Title IX has come a long way with miles still to go
Monessen coach Janine Vertacnik signals to her players during a WPIAL playoff game against Riverview at Monessen on Feb. 21. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Linda Messich, Mapletown’s longtime athletic director, began teaching at the school in 1972 and started the girls’ basketball team. (Submitted photo)
Dr. Karen Hjerpe
Donna DeMarino Sanft
Janine Vertacnik remembers when she and her teammates at California State College, now called Penn West-California, would drive to their softball games.
The college did not provide team transportation in that sport.
That is the way it was in the days before Title IX, which is the most common name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was passed as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972.
It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
A standout volleyball, basketball and softball player at Cal, Vertacnik was one of the trail blazers for women’s athletics for the Vulcans and in western Pennsylvania. She’s been a head basketball coach in college and in high school. Her stops include Yough, Jeannette, Greensburg Salem and Pitt-Greensburg.
She is rebuilding Monessen High School’s program, taking the Greyhounds to the WPIAL playoffs the past three years and leading them to their first post-season win under her this past season. Vertacnik led the Jeannette girls’ basketball team to the 2010 WPIAL Class A championship.
“There is so much more available to girls and women now,” Vertacnik said. “There are more leagues, more opportunities, more participants. But it’s the finances for travel, and facilities and the scholarships available for females now that is so different. That’s where the change and the progress really started — finances.
“Back when I played, we wore what we wore in gym class as uniforms for both volleyball and basketball. You’d dive on the floor and the snaps would go into your skin and with the tops, the zipper would poke you in the chest.”
Donna DeMarino Sanft arrived at the University of Pittsburgh in the fall of 1970 fresh off three consecutive state championships in gymnastics at Monessen High School. These were new surroundings and circumstances to be sure. She was part of “an amazing gymnastics team at Monessen,” where they won every year, were respected and noticed.
“When I arrived at Pitt, it was not that way,” she said. “Women’s gymnastics wasn’t under the athletic department; it was under the physical education department. We bought our own uniforms. We didn’t have the support we should have had from the University.”
That atmosphere was similar for women’s athletics across the country.
“Title IX has helped in so many ways,” said Sanft, a long-time University of Pittsburgh athletic administrator and Panthers’ gymnastics coach, “especially in the provision of financial support for female athletes.
“It also provided for the female teams having uniforms, better facilities and the ability to travel for competitions. In addition, there was more in the way of marketing and publicity for women’s teams, coaching salaries increased, and women had full-time coaches, and additional staff and support people. The financial support for women’s athletics has grown dramatically over the last 50 years.”
Even before Title IX, Penny Starkey took advantage of opportunities in sports for girls and women in the late 1960s at her Philadelphia area high school, and at the University of Pittsburgh for two-and-a-half seasons, before being dry-docked with severe ear infections. She was “shocked” when she was hired as a physical education teacher in the Washington School District in 1972 that the only two activities for females were cheerleading and majorettes.
“It was beyond my comprehension to be employed by a school that had nothing for girls in sports,” said Starkey, who taught and coached at Washington High School for 36 years and pioneered female sports at the school before retiring in 2009.
“It wasn’t easy,” Starkey said. “(Washington) was prodded into girls’ sports. In track, it took us two years to get our own locker room. I would not say things were equal then by any stretch.
“When you compare now with what it was, it’s better for girls and women in sports. A lot of girls are playing now and I think some in today’s world don’t understand where we’ve come from. My hope is doors will continue to open.”
Dr. Karen Hjerpe, athletic director at Penn West University-California, saw the inequities between men and women in athletics in her own home.
“Over the past 50 years, we have seen an increase in opportunities for females to participate in sports as well as receive a scholarship,” Hjerpe said. “I remember back when my brothers were recruited for football in the 1980s at the Division I level. They were flown to campus for campus visits, coaches visited the house, at those times they sent posters of the schools. Four years later when I was a volleyball senior athlete in high school, opportunities were different. For me, schools asked you to come at your own expense to visit their campus and look at their volleyball program.
“Today, there are more opportunities for females to begin playing a sport at a younger age. There are more opportunities for club or AAU programs that can develop those skills to a higher level. Opportunities to compete at regional or even national tournaments now exist where players can showcase their talents. Scholarship opportunities have risen for female athletes that were not available before.
“Social media and the internet have also helped to promote female sports. When you think of the development of sports even recently, we have more of an opportunity to watch female sports through social media or the internet and to find out information through messages that we may receive on our phone where in the past, those opportunities for promotion were not available.”
Clearly, Title IX opened doors beyond participation for girls and women. Another piece of legislation in Pennsylvania helped as well. Effective July 1, 2012, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 82 of 2012 which requires schools to complete the Interscholastic Athletic Opportunities Disclosure regarding athletic opportunities for students in grades 7-12. That legislation guaranteed an equal playing field in every aspect of scholastic sports in the state of Pennsylvania. It requires school districts to annually submit information to the Pennsylvania Department of Education regarding interscholastic athletic opportunities and treatment for male and female students for the preceding school year. It took effect during the 2012-2013 school year.
Women now are play-by-play announcers and color commentators on radio and television. Females officiate at the professional levels in football and basketball, they coach professionally in soccer, the NFL, NBA and MLB.
“Title IX provided opportunities for girls and women to participate,” said Scott McGuinness, the athletic director at Washington & Jefferson College. “The growth of female sport participation is directly tied to Title IX. However, it has taken, and continues to take, the hard work of many women to continue to advance women’s sports globally.
“I think of women like (former W&J women’s basketball coach and administrator) Vicki Staton and the efforts she displayed to grow sports like basketball and volleyball here locally. The law itself provided opportunity, but people, like Vicki, are the catalysts for the growth of all female sports. I have two daughters who are just beginning to play sports and I am thankful they are growing up in an era of so much opportunity.”
