San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
An up-close and personal celebration of Title IX
This past week marked the 50th birthday of Title IX, the historic legislation that leveled the academic and athletic fields for American women.
As a writer and has-been athlete who has been researching the history of women’s sports, I wanted to mark this moment by talking to someone who sampled organized sports in the early Title IX years. I think I found the perfect interview subject.
Me.
So humor me as I engage in what I hope will be an informative dialogue between a contemporary Betsy Pasley and a 1970s college student named Betsy Gerhardt.
Pasley: Hi, Betsy. How are things in 1977?
Gerhardt: I’m having a blast at Trinity University. I love my journalism classes, my oncampus sports editor jobs, playing intramurals, and being on the varsity softball and track teams. I also met a cute guy with a strange last name. Pasley?
Pasley: Uh, no comment on that last part. I do wonder what it’s like to play on those early Title IX teams.
Gerhardt: Well, it’s exciting — and frustrating. We have one coach for the three main sports. She’s great, and we love to compete in games and tournaments. That said, our softball team has a pathetic practice field and no home stadium, and we have to bring our own bats and gloves, and wash our own uniforms. The guys don’t have to do that. Also, the running shoes we use on the track team are abysmal. They are so thin you can bend them in half, so I
have tendonitis all the time. Maybe someday we’ll have coaches who can focus on one sport and shoes made just for women.
Pasley: Did you have a chance to play sports before attending Trinity?
Gerhardt: Not much. At my humongous Houston high school, our only choices were girls volleyball or tennis, so there were few spots available and logistical issues if you didn’t have a car. However, my Trinity teammates who did get to play on high school teams are having trouble making the college transition, thanks to the odd rules imposed on girls sports. My basketball buddies grew up in the six-person halfcourt game that kept them on one side of the midcourt stripe and limited their skills to either offense or defense. And the few experienced softball players learned slow pitch, which is very different from our collegiate fast-pitch version.
Pasley: I’ve also heard that naming the new women’s teams are causing schools some consternation.
Gerhardt: Well, we’ve been called “Lady Tigers” or “Tigerettes,” both of which sound silly. But it could be worse. Southwest Texas contorted their Bobcat mascot into “Bobkittens.” I could go on.
Pasley: Please don’t! However, since the point of Title IX is providing equal opportunities, do you think you are being treated the same as Trinity’s male athletes in 1977?
Gerhardt: When we travel with men’s teams, they get two paid meals to our one, and they can double up at the hotel while we squeeze four into a room. I guess these are small things, since most of us just feel lucky to play varsity sports and be treated to Steak and Ale dinners on road trips. Maybe later I’ll look at this differently.
By the way, can I ask you a question? Since you seem to be in the future, I’m curious: Did Title IX make a difference?
Pasley: Glad you asked. A lot happened over the past 50 years, but here are some highlights. First, it’s been a tremendous success in sports, despite persistent resistance from those who felt threatened by the idea of women’s athletics. The participation of girls and women has grown exponentially and is almost equal across the board. Trinity now has nine very successful varsity women’s teams who get equal treatment with the nine men’s teams. We’ve overcome some huge speed bumps but still face challenges.
Gerhardt: OK. But wasn’t Title IX about more than just sports?
Pasley: You’d be astonished
how access to equal opportunity in education has opened doors previously closed to women before Title IX. Women can now enroll in military academies or Ivy League schools and pursue postgraduate or professional degrees. The ratio of women studying law and medicine is greater than men, and more women than ever can be found in corporate suites. Considering only two women were in the Senate when Title IX passed, female representation in Congress is much better — but still a disappointing 27 percent. Sadly, there is still a constant threat that this progress could be reversed, and we remain vigilant. A recent quote
from feminist Gloria Steinem sums it up: “I feel proud, and I feel mad as hell.”
On a positive note, Trinity just announced its 20th president in its 153-year history, a woman! To me that’s a good sign of how far we’ve come.
Betsy Gerhardt Pasley is a retired corporate communicator from San Antonio. She was one of the first women athletes to earn a Trinity varsity letter, the first female sportswriter at the San Antonio Light and the author of “From the Sidelines to the Headlines: The Legacy of Women’s Sports at Trinity University,” to be published in 2023 by Trinity University Press.