50 years of Title IX

MARK MOSCHETTI • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE

Growing up in San Francisco, Erin O’Connell engaged in all kinds of athletic pursuits. She played softball, which, for a time, was her favorite. But there was also basketball. Volleyball. Soccer. And rowing, which ultimately became her favorite. The doors to each of those sports were wide open to her — and to any girl who wanted to take part.

For all of them, including O’Connell, a former University of Washington women’s rowing coxswain and became assistant rowing coach, and now the school’s Deputy Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator, it was because of Title IX.

And though O’Connell didn’t know either one of them at the time, it also was because of a couple of legendary Huskies — tennis star Trish Bostrom and rowing coach Jan Harville — who helped pave the pathway to passing the landmark legislation. “Because I was never faced with a situation where I was told,

‘No, you can’t participate in this because you are female,’ that foundation was laid by all these women who went through that — the Trish’s and Jan’s of the world,” O’Connell said. “They FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE went through that — they paved the way, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

Keegan Cook shares those feelings of gratitude. Since he took charge of the perennially powerful Washington volleyball program in 2015, the Huskies have won three Pacific-12 titles, advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight four times and reached the Final Four once.

“There isn’t an aspect of my life that would have existed without Title IX,” Cook said. “Especially these last few months, I’ve taken some moments to reflect on the idea that Title IX has affected my life long before I knew what it was. It was a significant aspect for so many members of my family who were collegiate athletes themselves, and it would eventually lead to my vocation and my career.”

Throughout the upcoming academic year, UW athletics will salute Title IX monthly, celebrating all of Husky women’s sports. Certainly, there’s plenty to celebrate, not the least of which are national titles won over the years in cross country, golf, rowing, softball, and volleyball.

But while championships are the ultimate goal, the year-long recognition also is about the still-ongoing journey that is Title IX. “I’m excited to think about what the next chapter of Title IX can be to continue expanding and enhancing opportunities for girls and women,” O’Connell said.

When Title IX became law on June 23, 1972, it didn’t specifically say anything about athletics. It does say that no one shall, “on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Athletics are covered by the law because they are considered an integral part of an institution’s education program.

On that now historic day, Washington did not officially sponsor any women’s varsity sports, although several highly talented women athletes still carried the Husky banner high. Bostrom won the Pacific-8 Conference women’s singles tennis title in 1972. Lynn Coella, who trained and swam unofficially with the UW men’s team, won a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

School sponsorship began in 1974-75, with basketball, golf, gymnastics, and track. Today, the Huskies offer 11 sports for women, the latest of which is beach volleyball, which joined the lineup in 2014.

But the path toward equity goes beyond just sponsoring a particular sport. It encompasses everything from facilities to gear to athletic training to academic support. “I think it has been more about ensuring along the way that everything is equitable,” O’Connell said. “Or when coming across a situation between men and women in the college environment, whether it’s sports or something else, if it isn’t equitable, working on a plan to do that.”

Exemplifying that, Husky Softball Stadium and Husky Ballpark are both considered among the finest stadiums in the country for those sports. Baseball has the Wayne Gittinger Team Building, complete with coaches’ offices, a learning center, and a players lounge. Last fall, the Softball Performance Center came online with its own hitting tunnels and nets that can be adjusted to allow for infield drills.

“When softball became a sport in (1993) here, they got a better stadium than baseball had for a while. Then baseball built a fantastic facility that had their own hitting facility,” O’Connell said. “Our new softball facility is twopronged. We wanted to enhance the experience and create more competitive opportunities for all women, but we were also looking to balance that out (with baseball).”

Washington has a rolling cycle of five-year self-assessments to make sure Husky athletics is keeping up with the intent and the spirit of Title IX. “Gender equity means a lot of things these days,” O’Connell added. “It takes constant vigilance and being open to and finding the resources to make the adjustments when necessary.”

As Cook sees it, offering an equitable chance at learning how to go through life away from athletics is just as important as programs, facilities, and gear.

“I have family members who were collegiate student athletes, who had scholarships and were able to participate and have their education paid for. My wife (Sarah Ammerman, an All-American volleyball player at Texas A&M) was a student-athlete. I’ve seen the profound impact it has had on the development of their character and many of their virtues. It’s just a huge part of the formative years of their life.”

That’s important to O’Connell, as well. In looking ahead to how UW will celebrate Title IX throughout the upcoming year, she told of plans to have a panel, which will be a community-oriented event, with speakers not just from the world of athletics, but also from business, entertainment, and other professions. “Title IX is not specific to education and sports, but all spaces that women have excelled in,” she said.

Washington’s upcoming year-long tribute to Title IX will be guided by a committee of prominent Husky alums. Along with Bostrom and former rowing coach Harville, some others in the distinguished group of 25 are basketball player Kelsey Plum, volleyball player Courtney Thompson, track and field thrower Aretha Thurmond (Hill), golfer Paige McKenzie, and softballers Sis Bates and Danielle Lawrie.

In addition, a “Mighty Are the Women Title IX Fund” has been established with the stated goal of providing additional support and funding for female student-athletes and the women’s sports programs.

All of it serves as a reminder that even with so much progress in the past 50 years, there’s more progress to be made. “One thing that I thought of is young women need to see themselves in incredible positions in order to have that dream,” Cook said. “There has to be some spark for a young person, and when you can see yourself in somebody who is striving and succeeding, it usually is the catalyst for that person to start their own journey.”

That journey, in Cook’s view, doesn’t necessarily have a finish line. “The greatest expression of gratitude is continued growth,” he said. “My hope for all those who are celebrating Title IX and the good it has done is that it galvanizes them to pursue future growth. That’s how I’m trying to live it.”