Opportunity knocked
More women continue to land athletic director positions in college athletics and females serve as commissioners of conferences throughout the country.
“The evolution of women’s athletics over the past 50 years has been tremendously impactful in many ways,” said Adam Jack, Waynesburg University athletic director. “It has created opportunities for young women to develop as leaders and mentors on campuses across the country. The qualities that these women developed on the field and/or court translated into confidence, and in turn, successful careers.”
The Las Vegas Raiders recently hired Sandra Douglass Morgan as the first African-American woman to serve as president of an NFL team. Another momentous hiring was that of Kimberly J. Ng, who is the general manger of the Miami Marlins — the highest-ranking female baseball executive. She is the first woman to serve as general manager of a team in the big four leagues in North America and first person of East Asian descent to serve as general manager of an MLB team.
Ng previously served as assistant director of baseball operations for the Chicago White Sox, and assistant GM of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Women of power
Linda Messich has served as a coach at Mapletown High School and has been the Maples’ athletic director for 26 years. She graduated from West Greene in 1967 and started teaching in 1972 at Mapletown, where she started the girls’ basketball team.
“It’s way different from what it was,” Messich said. “When I played basketball only ‘rovers’ were allowed to play the whole court and only three players could dribble.
“We wore gym suits — one-piece rompers — and we wore pinnies for shirts and tied them at the waist. Title IX has opened a lot of doors, given opportunities for girls. I wish I had the opportunities when I was in school. I am proud of the equality we have at our high school.”
Shantey Hill-Hanna, vice president for student life and campus services, and physical education chair at St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, N.Y., is a Cal U. graduate (2001). She is the former vice president of athletics at the school and the former senior associate director of athletics/senior women administrator at Long Island University.
“The significance of Title IX for me is the ability to play sports and being able to play them equally on a level playing field. It enabled me to participate in sports and led to a career in sports,” she said. “I think there’s still a long way to go with representation of minority females. Numbers are continuing to rise and women certainly will continue to empower themselves. They are not going to sit idly by and allow their rights to be taken away.”
Other local females hold significant positions in collegiate athletics including:
Hillary Jeffries who is director of special projects at the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. She is a Mapletown High School and West Virginia University graduate. Jeffries is responsible for complete oversight of the College Football Hall of Fame nomination and voting processes.Laila Brock, a Washington High School and Penn State University graduate, was recently promoted to vice president, business development at JMI Sports, a California-based leading media rights and venue development company. Brock is directing JMI Sports’ industry outreach and relationship development throughout the collegiate and professional marketplace to drive revenue through property acquisitions, events and strategic initiatives that cultivate new prospects. Previously, she was a member of the College Football Playoff (CFP) senior staff, serving as the Senior Director of Operations and Logistics.Brandi Laurita, a Jefferson-Morgan High School graduate, has been the athletic director at the University of Findlay since June 2015. In December 2021, she was promoted to vice president of student affairs while retaining her role as athletic director. She took over the role after serving as an assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator for the Oilers from 2008-15.Mia White, a Monessen native and graduate of Geibel Catholic and Carnegie Mellon University, is the product operations manager, growth at NBA in New York. White formerly served as product manager, club tools for MLB; product manager, business applications for the Miami Heat; manager CRM and analytics for the New York Red Bulls (soccer); and business analytics assistant for the Pittsburgh Pirates.Last month, Chelsey Pryor Burk, a Washington native, and Canevin Catholic and University of Kansas graduate, was named the Atlantic 10 Conference’s assistant commissioner and chief financial officer. Burk oversees the conference’s financial operations, including budget forecasting and analysis, among other duties. She joins the league from William and Mary, where she was the Deputy Athletic Director.Dr. Wendy J. Snodgrass (Hamilton) begins her 18th year at Penn West University-Clarion in 2022-23 and her sixth year as the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. The Trinity High School graduate previously served as the university’s Interim Athletic Director, Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman Administrator, Compliance Coordinator and Title IX Deputy since 2007 after spending two years as an acting Associate Athletic Director.
The future
What the future holds for female athletes and women in gaining executive positions remains cloudy and is up for debate.
“I look forward to the growth of women’s sports, especially emerging sports that have taken hold in this region like women’s wrestling, in the coming years,” Jack said. “The development of these emerging sports, as well as the continued focus on diversity and inclusion throughout athletics, will undoubtedly create new and exciting opportunities for young women.”
“Women’s sports will continue to grow in popularity,” McGuinness predicted. “Statistics show that 1.5 million more girls are playing high school sports today than they did in the early 1990s. I expect that number to double 30 years from today. The women’s basketball Final Four and the college softball world series are just two examples of events that annually attract great ratings on television.”
Vertacnik said the NIL money now part of the collegiate sports scene and likely to become part of high school sports in Pennsylvania could slow or stop progress for women in sports. NIL money refers to the money that athletes can now earn by signing NIL deals and marketing the individuals name, image, and likeness. The exact amount of NIL money that you can expect to receive is going to vary depending on social media following, market value, and the sport.
During a meeting this month, the PIAA Board of Directors approved, on a first reading basis, a policy that will allow high school athletes to endorse products and services and market their sports-related images and skills. Any PIAA policy change must go through three approvals, or “readings.”
“We may have capped (the progress) off,” Vertacnik said. “Women are not going to get maybe any or equal (NIL) pay. I don’t know what is going to transpire.
“Right now, I think things are fair. When something is found to be inequitable, it gets fixed. I don’t know how much further we can go with the direction sports is going. If this goes the way it is, the playing field will not be level. I hope this gets rectified.”