Before Title IX
May 12, 2003
By George P. Edmonston Jr.
E-Mail George
Passed in 1972 to provide equality in college sports programs for men and women, Title IX has been hailed by many as one of the most significant pieces of legislation of the 20th century. Women ' s basketball is a testament to this belief. In the final rounds of the 2003 women's Division I national tournament, games were played before record crowds and impressive TV ratings. The players were outstandingly athletic, the games drew nationwide attention across a broad spectrum of fans and supporters, and sports television stations devoted nearly as much time to the women's tournament as the men's. But did Title IX "introduce" varsity-level competition for women to the college campus? The answer is no and certainly not at OSU. A better word might be "reintroduce."
To the college sports historian, a school yearbook is like fine wine. With age comes value. At OSU, nothing illustrates this point better than looking back at old issues of the Orange or Beaver yearbooks to study the evolution of women ' s athletics at Oregon State.
Compared to the men, write-ups covering past seasons, in most cases, are sparse. But there are photos aplenty, and they reveal plenty about women ' s athletics and athletes from long ago. No fewer than seven sports were first introduced to the OSU campus by women, including basketball, soccer, tennis, gymnastics, field hockey, volleyball, softball and swimming. For those who liked target shooting, there was a championship rifle team.
So these were "recreational" sports, right? Sound mind and body exercises, the Greek ideal, nothing more.
The yearbooks show otherwise, referring to them in many cases as "varsity" sports. There were uniforms, competitions against other colleges, results of past schedules, championships, and varsity letter sweaters awarded for exceptional performance.
Unlike the men, however, an important characteristic of this early period was that women ' s varsity teams stayed in a constant state of flux. Basketball is an example. First introduced to the OSU campus as a varsity sport in 1899, a full two years before the guys took to the hardwood, women ' s basketball by 1913 had been reduced to interclass play and limited to the months of spring. In 1916, the sport was again given varsity status and by 1919, basketball was so popular over 300 women tried out for the team.
To be sure, the college campus was a different place before Title IX. Male athletes had facilities, scholarships, varsity teams, generous media coverage, the adulation of fans, money, the works. Opportunities for women were kept to a bare minimum.
Beginning sometime during the 1930s and extending up to the early 1970s, a period of some 40 or more years, participation for OSU women in anything athletic was kept at the level of "student recreation." Gifted athletes were grouped with the not so gifted. Events were scheduled around what were called "Play Days," held once or twice a year and pitting recreational teams from one school against the same from a neighboring institution. Other names used around the country included "Field Days," "Sports Days," or the nondescriptive "Class Days." There were no scholarships, no professional coaches, no travel money, nothing like today. Facilities were generally borrowed from the men's programs. Playing fields were the same. OSU did have a competitive volleyball team in the 1960s that competed on the national level, but the squad had to pay its own way with money earned through such fund-raising activities as selling programs at men's basketball games.
The shift from varsity sports to physical activity of a noncompetitive nature began both nationally and at Oregon State in the 1920s. By the early 1930s, the shift was complete.
Once again, yearbook photos provide the evidence. Earlier women ' s teams, before and just after World War I, are pictured in uniforms, often of the "sailor suit" variety. Athletes from the 1930s wear dresses. In appearance, they look indistinguishable from other women in the student body at large. Something had happened, a fundamental shift in the perception of the public toward the female athlete.
The reasons why sporting opportunities for collegiate women began to go dry after World War I are complex and controversial. According to such historians as the University of Florida ' s Paula Welch or the University of Tennessee ' s Joan Paul, much of the impetus for change at the time came from within the ranks of women themselves, who as early as 1922 began to display a growing skepticism that the exploitation and elitism already prevalent in men ' s sports were also beginning to find their way into women ' s programs.
This attitude was especially prevalent among the women who sat on the Committee on Women ' s Athletics (CWA) of the American Physical Education Association (APEA). Formed in 1917, the purpose of the CWA was to make, revise, interpret rules and set standards for women athletes at the high school and college levels. According to Professor Welch, in an article published in 1993 in Greta L. Choen ' s (editor) outstanding book, Women in Sport: Issues and Controversies (Sage Publications), "(the CWA) was neither a controlling nor legislative body. Nevertheless, women in the physical education profession carefully orchestrated the development of women ' s sports and worked diligently to advance their philosophy, which emphasized sport for all."
This attitude was further perpetuated by the formation in February 1923 of the National Amateur Athletic Federation (NAAF), a group that came together after a meeting between U.S. Secretary of War John W. Weeks, Secretary of the Navy Edwin Derby and Lou Henry (Mrs. Herbert) Hoover to discuss, according to Welch, "the feasibility of establishing an organization that would set standards for girls ' and women ' s sports programs. As member of the NAAF board, now with its own separate women ' s division, or the WNAAF, Mrs. Hoover played a key role in establishing certain original resolutions for the group, including condemnation of highly organized and competitive sport for the select few or, put another way, a shaping of collegiate sport away from all forms of elite and varsity competition.
