Awesome American Sports
Awesome American Sports
Just Great American sports stories
Welcome to this biweekly newsletter, written by me, Corye Perez Beene, Ph.D. I am a United States History Professor and certified “sports nut.” I find the sports stories from the past to the present that celebrate the Awesomeness of American Sports.
Dear Title IX: thank you from the bottom of my heart…
50 years! Has it been that long? Happy Anniversary Title IX!
I am a Title IX baby. I was one of the first generations of female athletes who enjoyed the results of Title IX. I played high school volleyball, which led to club volleyball, which led to a full scholarship to play collegiate volleyball. I am the person I am today because of Title IX.
Short History of Title IX
My Ph.D. dissertation was about Title IX. You can read the entire thing HERE. I have taken the next few paragraphs from my dissertation.
What is Title IX? Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding. It was part of the 1972 Education Amendments, meant to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The creators of the bill, Congresswoman Edith Green (Oregon), Congresswoman Patsy Mink (Hawaii), and Bernice Sandler of the Women’s Equity Action League, drafted the legislation to give women equitable treatment in Education. What they didnt know or foresee is how Title IX would immediately affect sports…
So how DID Title IX become synonymous with sports? Sports were not only the most visible activity at most schools and universities, but also the most inequitable… For instance, women’s teams had to have fundraisers to afford travel expenses. They would often hold bake sales or candy bar sales. Men’s teams, on the other hand, rode on charter buses the school provided which were also paid for by the school. At a large university in the northwest, women’s sports received only nine-tenths of one percent of the institution’s two million dollar athletic budget ($18,000), even though over forty percent of the undergraduate students were women. In some places, team doctors were provided for the men only. Girls received leftover equipment the boys no longer needed, never receiving new equipment or supplies.
Title IX was not only about student-athletes and athletic budgets. The legislation also covered equity in hiring practices, coaches’ salaries, promotion and support staff. For example, a female referee was paid half of what her male counterpart earned for officiating the same game. A female athletic director had 200 square feet of workspace and one student assistant who worked fifteen hours per week. On the other hand, the male athletic director had a suite of offices, five secretaries, a business manager, a bookkeeper and a personal assistant. Title IX ended these discriminatory policies and allowed women’s athletic programs to attract more players and elite coaches.
After the legislation passed, schools needed guidelines on how to put Title IX into place. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) provided the areas of compliance in 1975:
· nature and extent of the sports programs to be offered
· provision of equipment and supplies
· scheduling of games and practice time
· provision of travel and per diem allowances
· nature and extent of the opportunity to receive coaching and academic
tutoring
· assignment and compensation of coaches and tutors
· provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities
· provision of housing and dining facilities and services
· nature and extent of publicity
· provision of medical and training facilities and services
In December 1979, HEW published its final guidelines on Title IX. The three ways of proving Title IX compliance, dubbed the “three prong test,” remain in effect today. It established three specific guidelines for achieving compliance. The three prongs are:
1. Providing opportunities that are proportional to the student body
2. Showing a continued expansion of opportunities for the
underrepresented sex
3. Accommodating the interests and abilities of the
underrepresented sex
Only one prong is needed to satisfy the law.
While Title IX has not made everything perfect in women’s college athletics, it has made a huge impact. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, less than 200,000 women competed in intercollegiate athletics in 1972. One out of every 27 women played sports. Today, 2 out of every 5 women compete, ”a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports and a 990% increase in the percentage of women playing high school sport.” There are now professional leagues women can compete in, like the WNBA and Athletes Unlimited.
List of Title IX content:
From the Associated Press:
Opportunities for International Athletes
From Sports Illustrated:
The commemorative 50th anniversary issue cover
Their longer list of Title IX stories
From NBC Sports:
Their longer list of Title IX stories
From ESPN+:
Their TV content during the month of June, including the Fifty/50 campaign, tells the stories of 50 women. They include documentaries, shorts and podcasts, like this feature on the 1996 Women’s Dream Team:
From ESPN:
The “Laughter Permitted” podcast, hosted by World Cup champion Julie Foudy, where she discusses Title IX with Donna Lopiano, former CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the first Director of Women’s Athletics at the University of Texas.
From ESPN Daily:
From USAToday.com:
Brianna Scurry’s jersey at the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture
Complete list of articles and videos
From FiveThirtyEight:
From NPR:
From SiriusXM:
Title IX at 50 (featuring one of my favorite broadcasters Linda Cohen)
Podcasts:
This podcast with Tracy Wolfson
From Overheard at National Geographic: Podcast
Monitor Backstory: Voices of Title IX
NBA Coaches Corner: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX - speaking with Muffet McGraw, former women’s head basketball coach at Notre Dame
Museums:
A cool exhibit at the New York Historical Society that features “Artifacts from professional athletes and the consumer culture that arose to celebrate them—from Barbie dolls to Wheaties boxes.” Also included is a YouTube video of athletes answering the question of what Title IX meant to them. Soccer Gold Medalist Carli Lloyd and Alpine Skier Olympian Alice Merryweather are two of the athletes that appear in the video.
From the National Women’s History Museum
What has Title IX meant to me?
Sports have given me the confidence, passion and determination to confront life’s challenges head-on…
After going through two-a-day volleyball practices, or some years three-a-day volleyball practices, it taught me that NOTHING in life would be as tough as that was! I have used those experiences to overcome challenges in my life. No matter how bad of a day I had at work, or whatever problem I was facing, all I had to do was harness those times playing volleyball and remember: you got this girl! NOTHING could be as bad as the grueling workouts I had to endure under Gool Castleberry and Mark Papich at Alamo Volleyball Association, Coach Lupe Ruiz at Robert E. Lee High School, or Coach Kathleen Brasfield at Angelo State University. I thank each one of these coaches for building character and believing in me to succeed at volleyball and in the game of life.
![Portrait of Gool R. Castleberry] - The Portal to Texas History](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1c806425-f6aa-4977-81a0-5c5a56444647_700x1023.jpeg "Portrait of Gool R. Castleberry] - The Portal to Texas History")
That is why I am a huge proponent of sports, especially for young women. It prepares you for the ups and downs of life, and how to persevere through them. Sports teaches you how to get along with different personalities, how to work together to achieve an objective, and how to navigate over life’s bumps in the road. It teaches you to focus and concentrate on the skills needed to succeed. But most importantly, for all of us who play sports, it is so much FUN!
It was fun playing games, especially when my teams beat rivals. It was fun when we listened to the best warm-up music getting hyped up before the game. It was the best feeling to have my teammates encourage me and congratulate me when I made a good play. The bus trips were memorable as well. We would play music in the bus or van, jockey for space to sleep and have lots of girl talk!
Research shows that girls who play sports in school:
*are less likely to use drugs
*have a reduced risk of obesity
*have stronger immune systems
*have higher self-esteem
*have lower rates of depression
and the list goes on and on.
I spoke to Roy Kessel of the Sports Philanthropy Network recently about Title IX, how to get more girls to play sports, and what one sports rule I would change if I had the power to do so:
As I finish off this special edition of my newsletter, I want to thank Title IX and everyone who helped pass it in 1972. You have brought me joy, fun, lifelong friends and memories that I will cherish forever! Thank you Title IX!
Thank you for your support! I am so appreciative of YOU being here 😃
Follow me on Twitter: @HistoryBeene or LinkedIn: coryebeene