It may be hard to remember, but those who lived it certainly know.

They know that there was a time before multi-million-dollar Nike contracts, a time when a place like the Bryce Jordan Center hadn't even been conceived of, a time when the NCAA governed athletes of only one gender, even after 70 years of existence.

They can remember coming to Penn State, during that time, without any financial recompense, simply for the chance to continue to play the game they loved; they remember coming here and having to sew the numbers on their own uniforms; they remember coming here, with the same competitive fire and skills of their male counterparts, but with little notice, if any at all.

Of course they haven't forgotten the days in which nothing was ever handed to them, except for the opportunity to develop some of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime. And, this weekend, as Penn State celebrates its 40th anniversary of women's sports, a generation who had nearly nothing will be on campus to remind today's generation just how far women's athletics have come since their inception in 1964.

"We had a 25th anniversary many years ago, and we were talking about the need to reconnect with a lot of women alums," Penn State Associate Athletic Director for women's sports Sue Scheetz said. "And we thought this was a good time for alums to return to campus so we can show our appreciation for the individuals who laid the foundation for the entire program."

Every varsity program ever available at Penn State will welcome back former players and coaches at individual sports receptions today and tomorrow, while visitors will also have the opportunity to tour the campus and sports facilities. The festivities will culminate in a banquet tomorrow night for which former Penn State women's basketball player and current ESPN reporter Lisa Salters will be the emcee and the keynote speaker will be Mary Ellen Clark, a former Penn State diver and two-time Olympic medalist.

According to Scheetz, attendance for the banquet will be about 700. But, a figure that high is scarcely surprising, considering the number of women's teams and sports that the university has supported. Penn State made a commitment early on to offer a broad spectrum of women's sports, as evidenced by the fact that, in 1964, there were nine women's teams. By 1975-1976, six years before the NCAA started supporting women's championships, 16 women's varsity teams were participating in sports in Happy Valley.

A broad spectrum, however, has never meant a lack of success, and Penn State certainly has the accolades to make for a true celebration. For the women, there have been 23 Big Ten titles, nine Big Ten tournament victories, 14 national championships and countless players of the year, coaches of the year, and All-Americans.

It is the success that the women have seen in the competitive Big Ten conference, after making the leap from the Atlantic 10 in 1992, that is perhaps the most indicative of where women's sports is at University Park as compared to schools of a similar size and nature, like Ohio State and Michigan.

"When we joined the Big Ten, we might have won more championships on the women's side than any school in the Big Ten," said Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose, who has been at Penn State for 25 years. "That to me is a good indication that Penn State was supporting sports and that it really came to the plate."

Those who remember the beginning of the journey say it was simply the vision of a handful of individuals who made the initial commitment that has taken Penn State to where it is today.

Maybe the money wasn't there in the 1960s to have such things as scholarship athletes or to hire personnel to put players' names on the scoreboards -- the coaches had to do that -- but the idea that women should have the chance to continue athletic pursuits in many sports at the next level was there, and that is what started to make the difference.

"When Penn State entered [the women's sports world], they started out with individuals who had the right idea about where they wanted to see the women's programs go," Scheetz said. "Penn State has always had a good balance; we've never really had a gender issue. There has been a broad-base philosophy that we want to serve many individuals in numerous sports, so those student athletes have an opportunity to play the sport that they love."

Though Penn State had an early interest in sports opportunities for women, that hardly translated into a common view. The role of women's sports was a tentative one, and offering women the chance to be on a team didn't mean the fans would come, it didn't mean the widespread support would be there.

But, as the popularity of women's sports grew, as the facilities improved and as the opportunities increased, so did the general view of its importance, which was, arguably, most essential.

"The whole perception that women's athletics is important has changed significantly from even when I started here 25 years ago," Rose said. "The top sports then were the men's sports. That's not to say that football and men's basketball aren't two of our primary sports still, but now it could be reasoned that some of the other sports bring great success and notoriety as well, and the following and level of support by the fans."

Along with this increased sense of importance came the increased amount of exposure. Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins marvels at the fact that a women's World Cup game can pack the Rose Bowl with 90,000 people; Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland can't say enough about the fact that her team was able to sell out the Jordan Center twice this season. And former women's basketball player Susan Robinson Fruchtl, who graduated in 1992, can't believe how often the current team gets to be on television.

"The exposure every year is more and more," Fruchtl said. "The numbers, the TV games. We would have maybe a couple of games on; now it's over half the games on TV."

To talk about the growth of women's sports without mentioning the potential downsides would, however, not be totally fair.

There are concerns that all of the developments in women's sports may have led to an era of entitlement, in which players expect scholarships, expect to get a new pair of Nike sneakers anytime they want. But as those involved will tell you, that's precisely what celebrations like this are trying to prevent.

"The biggest thing I want [my players] to see is the women who fought for opportunities early on and know that they are responsible to continue fighting for opportunities," Wilkins said. "Sometimes people my age and younger, they get settled in thinking we have everything we need."

And then, of course, there is the Title IX issue -- is it the growth of women's sports that is leading to the collapse of programs like men's gymnastics and wrestling at colleges across the nation?

"I coach women, but I have four sons, and I would never tell my sons that women's sports is the reason they're not getting opportunity," Rose said. "I don't really look at it that way. I look at it like universities and administrators have to be strong enough to make the decisions they want, and I don't believe that women's sports are a reason that a lot of schools are dropping men's sports."

So now, 40 years later, what is the state of Penn State women's sports? It is past the days in which uniforms were makeshift, shoes were treasured and scoreboards didn't light up. It is in a position in which it is often the case that at least one program every year is in contention for a national championship. It is at the point where numerous sports, such as volleyball, soccer and basketball, are dominant in their conference.

It is a situation in which super competitive and talented athletes are more the norm than the exception. It is at the popularity level where 6,000 people want to sell out Rec Hall on a Friday night to watch a volleyball game and 15,000 people want to gather in the Jordan Center to watch Kelly Mazzante break a scoring record.

"How do you pick [what's most important in 40 years]?" Rose said. "You can't pick; you're just blessed to know that you have so many great female role models and athletes. And that's really the thing.

"I think there's a lot of women's athletes that were here that gave everything they had so that 25 years later, 40 years later, the program is what it is now," he said. "That's why we're celebrating this event."

And that's why, 40 years later, the state of Penn State women's sports is a long way from 1964.