Hoosier History: Title IX

Indiana's introduction of varsity women's sports

By Indiana Athletics

June 23^rd, 2017

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

— Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil Rights Act

On June 23, 1972, Title IX was enacted by Congress and was signed into law by the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon. It was a movement that started to give women the opportunity that they so perilously sought. A movement that allows schools like Indiana University to host 13 varsity women's sports today.

For those who are less familiar, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving any type of federal financial aid. It helps promote gender equality in not just athletics, but in the workplace and classroom as well.

As a matter of fact, it was an Amendment that brought four sports into their existence at Indiana University: basketball, volleyball, softball and cross-country.

As the Amendment passed in 1972, that same year women’s basketball had their inaugural season in Bloomington, where they went 14-2 under head coach Bea Gorton. Gorton, who did not receive any compensation for her coaching position, had an 81 percent winning percentage in her five year span with the team, and led the Hoosiers to a 1973 Final Four (AIAW) and two Elite Eight appearances in 1972 and 1974.

It was not until 1974 that women’s basketball was integrated into the Athletic Department and sponsored as a varsity team.

Vella Jo Price, a computer coordinator and data manger in Indiana University’s office of Affirmative Action, has been with the University for nearly 36 years. First as a student, Price studied recreation at IU from 1972-1976. During that time she was a guard on the basketball team and was the shortstop for the softball team.

Price has told Mary Keck of inside IU Bloomington in a recent featured spotlight that she got the sense many people felt women’s teams were made up of “just girls playing sports.” She also stated that “you played because you wanted to play, there wasn’t anything given to you.”

Vella Jo Price playing women's basketball in 1974

Sometimes they even had to play back-to-back games with a men’s-size basketball. Once when they competed in two games within 24 hours, they slept in the locker rooms between games while their coach hurried to wash their uniforms.

Varsity volleyball began in 1975, with the team’s head coach being Ann Lawver. In their first season the Hoosiers won the state championship after beating the favorite, Ball State.

According to former player Dawna Tidler-Needler, who played on the first Hoosier volleyball team, brochures were hung throughout the HPER building on IU’s campus trying to recruit girls to try out for the team.

She has told IU Athletics in a 2014 story, “I was a three sport athlete while in high school, but to be able to play volleyball for a Big Ten school still amazes me. I have truly been blessed. I always have seen myself as a team player in every aspect of my life thanks to sports. I learned how to work hard, get along with people and work together for common goals.”

Her teammate Debra Hockemeyer mentioned, “It ultimately was about love and caring and playing your guts out.”

Softball started in the same year, and since the Hoosiers have appeared in four women’s college World Series (1979, ’80, ’83, and ’86). Vella Jo Price mentioned during the initial seasons of the program they were expected to bring their own mitts and shoes. She also stated that the competition was still fierce in those days and, “We really took pride in playing for IU.”

Indiana Softball's first head coach, Jenny Johnson

Cross Country, the last sport to dawn in Bloomington in the Title IX era began in 1978, however the NCAA didn’t begin sponsoring the sport until 1981.

The women’s cross country team has had a pair of individual national champions since, something only three other schools in the nation (and just one other in the Big Ten) can claim. They have competed for eight team NCAA Championship in 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, and 2013. In the 1988 season, Indiana won individual men’s and women’s Cross Country National Championships a feat that had never happened before in the sport and has never happened since.

Without the declaration of Title IX, it is unknown if any of these opportunities would have been granted. Without Title IX we probably wouldn’t have heard of the stories of Price, Hockemeyer or Tindler-Needler. Who knows if we would have the 13 women’s varsity sports that take place at Indiana University today.

But it happened. We can thank Nixon and everyone that worked so diligently to get Title IX passed. It gave everyone, as fans, the ability to watch immaculate athletes perfect their craft. And as it still has ways to come, it allowed us to finally view women they way they truly deserve.

They aren’t just ‘girls playing sports’ like Price mentioned earlier, no; they are far more than that.

They are fiery competitors who can now be cherished and praised for their efforts….

Well deserved.

Footnotes

Story by Elias Arnett & photos provided by the Indiana University-Bloomington Archives.

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FootNotes

Story by Elias Arnett & photos provided by the Indiana University-Bloomington Archives.