Title IX at 50

Erie County women sports pioneers: women who have made a difference in area sports.

"As the 50-year anniversary of the landmark civil rights law Title IX arrives this summer, the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com are celebrating female athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors who have made a profound impact on Erie County sports.

"Our area has so many women sports pioneers who have helped shape the landscape for future generations of athletes. It’s almost impossible to name all of them. However, the Times-News staff has created a list that includes many of the premier names in a variety of sports and roles. The list features those who were born here or spent most of their lives in the Erie area.

"During our search, we looked, first and foremost, for females who were leaders or among the first to introduce a sport to the area or start an athletic program or team.

"We also sought women who were contributors, supporters and advocates for women’s athletics, such as administrators, board members, game officials or even journalists.

"Finally we looked to identify female athletes who not only starred in area sports but also established themselves as Erie County greats and, in doing so, inspired many girls to pursue an athletic career."    Full article is here.   

Those were heady years, as I think back on them. Through the 60s there was only basketball at any serious sports level in high schools. Once the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Assoc.) began including girls' sports for high school competition, the list increased quickly: soccer, volleyball, swimming, golf, tennis, track & field, etc. All of these debunked the totally bizarre myths that young women couldn't run fast, train hard, and show greatly coordinated bodies in becoming top athletes.

My sister, Patty, played college basketball for Dayton in the late 60s-early 70s, participating in the pre-NCAA tournaments that were held until 1982 when the NCAA expanded its programs to include women's sports. She continued into a type of mini-tour for the LPGA, again the preliminary organization of what today is the Epson Tour that leads qualifying golfers to the LPGA tour itself. I often wonder how far she might have gone had high school golf been then what it is now.

Thank you to all parents, coaches, friends and recreational organizers that encourage girls to participate in sports and to be proud of it. This is far from the tomboy label, these are true athletes.

Atchison, Kansas

I'm in Atchison, Kansas, a small midwestern town about 30 minutes north of Kansas City. In this world of fields and farms and the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, is a 150 year old Benedictine monastery where the 17 monasteries of our congregation held its General Chapter. We arrived a day early and visited some local sites. Here are two that were really great.    

Here's the most famous citizen of Atchison, Amelia Earhart, born here in 1897. Her image is everywhere and her home/museum was a great thing to visit.

Here is the internationally known Moon Marble Company, home to hundreds of marbles and marble-related games (think Chinese checkers) and memorabilia. Another museum, yet active business in the world of a rare sport nowadays. 

 And, on the other side of town from Mount St. Scholastica Monastery is St. Benedict's Abbey and Benedictine College. This is the piece behind the altar. Quite impressive and lovely.

Everything about Atchison and the Benedictine world within it was wonderful....except the temperatures....highs were 95-ish every day....whew, that's hot...even for the locals!

Two important updates

On the May 15th entry here, four weeks ago, I showed you a photo of the first home that is being built on the lots we recently sold along the road that is the west border of our property. Well, here it is today, and it seems to be on its way to meeting the owner's hope-to-move-in date: August 1. 

177 Carters Beach Road

The second update concerns an ongoing mystery to me, namely that anyone outside of Erie County reads this blog and follows the mundane, day-to-day goings on of our life here in this very small part of the big, wide world. I know from google analytics that there are lots of readers throughout the US and even beyond...but the reality of that never really sinks in. It's just so hard to imagine! 

So, with a mixture of apology and amazement about the last Willy, Nilly, Dilly blog, here is a real Dilly Bar: a delicious dark chocolate covered vanilla ice cream disk, held together on a wide stick (wider than a popsicle's). Two hundred and twenty scrumptious calories! I believe it comes with other coverings: cherry, butterscotch, mint, heath bar, and they even produce a non-dairy version---but this is our favorite: dark chocolate.

Happy summer, which officially arrives in a week here in the northern hemisphere.

Willy, nilly, dilly!

 

We felt like celebrating something; it could be spring itself, or the Feast of Pentecost which we celebrated gloriously today, or it could have been that it's the eve of our annual retreat which opens tomorrow night...but anyway, we held a small celebration.

You see, we are located equidistant between local Dairy Queens. The one is about 4 miles west of us in the little township of Lawrence Park. It is the real 1950s-60s deal (see above): walk up only, the dairy queen vanilla soft serve cone on the roof, and open just during the spring-summer months each year. The other one is 4 miles east of us on the outskirts of the borough of North East. It's another small one, though modernized, but not too much. Right now it's only open via its drive through, which often has a line 8-9 cars long. 

They both serve dilly bars, but we prefer the ones in North East, they are a little smaller, just the right size for our after-dinner dessert and a delicious one at that. Have you ever noticed the various ways there are to eat a dilly bar? It's kinda like the varieties of Oreo cookie eating! Anyway, it was a first-time-this-season treat and it was great.

A number of years ago I did a little series in this blog on "Benedictine haunts"---where around the area you're most likely to run into community members. On that list? these Dairy Queens. Ten years later those cars with the numbers on the back right bumper are still turning up there. Watch for them!