40 years later, impact of Title IX is immeasurable

“I played year-round – on a driveway,” she said.

A generation later, Dani Franklin - Deb's daughter - is venturing outside southeast Cedar Rapids, pursuing a college dream.

Four weeks in July, four tournaments with her AAU squad, Team Iowa.

Four cities. Cincinnati, Louisville, Kansas City, Minneapolis.

“I love traveling to play basketball,” said Dani, a 6-foot-1 guard who will be a junior at Cedar Rapids Washington. “It's great getting experience playing with different people. It's fun.”

It's an opportunity that would have been scarce to impossible before Title IX.

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the federal legislation:

“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…”

Shortly after its enactment in 1972, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare began work on regulations to implement sex equality in education, and announced the Title IX regulations would include athletics.

Or, in Dani Franklin's terms: “To me, (Title IX) is when they passed a law that let women play sports.”

When Title IX was enacted, girls in most Iowa high schools already were in the game.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union was founded in 1927, and sponsored eight girls' sports (basketball, tennis, golf, softball, track and field, cross country, swimming and volleyball) by 1972. Since then, soccer and bowling have been added under the IGHSAU umbrella.

“(Former IGHSAU director E. Wayne Cooley) had Iowa light years ahead of the curve,” said current IGHSAU executive director Mike Dick.

Some schools, though, were lagging. Most of them, ironically, were big schools.

When Tom Ecker became the athletics director of Cedar Rapids Community Schools in 1969, options for Metro girls were scarce.

“Coaches of the boys sports and ADs at the high schools were against any kind of change. They didn't want to give up their gym time,” Ecker said. “So we started with the junior high PE teachers. We asked them what sports they wanted to start. They chose basketball and volleyball.”

The first varsity basketball programs in the Metro were at Jefferson, Washington and Kennedy in 1972-73. The other Metro schools came on board two years later.

“It wasn't equality. It was equity,” Ecker said. “If sports were good for people, they were good for all people.”

Today, about 57,000 girls in grades 9-12 compete in interscholastic sports in Iowa.

“I don't think people realize how good girls in this state have it, compared to girls in other states, in terms of venues, coaching staffs and trainers,” Dick said.

Christine Grant served as director of women's athletics at the University of Iowa from 1973 to 2000.  She hired C. Vivian Stringer as the women's basketball coach at Iowa, and a crowd of 22,157 flooded Carver-Hawkeye Arena to watch a women's basketball game in 1985.

Iowa State is among the nation's leaders in women's basketball attendance on an annual basis.

“It has been amazing to watch things grow,” said ISU Coach Bill Fennelly. “It's one thing to give women an opportunity to play. It's another to give women resources to let them have an opportunity to flourish. And that's what's happened.”

Because of Title IX, colleges are required to keep scholarships for men and women equitable. Because of that, and the large number of scholarships in football, there are generally more women's sports at most Division-I universities than men's sports.

The University of Northern Iowa, for instance, has six men's sports and nine women's sports. In recent years, UNI and Iowa State have eliminated their baseball programs. Many schools around the country have dropped other men's sports, including wrestling.

Dan Gable won an Olympic gold medal in 1972, ironically, the same year that Title IX was enacted. He believes there is a direct correlation between the law and the nationwide demise of wrestling at the collegiate level.

“If you look and see what has happened with the losses of programs over the years, it's definitely related to this particular issue, but there are a lot of other reasons it was easy to pick on a sport that was all male,” Gable said.

“I think the original intentions weren't that way. It was an easy way to evolve, I would say, as compared to other subjects in school.”

According to UNI Athletics Director Troy Dannen, other factors are at work.

“What infuriates me is that if anything negative happens, if a male sport has to be dropped, the blame is placed on Title IX,” said Dannen, who succeeded Cooley at the Girls Union - Dick succeeded Dannen in 2008.

“It's a bad excuse. I don't think of Title IX as a quota system. When we dropped baseball, we dropped it for financial reasons. If you have to drop a sport, you have to remain in compliance with Title IX.”

Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder graduated from Linn-Mar in 1979, about seven years after Title IX was enacted.

“I was among the first group that really reaped the benefits,” said Bluder, who played at UNI, then coached at St. Ambrose and Drake before coming to Iowa. “I'm very, very thankful.”

Like Deb Franklin, Bluder has daughters who know vaguely what Title IX was, and is.

“Some kids don't have any idea what it was about, and part of that is good,” Bluder said. “But education about the past makes you respect what has happened and where we are now.”

