Heroism often is refusing to quit

One of my heroes, actually heroine, emerged during the 1974-75 school term. Title IX, requiring equality for girls in athletics, passed in June 1972. The rule making following the legislation took a while. Implementation at the elementary and secondary level took even longer. In 1974 we experienced the first effects.

Often we fail to recognize that everything had a starting point. Even though people in education assume that programs that operated when they were in school have always been there, in fact they have not. That beginning often occurred because of individual courage.

Those who begin things often do it in an environment of criticism. Sometimes they are laughed upon or even harassed. Even more often, those in charge of the status quo, resist and attempt to stop those pushing the change. In this environment, it is the courageous who succeed. Determination to carry though while subject to unpleasantness and discouragement is a true measure of a hero. When this hero is an adolescent student the courage displayed is remarkable.

As with much federal legislation, the hammer was money already being provided by the federal government. Also like much legislation, additional funding to implement did not trickle down to the school. Without funds to pay for coaches, uniforms, referees, gym space etc. we failed to implement athletics programs for girls. We had plenty of excuses, but the girls we taught did not want to hear excuses.

Basketball at Albany Grade School was the king sport. Boys started playing competitively at fifth grade on the 5-6 level and continued though grades7-8. Both levels often had over thirty boys participate, and we didn’t cut the team. Parent support was exceptional as were local organizations who gave us money for all types of extras, but there was no money for the girls.

We had a great program going for the boys. Gerry and I were happy and successful coaches. Then in 1974, the girls said they wanted a share. A number of girls decided they would join the boy’s teams at the start of the season. With the force of federal rules behind them, we had to let them participate. We did not have the courage or foresight to support them. We wanted the girls off the teams.  

  

We always emphasized conditioning at the beginning of the season. We would run the boys for laps and wind sprints (which they called “killers”). That season we added more conditioning than usual. We wanted the girls to dropout. We wanted them to be cheerleaders not players. So we ran every night for the first two weeks.

One  of the boys who didn't want to play basketball decided to try for cheer-leading. The selection process was by popular vote for cheer-leading, so he was allowed to try and make the team.He was voted in. We probably thought of that as payback.

The six or so girls who joined my team quit. It wasn’t fun. The boys were not enjoying it either, but they had social pressure to stick it out. The girls had social pressure to quit. Gerry was a task master as well. All of the girls on his team quit, except one.

The basketball season began in October and ended in February. Practice was held every week night and over breaks. If you played basketball, it dominated your life for five months.

Gerry and I were serious about the sport. We were emotional about the whole thing and we demanded perfection. For five months she endured the drills, the late nights, and the pressure to quit. All the boys got in games before her, so she had almost no time on the court. Perhaps if she was a great athlete, she may have played, but we will never know.

She had the determination to stick it out. She set the example and she finished the season. Her courage led to change.  He also finished the cheer-leading season.

We knew we had to start a program for our girls, and so I volunteered to begin a program as soon as the boys’ season ended. In our ignorance, we actually considered that she couldn’t play on the girls’ team. She had finished a full season, and it was discussed that it would not be “fair” for her to get to play a girls season too. Fortunately we realized that this was a stupid position for us to take. She, more than anyone, had earned a position on the girl’s team. 

So this courageous young lady taught us all a lesson. She taught us that one did not need to “earn” equal treatment. She taught us that all students needed to be treated equal. Quite a lesson for a young girl to teach her teachers. She remains a heroine for me. Thanks LuAnn and Tim for being heroes when we needed them.