Title IX gave coaches opportunity to thrive
When it comes to wins, Martha Altmire, Gie Parsons and Dana Petruska have plenty.
The three longtime basketball coaches have combined for more than 1,200 victories during their careers.
• Altmire, a 1967 Moniteau graduate, won 484 games in 35 years of coaching girls basketball at Olean (N.Y.) High School before retiring as one of the winningest hoop coaches in the history of the state.
• Parsons, a Gateway High School graduate who played basketball at Slippery Rock University, will enter her 24th season as women's basketball coach at Clarion University this fall and has 438 wins in her career.
• Petruska, a 1975 Deer Lakes graduate, is coaching girls basketball at her alma mater. She won 268 games in 19 years at Mars, including a run of nine consecutive WPIAL playoff appearances.
This trio's greatest triumph? Title IX.
Without it, none of the others happen.
Title IX was passed as a portion of the Education Amendment in 1972 and declared that no person in the United States would be denied, on the basis of sex, participation in or the benefits of any educational program or activity.
“Without it, I don't even go to college,” said Petruska, who went on to play basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. “My family couldn't have afforded to send me.
“Before Title IX, there were no women's basketball scholarships. You could play, but you had to pay your own way to school. Had I come along a few years earlier, I never would have gotten into coaching.”
Altmire and Parsons did come along a few years earlier and vividly recall the pre-Title IX years.
“It was horrible. In high school, there was nothing for girls in terms of sports,” Parsons said. “My older brother, Cliff Martin, was 6-foot-11 and an excellent basketball player. I got good at it because I was always hanging around him and his friends, playing the game.
“I wasn't allowed to play in gym class because the team I was on always clobbered the other team. I took up gymnastics and used to hide a basketball so I could practice by myself after gymnastics let out.”
Parsons said she turned on all of the showers so the gym teacher, whose office was down the hall, couldn't hear her dribbling the ball.
“I learned how to long-rebound because if my shot bounced back over my head, the ball rolled down by the teacher's office and she'd make me leave,” Parsons said. “So I didn't miss a long rebound.”
Parsons came to SRU in 1967 “so I could play. Even there, we had to sew our own uniforms.”The only thing the female players received after each game was oranges.“Our games were treated like an informal play day. We weren't respected at all,” Parsons said.Altmire recalled participating in half-court, six-player games in intramurals at Moniteau. She went on to play college basketball at Anderson University in Indiana.“If you majored in physical education, you had to participate on at least two teams in college,” Altmire said. “That's how we got most of our players.“We had our physical education outfits and those were our uniforms. They weren't even the school's colors.”During her 35 years at Olean, Altmire was able to experience firsthand the progress of women's sports through Title IX.She was the coach of Olean High School's first-ever girls basketball team.“We had to practice in the elementary school gym,” she said. “Our players wore T-shirts and we had to buy iron-on tape to sew the numbers on.“All of the players had to buy their own shorts. We wore blue shorts because we got a good deal on them. Red and gold were the school colors. There were no playoffs, no state tournaments in the mid-70s. But we grew with it.”When Altmire retired from coaching a few years ago, every player on the team had practice shorts, practice shirts, game sneakers and three sets of uniforms.“How's that saying go? We've come a long way, baby,” Altmire said, laughing.The 40th anniversary of Title IX isn't lost on these coaching icons, but it may be lost on current female athletes.
Petruska still teaches physical education classes at Mars.“I'll start up a conversation about Title IX and the girls look at me and ask, 'What's Title IX?' This generation doesn't understand or realize what Title IX means or the impact it's had.“A lot of very talented girls in my day never got the chance to play college sports because they couldn't afford it financially.”Parsons said her Clarion University players “have never heard of it (Title IX). But if it never happened, we may not have women's sports in this country right now.”Parsons played basketball in New Zealand when athletic funding in that country was equal between men and women, but a measure such as Title IX has never been passed there.“Over time, that funding has gone almost totally toward the men's side,” she said. “Women's sports are getting squeezed out over there. ... That could have happened here.”Altmire said young women learn social and life values through playing sports.“They can carry those lessons on into their professions and female athletes generally stay on a health kick,” she said.“All we used to have was cheerleading. Thanks to Title IX, girls don't have to sit on the sidelines and watch anymore.”
