Galesburg girls sports: Competing for opportunity, equality and championships

Question #1: Who was the coach of the first Galesburg High School girls team? 

Answer: Clara Cypreanson

For those of you who may be thinking my quizzes are getting too easy, I bet that question would calm you down. Who got the answer correct? Nobody would have guessed Clara Cypreanson. Coach Cypreanson was the coach of the 1935 girls tennis team.

Galesburg HS from 1920-1960 had a very impressive intramural program for both boys and girls. In its hay days, there were IM’s in softball, soccer, archery, yard darts, basketball, swimming and diving, volleyball, badminton, tennis, ping-pong, and bowling.

It should be noted that my mother, Marjorie Evans played on the 1929 IM Champs in basketball.

From the pictures and accounts in the yearbook, there was a strong participation in IM’s by both females and males.

When GHS moved to Fremont Street, the number of participants and sports began to dwindle. Although there was still a GAA program, the opportunities were much more limited than back at the “old GHS.”

First boys & girls tennis teams- Fall of 1935.

Question #2 – Title IX passed in 1972, when did GHS play their first girls interscholastic sport?

Most of us would have guessed 1972 or 1973 after Title IX was enacted. We would be wrong, the first girls sports team was in the Fall of 1935.

A group of schools in the Northwest Conference added both boys and girls tennis in the Fall of 1935. Galesburg, Monmouth, Kewanee, East Moline, and Rock Island voted to add both boys tennis and girls tennis. At that time, both teams only played one match- a conference tourney with each school represented by one boys doubles team and one boys singles team, as well as the same for the girls.

The first boys team was John Woolsey (singles), Robert Mariner and Dean Lindstrom (doubles), Frances Tracey (singles), and Winifred Colton and Virginia Gunther (doubles).

In the Fall of 1936, the IHSA started a boys tennis tourney but not a girls tourney.

1938-1939 Tennis Team with their Varsity G’s.

The 1937 Reflector pointed out that it had been decided that the girls who played varsity tennis in the Fall of 1936 were to be awarded a varsity letter.

The 1938 Reflector noted that by the Fall of 1937, over 20 girls had gone to GHS tennis workouts the entire summer, in the hopes of making the girls tennis team.

Ginny Olson & Lois Lundeen- first GHS girls to win a championship.

In the Fall of 1944, Ginny Olson and Lois Lundeen became the first females in GHS history to win a championship. They won the Northwest Conference Championship in doubles.

During most of this time, Chuck Bednar had been the boys coach and Ruth Simms the girls coach. Tennis for both boys and girls was dropped after the 1943-4 season. Girls would not play interscholastic sports again until 1972-3 school year – almost 30 years later.

With the passage of Title IX, girls sports were added around the country, including at GHS. According to the GHS Reflector, girls sports were offered in Field Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball, Bowling, Badminton, Track, and Softball.

1972-3 GHS Field Hockey Team

 

Adding sports for girls did not mean that girls and boys sports were going to be treated equally. The athletic budget at GHS was not doubled to accommodate the new sports. There were many decisions to make in the early years.

Schedule– The first season, girls basketball played a four game schedule.

Transportation– Boys basketball traveled by charter buses, girls basketball asked faculty members if they would take a car load.

Coaches– Boys sports would have coaches for different levels as well as assistant coaches, girls sports would have a single coach.

Pay– Girls coaches would sometimes receives only 20-40% of the boys coach in the same sport.

Facilities– When there was a conflict of facilities, girls teams were sent to Hitchcock to practice.

1972-3 GHS Volleyball Team

The 1973 GHS yearbook showed the uncertainty about how to handle girls sports. Only three girls sports had their pictures taken for the yearbook. The pictures of the girls field hockey team, the girls volleyball team, and the girls basketball team were not in the sports section of the yearbook. The girls sports teams were placed in the section for activities and clubs.

1972-3 Girls Basketball team

 

In 1935, there was no hesitation to give the girls tennis players a varsity G for their participation. And they had their G presented at the assembly recognizing the male athletes.

In the 1970’s as girls sports started back up, girls were not included in the existing awards. The Budget Award for best athlete remained only for males. The Gerald Phillips Award for academic excellence went only to males. Today, GHS either presents awards to both deserving males and females, or has created a one award for boys and a one award for girls.

It was not until 1985-1986 school year that girls were included in the G-Club with boys.  In the Spring of 1986 girls were permitted to attend the G-Club banquet. In the 1986-1987 school year, one set of officers was elected to run the G-Club with both females and males in the offices.

 

It was not until 1992 that District #205 agreed to the “principle” that coaches of girls and boys sports should receive the same pay for the same positions. This was not negotiated by the teacher’s union. Coaches of girls sports made an appeal to the administration that the system of pay was a violation of Title IX.

In response, the District #205 did not immediately put coaches of girls and boys sports on equal level but established a plan to get to equality in several years.

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