In addition to her career credentials and achievements in physical therapy, Betty
Jean Sanders is known for her continuing service and achievements in the national
game of tennis. She graduated from Oklahoma College for Women in 1949 with a Bachelor
of Arts degree in biology, and received a National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis
Scholarship to Physical Therapy School at Hermann Hospital, Houston, Texas, and graduated
in 1951 with a Certificate in Physical Therapy.
After working as a physical therapist in Texas and as Chief Physical Therapist of University Hospital and Crippled Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, she received a National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis Teaching Fellowship to Stanford University, and graduated in 1956 with her masters in Physical Therapy. She was Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine at the University of Kansas from 1956 to 1968. From 1968 -75, she was Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, later appointed to the graduate faculty. She also served as Director of Rehabilitation at the Lenox Baker Cerebral Palsy Hospital in Durham, N.C., from 1973 to 1975. For the next 20 years, Sanders served at Wichita State University, United Cerebral Palsy of Kansas and the Associates in Physical Therapy, Oklahoma City. Following retirement, she continues to work on a limited basis to public schools unable to find physical therapists to meet their needs. In 1986, she became a certified tennis official. In 1992 and 1993, she was chosen to work the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York. In 1993, she was chosen as a chair umpire for the Olympic Festival in St. Louis, Mo. For the past six years, she has served as the chief umpire for the NAIA National Championships.