In the mid-1970s as thousands of high school girls like me were playing school sports for the first time, thousands more female college students had their first opportunity to play organized sports.

We all got the chance to play because of Title IX—and because there were administrators and coaches committed to doing what was right, despite efforts to delay progress by those opposed to women’s athletics.

Can you imagine how much work it was to start a program where none existed? Where budgets were slim, and a good number of people didn’t believe women should play? Where it took a whistle blower to call out an athletic director and an appointed committee for not moving forward with their mission to start a women’s program?

The University of Wisconsin has created a series about the history of women’s sports on its campus. I love the old photographs and stories about women who played in the late 1800s but was shocked by the challenges women faced after Title IX was passed.

UW Chancellor Edwin Young appointed a committee, led by athletic director Elroy Hirsch, who is honored annually with the Crazylegs Classic race. Their task was to oversee the future of women’s sports when Title IX was passed. Nine months later, Dr. Muriel R. Sloan wrote a letter to Chancellor Young reporting that the committee had met only once and had no plan of action.

On April 3, 1973, a complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for “flagrant violation” of Title IX.

Chancellor Young promptly appointed a new committee and on July 1, 1974, Kit Saunders-Nordeen was named the first director of women’s intercollegiate athletics. The women’s program, consisting of 12 sports, was officially added to the UW Athletic Department.

It took leaders like Young, Sloan, and Nordeen to launch women’s athletics at UW–Madison, but I’m sure the University of Wisconsin is not unique. Similar scenarios likely played out at universities across the country.

It has been a long, challenging road to establish programs, provide opportunities, and gain respect for women’s sports. I am grateful to the people who established the first girls’ and women’s programs, the people who had to hold uncooperative administrators accountable to ensure they provided everything from funding to locker rooms to uniforms. And I am grateful to those who continue to work for equity and opportunities for women today.

From the University of Wisconsin:

The Original Influencers, Part One— A celebration of Wisconsin’s advocates for gender equality

The Original Influencers Part Two—A celebration of Wisconsin’s advocates for gender equality

A newly released book by Doug Moe:

The Right Thing to Do: Kit Saunders-Nordeen and the Rise of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Wisconsin and Beyond