The exact wording of the NAAF policy statement, which came to serve both as the spirit and governing policy for women ' s athletics nationwide, stated a belief in the "promotion of competition that stresses enjoyment of sport and the development of good sportsmanship and character rather than those types that emphasize the making and breaking of records, and the winning of championships for the enjoyment of spectators and for the athletic reputation or commercial advantages of institutions and organizations."
According to Welch, by 1926, basketball (in particular) had become the bane of several generations of physical educators and had become a "national problem." She continues: "Many collegiate physical educators worked diligently to eradicate the negative aspects of...basketball. In 1927, Blanche Trilling, of the University of Wisconsin, delivered a speech at the annual meeting at the National Association of the Deans of Women and specified the unacceptable practices rampant in interscholastic basketball. She condemned lengthy trips to contests, travel on school nights, male coaches, sending injured players into games, omission of physical examinations, general disregard of participants ' well-being, play during menstrual periods, championship tournaments that produced nervous strain, overemphasis on winning and rivalry, derogatory comments from spectators, long seasons, involvement of only a small portion of the student body, and the neglect of other sports and school activities by basketball players."
Welch adds that Trilling also came down hard on the practice of the use of "boys ' rules by girls ' teams."
" Physical educators (became) convinced that modified rules were the remedy for physical contact and serious injury, " Welch says. " They maintained that the welfare of the participant was of paramount importance to women in sports leadership positions. "
The result was that by 1940, a national decline in women ' s interscholastic basketball was in evidence. And because basketball at most colleges was or had been the marquis sport for women, these same negative attitudes spilled over into all other sporting activities.
Part of the triggering mechanism for these new attitudes about competition came from a small group of women athletes whose phenomenal successes in their respective sports brought to discussions within athletic circles both great admiration and great contempt for what these women were doing to the spirit of "womanhood."
Superstars such as Clara Baer of New Orleans, Senda Berenson of Smith College in Massachusetts and Eleanora Sears of Boston dared to break Victorian sporting protocol by venturing into areas previously unknown to women. But they opened few doors for others, receiving little praise from their contemporaries for their amazing athletic talents and achievements.
Sears, in particular, is worth singling out. The great-great granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, she won over 240 trophies during her nearly 70 years of competition. But she attracted controversy with every appearance.
Professor Joan Paul explains: "She adopted ' shocking ' outfits for figure skating, swimming, sailing and tennis. She was the first woman to ride a horse astride, which the newspapers referred to as ' cross-saddle ' because of the ' coarseness ' the other term elicited. She attempted to play on an all-men ' s polo team , but later formed her own when rejected. Her appearance on a polo pony in men ' s riding breeches caused Boston women ' s clubs to raise their eyebrows...but it was when a California mother ' s club passed a resolution against her conduct in 1912 that she really became a national celebrity."
However, no woman athlete of the period shocked the sensibilities of America like Mildred "Babe" Didrikson, arguably the greatest woman athlete of the 20th century. She could drive a golf ball over 300 yards and throw a football accurately for 50 yards and a baseball in excess of 300 feet. She earned two Olympic gold medals and a silver at the 1932 games in Los Angeles and once won a prestigious track meet single-handedly against clubs with many athletes. She was an All-American in basketball and took on her nickname when she hit seven home runs in a seven inning baseball game in her native state of Texas. She performed at a world-class level in no fewer than a dozen sports. Later, putting all her energies and talents into golf, she was the first American to win the Women ' s British Amateur Golf Championship. She routinely competed in men ' s golf tournaments. In 1951, she was voted the Most Outstanding Woman Athlete of the Half Century.
But there was a negative side to "Babe ' s" fabulous career. "She did much for women in sport," explains Dr. Paul, "but, paradoxically, her crude antics (and coarse language) also helped reinforce and perpetuate the unfair myth that women athletes were not quite women. Because of the conservative attitudes of the times, women athletes lived with that tag from the 1930s through the 1950s."
Returning OSU to varsity competition in women ' s athletics took place over many years and was accomplished only through the tireless efforts of a small group of women faculty members and administrators, most of whom are now retired, and all of whom never gave up the dream of returning the campus sporting opportunities for gifted women athletes.
The names are well-known by many Oregon Staters and include Pat Ingram, Sandy Neeley, Sylvia Moore, Nancy Gerou, Margaret Lumpkin and Velda Brust. In the early 1970s, Oregon Senator Edith Green helped in the passing of Title IX legislation and also assisted her home state in its implementation.
