By Bill Sheehan
When Dawn Crossen arrived at California State College at Fullerton in fall 1969 as a first-year student, the women's tennis program had less than a shoestring budget.
"I loved playing on the team, but we had no resources," she said. There were no scholarships or athletic trainers. The school didn't supply racquets, uniforms or shoes. Student-athletes didn't play in team events in the off-season, and they had to car-pool to matches.
"This year, I attended three or four Fullerton tennis matches for the first time in 50 years," said the 1973 alumnus, who lives in Tustin and goes by her married name Crossen-Wilson. "The quality of the tennis was amazing, top-notch all the way down the line. Thank goodness they have upped the ante and there is a budget allowing Fullerton to recruit top-notch women players."
The 1971 Cal State Fullerton tennis team poses for a photo. Dawn Crossen, now Dawn Crossen-Wilson, is in the first row far left. Her coach, Virginia "Ginny" Scheel is in the second row far left. Scheel coached the team from 1968-1973 and lives in Tustin.
The growth of tennis and other women's sports at Cal State Fullerton can be attributed in large part to Title IX, a federal civil-rights law that was passed as part of the Educational Amendments of 1972. The law prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educational program that receives federal funds. President Nixon signed it into law 50 years ago today.
"Not only has Title IX been an outstanding law for intercollegiate athletics, I believe it's one of the best U.S. laws enacted in my lifetime. Literally tens of millions of women have been able to participate in high school and intercollegiate athletics because of Title IX," said Jim Donovan, Cal State Fullerton's director of athletics.
"Prior to 1972, women didn't get the opportunity, like men did, to be on a team and learn how to follow a game plan, fight through adversity and trust and believe in your teammates. Because of Title IX, our country is even better than it was before, because these women who have played sports are now in Congress, our military and serving on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. We are still the world's leader, in large part, because of Title IX and all the benefits it's brought our nation," said Donovan.
Roughly 300,000 women and girls competed in collegiate athletics and high school sports in 1972. Statistically, only 2% of female athletes received college athletic funds, while scholarships for women practically did not exist. By 2012, more than 3 million women were competing in high school and college athletics. According to the Women's Sports Foundation, two in every five girls in the United States play sports. That number was one in 27 before Title IX.
Retired Fullerton Assistant Athletics Director of Sports Medicine Julie Max, who spent nearly four decades working at Fullerton before retiring in 2017, agreed that Title IX has been a game-changer. But she said it was a long haul to get where women's athletics is now and that more needs to be accomplished.
"When I arrived at Fullerton, women's athletics were far from equal to men's in almost all areas – travel, equipment, facilities and financial. As years passed and Title IX was finally getting the recognition it deserved, changes slowly started to occur," said Max, who earned a kinesiology degree at Fullerton in 1979 before being hired as the head athletic trainer for Titans women's athletics. Max became the first female president of the National Athletic Trainers' Association in 2000, serving two terms. She was inducted into the NATA's Hall of Fame in 2007
"When recognized and followed more closely, Title IX had a larger impact in all areas of women's athletics -- not equal but a larger impact. The Fullerton athletic department truly understands the difference between equality and equity and strives to abide by the law and continue to improve their support of this law," Max said.
Several reforms strengthened Title IX in its early years. In 1975, new provisions prohibited sex discrimination in athletics and provided educational institutions with three years to fulfill the Title IX requirements.
In 1979, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare issued a final interpretation of Title IX's effect on intercollegiate athletics, mandating that educational institutions provide equal opportunity to men and women in athletic programs. Schools were required to provide their male and female students with varsity athletic opportunities in proportion to their numbers in the undergraduate population.
In 2002, following the death of its coauthor, Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink (D-Hawaii), Title IX was officially renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.
Jaime Potter, Fullerton's assistant athletics director of sports medicine and senior women's administrator, also serves as the school's deputy Title IX coordinator. She works closely with Sarah Bauer, Fullerton's Title IX and equity director, to ensure the athletic department complies with regulations.
"Title IX has created great opportunities for female student-athletes, with scholarships and roster spots. But there is so much more to accomplish," said Potter, who was named to her post in January and has been with the program since 2013.
As the point person for the athletic department's Title IX compliance, she monitors discrimination issues such as gender and racial inequity as well as sexual misconduct and mental health. "We're here for the student-athletes and guide them in the right direction," said Potter, who spends half of her workweek wearing her senior women's administrator hat.
"We've been through a lot the last couple of years [with the pandemic and racial reckoning]. Race has come to the forefront. For students, communications is the hardest thing in life. But people are more comfortable speaking out about it."
Women need to continue breaking glass ceilings, said Potter. "We have made small steps in 50 years. I'm able to sit in this role, which is amazing, and I'm extremely thankful for that. It is extremely sad that I will not see in my lifetime a time when first-female hires aren't a big deal.
