Today in Sports History 6/23/1972

Photo from Women’s Sports Foundation

Fifty years ago today, the United States passed Title IX, saying all schools receiving federal funding must ensure 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 education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Title IX stemmed from the Education Amendments of 1972. The amendments required that schools provide the same resources for locker rooms, medical care, training, coaching, equipment, practice facilities and times, tutoring, recruitment, travel, and per diem allowances.

The law also required a proportional distribution of scholarships. For example, if men got awarded 30% of a school's athletic scholarships, then the school allocated 30% for women.

Title IX's origins go back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, where the federal government prohibited race-based discrimination. Although the former act did not mention sexual discrimination, it laid the groundwork for the federal government’s further expansion of civil rights protections.

(Bettman/AP Photo)

Before Title IX, sexual discrimination across the country and on college campuses prevailed. Universities barred female students from classes and majors like math, law, and medicine. Schools used admission quotas, limiting the number of female students, professors got denied tenure, and hiring discrimination was commonplace.

Moreover, only one in twenty-seven girls played sports. Universities considered women's college sports illegitimate, women did not receive athletic scholarships, and the NCAA did not host championship competitions. Female student-athlete populations dwarf male athletes in number. In 1972, 30,000 women participated in NCAA athletics compared to 170,000 men.

The funding difference was staggering. At Ohio State University, women's teams received $40,000 from the $6 million athletic budget. Texas A&M University carried ten women's sports with a $200 budget total.

In 1974, Washington Post reporter Nancy Scannel said that Dennis Fosdick paid $2,200 out of pocket for his team's travel. He was Texas A&M's women's swim team coach. The school covered the men's flights. The government began enforcing the law in 1978.

Photo from Swimming World

Indiana Senator Birch Bayh helped push the bill through Congress. He considered it "an important first step in the effort to provide for the women of America something that is rightfully theirs."

Universities denied women fairness and equality, and Title IX sought to correct that imbalance. Anne Findlay Chamberlain was one of the first women who received an athletic scholarship because of title IX and said. "It used to be that we had to wear skirts and nylons to a game. But that whole era has changed now and we don't have to be embarrassed to be female athletes anymore, even though I never was."

Title IX has not been immune to challenges or change. Still, the bill has positively impacted women's educational and athletic experiences. As of 2018, 60% of female teenagers participated in a sport, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.

In 1972, the U.S. Olympic team had 428 total athletes and only 90 female athletes. Three hundred thirty women competed for Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In contrast, two hundred eighty-five men competed for team USA.

Photo from USA Basketball

Title IX had benefited men's sports as well. Male sport participation rates have increased continually since the bill's passage. For the 40th anniversary in 2012, The National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) reported that from 1988 to 2011, NCAA member schools experienced a net gain of nearly 1,000 men's sports teams.

Fifty years later, women's sports have never been more favorable, profitable, and sought-after by investors. Nicole Lavoi, the director of the Tucker Center For Research on Girls and Women in Sport, notes that television viewership and corporate sponsorships have risen continually.

(Photo by Michael J. Okoniewski/SU Athletic Communications)

Still, conversations and reforms persist about conjoining sponsorships and venues for men's and women's national championships, ensuring equity. The NCAA has pushed off serious considerations until 2033. Yet, Title IX substantially changed education and collegiate athletics.

Karen Hartman, a Title IX scholar and Idaho State University professor, said. "If you give opportunities, then you see how competitive and athletic all bodies can be, no matter if they're men or women."