a little ahead of me.” After the war ended, she was posted to southern Austria with the Army of Occupation before returning to Canada on a troop ship in November 1946.
During the spring of 1947 at Collingwood High School, she taught a full load of classes, including physical education, health, commercial English and Canadian history in addition to coaching girls’ basketball. At the end of that school year, she and a friend decided to apply for admission to graduate school. They were accepted in the physical education master’s degree program at the University of Wisconsin beginning in the fall of 1947.
Betty was greatly influenced by Professors Ruth Glassow and Margaret H’Doubler, both of whom emphasized the importance of the nervous system’s role in kinesthesis and proprioception when learning motor skills. Glassow encouraged faculty members and students to create teaching/learning situations that would elicit correct, effective movement performance. As a follow up, the topic of Betty’s master’s thesis and her first publication focused on basketball shooting. Her calculations determined the optimum angle and speed of ball projection for a successful shot at two different shooting distances. She was awarded her M.S. degree in 1950.
In her pursuit to understand the control of effective movement, Betty heard Professor Konrad Akert of
the UW-M Anatomy and Physiology Department describe his research on cat muscle spindles, proprioception and neuromotor control. She subsequently worked as a half-time research assistant in his lab from 1956 through 1960 focusing on developing a method to examine the cortical control of fusimotor neurons and to record from muscle spindle nerves. This work formed the basis of her doctoral dissertation. After receiving her Ph.D. in 1960 in the areas of physiology and physical education, Betty was hired as an assistant professor in the Physical Education Department.
As well as teaching kinesiology classes, she conducted post-doctorate research in physiology at the UW-M Medical School during the early 1960s. In 1964, Betty married Tom Roberts whom she met while they were doing experimental research together on muscle spindle nerves. Betty received tenure as an associate professor in 1965, the same year in which her son, Charles, was born.
Charles Roberts is a Harvard-trained MD/PhD and currently the director of the Pediatric Cancer Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. In 1971, Betty attained the rank of professor.
The main quality, pervasive throughout Betty’s life, was her "intellectual curiosity." She always wanted to know HOW and WHY things work, particularly with respect to human movement in sport skills. That quality, and her strong interest in kinesthesis, the nervous system and their influence on human motor performance, directed much of her research and teaching. Illustrative of these interests were her fascinating applications of biomechanics to skills in ice hockey (slap shot) and football kicking (soccer style). She was an innovative leader in sport/movement biomechanics and an inspiration to many in the field.
A major session at the National Academy of Kinesiology 90th anniversary conference in September, 2020 was named in Betty’s honour recognizing her significant contributions as a distinguished scholar, educator, mentor and colleague.