In addition, Potter supervises healthcare for all of Fullerton's student-athletes. She manages a staff of six athletic trainers and serves as the athletic trainer for the women's basketball team. She praised former head athletic trainer, Max, for serving as a mentor for women on campus. "She really lived through Title IX. Her experiences helped educate me."
Although Fullerton women's tennis was a spartan operation in the early 1970s, Crossen-Wilson said she enjoyed the camaraderie and competition. "Tennis was a really good link and built up my self-esteem," said Crossen-Wilson, who taught English, American Sign Language and tennis at Tustin High School. The Westminster resident later gave private tennis lesions.
Jean "Beverly" Davenport, who coached Fullerton women's tennis team from 1973 to 1975, said things didn't change immediately after Title IX was signed into law.
"Football got most of the money back then. Sometimes we didn't have tennis balls, so I paid for them. We didn't have much of anything."
"We were moved into a top tennis league that included USC and UCLA, but we had no scholarships to offer. The athletic department told me that I should tell recruits that they would have a privileged education at Cal State Fullerton."
Jan Billings, now Jan Love, played on the tennis team for Davenport in 1974 and 1975 before beginning a seven-year tenure as Titans head coach in the 1975-76 academic year. Things began improving, Love said, with Nike and Adidas supplying shoe sponsorships.
"I tried to use whatever resources I had, and we created what we could to make each year better. We had fund-raisers and tennis tournaments to raise money," said Love, who later became a personal trainer and now is a longevity coach, working with women 50 and older to increase their physical, mental and emotional fitness. She lives in West Hills.
One of the first women tennis players to receive a scholarship was Ellen Linderman, now Ellen Hausman. She was a ranked player at Fullerton High School before enrolling at Cal State Fullerton.
"Title IX even had an impact at Fullerton High. Even though there was a girls team, the top-performing girls were allowed to play on the boys team because the competition was better," said Hausman, who was a freshman in fall 1977.
"At Cal State Fullerton, I received tuition, $200 and books. Yonex sponsored the team and provided racquets. And we got two pairs of K-Swiss tennis shoes."
After graduating in 1980, she was hired by Rockwell International as an information systems analyst in microcomputer support and worked on the space shuttle. "It was a challenging time. I was working with all men. We had to prove ourselves as women and fight for what women now have today.
"It's nice to see what women have achieved in 50 years of Title IX, but there is more to accomplish," said Hausman, who lives in Los Angeles and has a clay court in her backyard.
Ellen Linderman, now Ellen Hausman, was one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship at Cal State Fullerton. She arrived as a freshman in fall 1977.
Maryalyce Jerimiah became the winningest women's basketball coach in Fullerton history. She led the team from 1985-86 through 1991-92 and 2003-04 through 2008-09 and served as the senior women's administrator from 1992 to 2002. She said everyone must recommit to keep the Title IX progressing going.
"Probably the biggest achievements centered around providing opportunities for women to become 'full time' coaches, especially at the collegiate level. In addition, female athletes began to be given full scholarships, practice times, travel and meals equal to the men. It trickled in at first which looked like 'tokens' to most women in the business. Eventually, as time passed, a few more women became athletic administrators but very few," she said.
"As salaries increased, men became interested in coaching women which automatically excluded more women. It continues at a very slow pace to improve but we are very far away from equality still. To ensure that progress continues, we need young men and women to be aware of the past and be totally committed to fight hard for continued progress so that hopefully we will not need the legislation or the need to fight for women to be seen as equal to men," said Jeremiah.
Judi Garman was the head softball coach from Cal State Fullerton from 1980 to 1999 and led Fullerton to the 1986 Women's College World Series championship. She launched the school's softball program and faced many challenges along the way.
"I was so excited that Fullerton had taken the first step to add softball. And Fullerton was the first school in the country to have a full-time softball coach. But there were a lot of inequities. We had a $3,000 budget for scholarships, a $10,000 travel budget, and our equipment budget was very small. We survived on donations.
"But we still must fight for so many things. For example, the salary range is so different. The softball coach should be paid the same as the baseball coach, and the assistants should be paid the same. Title IX should be supported by fairness. Let's look at what is fair and equitable."
The school's current softball coach, Kelly Ford, echoes Garman's stances on pay. "We're still trying to close the gap on equal pay for equal work. Let's find a way to even out that pay.
"For women student-athletes, the opportunities to have the same experience as the men have tremendously improved," said Ford, whose teams have won five Big West Conference titles in the last six seasons. "My student-athletes are honored, cared for and provided opportunities that their male counterparts have had, and we know that always hasn't been true."
— Titans Athletics (@FullertonTitans) June 24, 2022