Before 1972, when OSU became a charter member of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (or AIAW), an organization whose purpose in the beginning was to implement the mandates of Title IX, all women at the university participated in sports under the auspices of OSU ' s Women ' s Recreation Association in what was known at the time as the department of health and physical education. Margaret Lumpkin, whose 20 years at OSU in the department began in 1948, remembers how things were when she arrived in Corvallis.
"We didn't have anything (opportunities) like the men. Competition was limited to ' Play Days, ' a day here, a day there, in which we would play intramural games where one sorority house would compete against another. Afterwards, there would be a 'tea-type' thing for the athletes. There were semi-professional teams for women in Portland but nothing like that here at Oregon State."
Lumpkin adds that what she found particularly surprising during her early years was the extent to which other women on campus were opposed to athletics for women at the competitive level. "They were (simply) not eager for women to get into sports. There was great resistance among some who didn ' t think girls could compete and in doing so they sold them short. I remember we had to sell programs at basketball games just to have money to pay the expenses for our ' Play Days. ' "
Realizing that money was at least a part of the solution to right the many wrongs, Lumpkin gave a personal gift of $100 dollars to the athletic department to start a scholarship fund for women. "It was returned," she recalls, " because I was told there was ' no mechanism to handle the funds. ' "
After the passage of Title IX, OSU established the position of Women ' s Athletic Director and gave the job to long-time faculty member Pat Ingram, who served for two years, or until 1975. Her office was in the Women ' s Building. Gill Coliseum was the home of athletic administration for the school, but space there was strictly for the use of men ' s sports.
"It was a fight," she shares today with no bitterness. "We were made to feel like we were stepping on toes. In 1977, things began to change for the better. We finally had money for scholarships.In 1980, the director was finally allowed to move her office over to the Coliseum."
In fact, it was in 1977 that OSU awarded its first athletic scholarship to a women, given to a Linn-Benton Community College (Albany, Ore.) transfer student named Donna Southwick for gymnastics. In 1975, she was crowned junior college national all-around champion. Southwick quickly proved she was a good investment for the Beavers by becoming OSU ' s first-ever All-American in women ' s athletics at the 1977 AIAW National Championships.
By this time, Ingram had retired from the AD's positionand had passed the job along to her successor Sandy Neeley, who at last report was a faculty member serving at Everett Community College in Olympia, Wash. Together, the two of them brought to Corvallis the AIAW national championship track meet for women in 1975 which proved to be a real turning point for women athletes at OSU.
"We filled the stadium," Ingram says. "We came in second to UCLA that day, but it wasn ' t important. What was important was that we filled the stands. And President (Robert) MacVicar was there. We proved there was interest in women competing at OSU at an elite level."
Iowa native Velda Brust, who worked in the aircraft industry in southern California during World War II and who came to OSU in 1953, remembers how shocked she was after her arrival to learn that women at the university could not play sports in competition.
"I was never given a real good reason," she recalls. "What I remember is that the women in power at that time didn ' t believe women students should compete at a higher level." Like Ingram, Brust remembers 1977 as a pivotal year and says that softball and gymnastics were the first two sports to achieve varsity status, complete with scholarships.
After a year as director, Neeley gave way to Sylvia Moore, OSU ' s first gymnastics coach of the modern era, who headed the program from 1967 to 1975. Moore turned the job over to Nancy Gerou for two years, beginning in 1977, then returned to the post from 1980 to 1982 before becoming deputy athletic director for merged programs from 1983 to 1985. When Dee Andros retired as OSU athletic director in 1985, President John Byrne appointed Moore to serve as interim AD until a search could be conducted for Andros ' replacement. Her appointment lasted nine months, and she remains the only woman in OSU history to serve as athletic director for all sports. She is especially proud of the contribution she made during her tenure to a refurbishing of Parker Stadium.
Looking back on that brief moment in her career, Moore says "the experience was fun. I used to chuckle when I would think about all the mothers and dads out there and what they were thinking when they saw a woman had signed our letters of intent."
She also remembers how she would often sit in her office and think about how far women ' s athletics at Oregon State had progressed since the 1950s, when women ' s intramural teams would have to buy classified ads in the student newspaper, The Daily Barometer, to get their scores posted; how teams shared warm-ups; how by the 1980s, women were allowed the use of two locker rooms and a half shower for all sports.
"A rod and shower curtain was all that separated the two halves," she remembers with a laugh. "We got a wall built very quickly."
So that the games could go on in the days before Title IX, Moore had to qualify as a referee in multiple sports, becoming certified in field hockey, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and softball.
