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Judge reflects on Title IX impact
Opportunities for girls increased
By Greg Gulas
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Christian says there was very little available in the way of competitive sports for girls when she graduated from Erie McDowell High School in 1972.
“We had a basketball, tennis and gymnastics team that played a very limited schedule,” Christian said Monday when she spoke to the Curbstone Coaches at Avion Banquet Center. “We had no transportation to and from games.”
The athletic programs were mostly intramural “through the Girls Athletic Club,” she said. “We had one volleyball tournament a year and played four or five schools from the area in one weekend.”
Title IX, she said, kick-started sports for female participants.
“For me, Title IX made my entire career,” Christian said.
A graduate of Edinboro University, Christian earned her undergraduate degree in health and physical education and M.Ed. in educational psychology. She was one of the early recipients of the schools’ work-study awards.
“After the passing of Title IX, I received one of the first volleyball work-study awards as there were no scholarships yet,” Christian said.
She said the opportunities created by the law “helped instill confidence, helped me learn to request and work toward what I want,” Christian said. “It helped me recognize the importance of a level playing field and eliminated intimidation.”
While Title IX has been referred to as one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation, Christian said it does not specifically mention athletics.
“The legislation was passed in 1972 and signed by President [Richard] Nixon,” Christian said. “It’s only 37 words long.”
She said the law says that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Times certainly have changed. In 1972, one in 27 high school athletes was female, Christian said, adding that in 2014, two out of five athletes were females.
In 1972, approximately 295,000 girls nationwide competed in high school sports while in 2013, that number rose to 3.2 million participants.
“The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women hosted championships and we played schools like Penn State, national champion Immaculata, Tennessee, Temple and other schools that are currently Division I.”
Christian said few statistics are available from that era “because we had little or no money for such luxuries.
“We recruited a coach for softball, got funding for the team from Student Government then had the team approved for intercollegiate status.”
In Ohio, the OHSAA discontinued its high school basketball championships for women in 1940 but revived them in 1975.
After graduating, Christian served as athletic director, as well as basketball, volleyball and softball coach, at a Villa Maria College for women in Erie, Pa.
“I was the first full-time person in those positions,” Christian said. “They offered several scholarships for the first time ever and the school had a rigorous academic reputation.
“Professors and students were not yet used to balancing academics and athletics,” Christian said. “I formed a task force to assess whether continuing the program was a good idea and we concluded that it was not.”
Villa Maria’s sports programs were discontinued, something she pointed out that could not have happened if the school had athletics for men.