QUOTES ABOUT TITLE IX:

LISA BLUDER, University of Iowa women's basketball coach

“They passed it in 1972 and I graduated (from Linn-Mar) in 1979, so I was among the first group that really reaped the benefits. I'm very, very thankful.”

“Kids today don't have any idea what Title IX was about, and part of that is good. But education about the past makes you respect what has happened and where we are now.”

“People like (former UI women's AD) Christine Grant worked tirelessly in getting the law passed, and making sure it is upheld.”

KATHY BRESNAHAN, Iowa City West volleyball coach, 54, grew up at Cuba City (Wis.) in the '70s … school started track when she was a freshman, basketball when she was a junior.

“My mom was a big Title IX proponent. She went to the principal's office, saying they had to get something put in for girls.”

“Opportunities for girls now, they're unquestionably fantastic. Club sports, scholarships, training opportunities - they're being taken seriously now as athletes. It's come so far … I played at Wisconsin-Platteville, and we were pretty good. But I think our sophomore team at West would beat that team.”

“In Iowa, the female athlete is something of value.”

TROY DANNEN, University of Northern Iowa AD and former IGHSAU executive director

“Because I am from Iowa, I don't think twice about it. Those principles aleady were in place before federal legislation. At the high school level, boys and girls experienced equally. I didn't know any different. We expected it as the way it should be before it was mandated.

“What infuriates me is that if anything negative happens - if a male sport has to be dropped - the blame is placed on Title IX. It's a bad excuse. I don't think of Title IX as a quota system. When we dropped baseball, we dropped it for financial reasons. If you have to drop a sport, you have to remain in compliance with Title IX.”

MIKE DICK, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union executive director

“(Former IGHSAU director E. Wayne C0oley) had Iowa light years ahead of the curve. Other states are envious of what we had, and what we still have. Iowa has a lot of uniqueness, with two separate organizations. We are really able to look out for the welfare of high school girls.”

“I don't think people realize how good girls in this state have it, compared to girls in other states, in terms of venues, coaching staffs and trainers.”

TOM ECKER, Cedar Rapids Community Schools athletics director, 1969-85

“We were pioneers, and we were proud of it.”

“Coaches of the boys sports and ADs at the high schools were against any kind of change. They didn't want to give up their gym time. So we started with the junior high PE teachers. We asked them what sports they wanted to start. They chose basketball and volleyball.”

The first varsity basketball programs in the Metro were at Jefferson, Washington and Kennedy in 1972-73. The other Metro schools came on board two years later.

“It wasn't equality. It was equity. If sports were good for people, they were good for all people.”

BILL FENNELLY, Iowa State University women's basketball coach

“Title IX has impacted my career, and my whole life. It has been amazing to watch things grow.”

“It's one thing to give women an opportunity to play. It's another to give women resources to let them have an opportunity to flourish. And that's what's happened.”

“If I wasn't a women's basketball coach, I'd probably be practicing law or in politics. I don't know if I would be in coaching. I am thankful every day I get to do what I do.”

DANI FRANKLIN, junior-to-be at Cedar Rapids Washington, plays basketball and volleyball

Definition of Title IX: “It's when they passed a law that let women play sports.”

“I love traveling to play basketball. It's great getting experience playing with different people. It's fun.”

DEB FRANKLIN, 1976 Cedar Rapids Washington grad, played at William Penn and Mount Mercy, mother of Danielle Franklin, Washington Class of 2014

“I think the opportunities are greater now. The scholarships are out there. There are more scholarships, but there is more competition.”

“The biggest difference between then and now is club ball. I played year-round – on a driveway. These kids can play year-round, structured basketball.”

DAN GABLE, former national wrestling champion at Iowa State, Olympic gold medalist in 1972, former University of Iowa wrestling coach

“I think I have a pretty good position and feeling for it. More than most. I feel that I'm very open-minded about it. The reason why I say that is I'm in a sport that has been affected.”

“If you look and see what has happened with the losses of programs over the years it's definitely related to this particular issue, but there are a lot of other reasons it was easy to pick on a sport that was all male.”

“My wife and I raised four daughters during that time. Two weren't participants as much because there wasn't that much emphasis on female sports at that particular time or the opportunity. The last two actually went to college and participated in college athletics.”

“I think the original intentions weren't that way. It was an easy way to evolve, I would say, as compared to other subjects in school.”

“I'm not the kind of guy that's going to do something and want to hurt somebody else. So, if I'm going to add a wrestling program and it's detrimental to somebody else I'm not going to do it. I don't think other people should do that as well. I'm going to fight for what I believe in, but I'm not going to go out and make a lot of people upset.”