The History of Michigan Women in Sports
By Dr. Elizabeth Benyi
This article is in honor of Women’s History Month and in recognition of 2020 the year of the centennial of suffrage. Most of the events celebrating the centennial were canceled due to Covid-19.
Between the early 1900s and 1930s intramural club and sorority matches promoted competitions for women becoming more widespread among schools and colleges. Called “Play Days”, the competitions —extramural or between schools and colleges—began expanding. By 1936, 70% of colleges that had female enrollment had these forms of athletics for women.
Six-person, half-court basketball for young women started in 1905-1906 and continued until 1969. Then full-court, -person regulation basketball was finally allowed for women. The Ingot, the newspaper of the Copper Country, followed the exploits of women’s basketball clubs and the rise of women’s ice hockey clubs. These are archived at the Portage Lake District Library and I encourage you to check these articles out. They are very entertaining.
Girls Athletic Association, the Presidential Fitness Awards as well as other athletic associations rapidly expanded the addition of organized sports for women and girls such as track and field, softball, and swimming. This was a direct result of the 1960 Rome Olympics where the Soviet Union overwhelmingly outcompeted the world in medals for events. It was at the height of the Cold War and prompted a rapid change in the training and expansion of women in sports.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the impact of Title IX began on women’s sports and by the late 1970s, the first athletic scholarships for women to attend colleges and universities were the beginnings of the organized professional athletic leagues for women that we have today.
But it has not been an easy road and there is still so much that can be done to improve women’s athletics in schools. A comprehensive study on the state of high school sports was published in 2019 by the Women’s Sports Foundation in collaboration with Dicks Sporting Goods. Some key findings from that study include:
1 in 3 girls age 6-11 participate regularly in sports activity but after age 13 there is a steep drop off in participation due to social pressures and lack of opportunity.
Annually 1.13 million more young males than females have access to sports opportunities.
Only 27% of public high schools are in total Title IX compliance.
In 1971 90% of female athletic teams in public schools colleges and universities had female head coaches. In 2019 that has dropped to 43%.
There is also limited archival information on Michigan female athletes. Only 10% of all sports media coverage in every news platform reports on women’s sports across the country. In the M-Live article on the most notable athlete from each of the 83 counties, only 1 woman is mentioned. The Vault 1999, featuring the 50 greatest sports figures in Michigan--only four are women.
Marian Ladwig of Grand Rapids was voted the greatest bowler of all time in 1973. She won the U.S. Open for bowling eight times. Sheila Young-Oshowizc earned three speed-skating medals in the 1970 Winter Olympics. Dawn Riley of Harrison Township was the only female crew member on the boat that won the America’s Cup for sailing in 1992 and went on to captain an all-female crew for the America’s Cup in 1995. Katy Anderson, the softball pitcher for the Rayburn Brakettes with a career record of 338-26 and an ERA of 0.15, is considered one of the best pitchers ever in the sport.
There were three women from Michigan that played in the All-American Girls Baseball League in the 1940s, made famous in the film A League of Their Own. Ruby Surman from Negaunee, Karen(Violetta) from Negaunee, and Rosemary (Stevie) Stevenson of Stalwart, all played for the Grand Rapids Chicks and have their own collectible baseball cards. The U.P. and Copper Country is rich in history for women athletics with the rise of women’s basketball clubs and ice hockey clubs in the early 1900s. There are 49 female athletes recognized in the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame and 24 of them come from basketball.
I also want to recognize the Keweenaw Roller Girls of Houghton, which has been promoting roller derby off and on for decades in the western U.P.
It is my hope that this article sparks interest in the history of women’s sports and athletics and helps in the future development and promotion of opportunities for young women in sport.