"We brought our own officials to our games," she says. "I refereed in all these sports and never received one dollar for the time. It was all volunteer labor."
It was be historically inaccurate to say that the best women ' s athletes in the school ' s history are the ones who have competed since the appearance of Title IX and all that this implies. Don ' t tell this to Oregon Stater Gracie Zwahlen. Or OSU alumna Dr. Mary Budke.
Zwahlen, who is from the class of 1952, won the Oregon State Golf Championship five times, won the Canadian National Golf Championship, was twice a semi-finalist in the USGA Amateur Championship and was twice named to the U. S. Curtis Cup Team to play against the British. At a 1952 international two-ball tournament, "Babe" Didrikson became ill and couldn ' t play. Gracie took her place. In 1986, she was named to the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Former Oregon State All-American golfer Mary Budke is still making news, having recently been named the captain of the 2002 Curtis Cup team, chosen by the United States Golf Association Women's Committee.
Budke, a physician, lettered at OSU from 1972 to 1975. She attended school without an athletic scholarship. As a Beaver, she won the 1974 AIAW individual championship and placed third at the team finals, along with current OSU women's head coach Rise Lakowske. Budke has been inducted into the Oregon State (1992), Oregon Sports, and National Golf Coaches Association (1996) Halls of Fame. Budke is an eight-time Oregon Women's Amateur champion.
The Eugene, Ore., native, who played for the victorious 1974 U.S. Curtis Cup team and compiled a 2-1 record, won the 1972 Women's Amateur at age 18. She then went on to tie for 42nd at the 1974 Women's Open as an amateur.
Budke also won the Hayward Award in 1973, which is given annually to the top amateur athlete in the state of Oregon.
Finally, don ' t mention this to OSU ' s women ' s volleyball team from the 1970-71 season. It competed in the national tournament that year, the collegiate volleyball "Big Dance," and player Patti Perkins from that team recently shared some memories of her own to OSU assistant sports information director Jennifer Lowery via e-mail.
She wrote on Oct. 1, 2002:
"I played volleyball at Corvallis High, but it was more of a "Play Day" atmosphere. I am not sure why I went out for the team at OSU. There must have been a sign-up sheet somewhere.
"As a freshman in 1969, I was not a starter, but there were quite a few tournaments we went to so there was still (for me) a lot of playing time. When we earned our way to the first national tournament, we had to practice at 6 a.m. to have any gym space. We sold See ' s suckers for 10 cents. We carried them all over and people just recognized us and bought them. Our regular customers seemed to be our instructors in the Women ' s Building.
"Another offer we had was a chance to play volleyball at a Blazer game at half time, for money, but they wanted us to play in bikinis. Our coach, Sally Hunter, turned them down. The football coach offered us $500 if we would dust the trophy case (in Gill), but Sally turned that down also. He gave us the money anyway.
"The whole Title IX stuff was never a big deal, except when we had to do all the fund-raising. I was not aware of how easy the boys had it. I guess I was just having fun doing my own thing. I talk to the kids today about some of the things that went on in the old days, but I don ' t really think it sets in with them."
Another player from that amazing team, Mary Paczesniak, shared memories of the 1969-71 seasons in a letter to the OSU Alumni Association:
"Women athletes were required to usher and sell concessions in the stands at OSU football and basketball games to help raise money for operating expenses. We worked from one hour prior to the game until midway through the second half, at which time we received 80 cents worth of free refreshments, which could buy a hot dog, bag of popcorn and a drink. If we didn ' t want the food, we could not receive the 80 cents. Male athletes competing on ' minor ' sports teams who were not receiving a full scholarship did the same type of work and earned $5 an hour.
"The volleyball team's ' uniforms ' were the physical education majors ' uniforms which were worn in PE. classes and on which we had stitched felt numbers. Before nationals in Kansas City in 1971, we purchased, at personal expense, long-sleeved white tee shirts to wear with our PE shorts. We borrowed the gymnastics team ' s warm-up suits to wear, and we were slightly larger than the gymnasts!
We participated in the last two National Intercollegiate Championships for Women in 1970 and 1971. We placed 12th for the 1969-1970 season after having gone 21-0 and winning the Pacific Northwest Championship. OSU paid our way to fly to Long Beach and for us to stay in a motel. In 1970-1971, we finished 17-5 and placed 2nd in the PNW (to Oregon). However, the OSU athletic department did not deem us ' outstanding, ' thus would not help pay for our expenses to participate in the national tournament in Lawrence. We raised our own money for the trip, with a car wash and by cleaning Parker Stadium after the spring football game, for which the athletic department paid us $200.
"Women athletes prior to Title IX played for the pure love of the sport and the love of competition. Times were so simple and honest then, but Title IX was a definite necessity."
