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It's very likely none of today's female high school athletes knows this story or cares about it.

But they should.

In 1969 Johnell Haas of South Bend Riley High School wanted to play golf, except there wasn't a girls team. An Indiana High School Athletic Association rule prohibited girls from competing in boys sports, so Haas sued the organization.

The circuit court in Plymouth ruled in favor of the IHSAA. Proving she was competitive, Haas didn't give up, appealing to the Indiana Supreme Court. On Nov. 27, 1972, the court said it was unconstitutional to take opportunities away from female athletes in non-contact sports.

During the 1972-73 school year, the IHSAA sponsored volleyball and gymnastics, followed by adding golf and track the next year and swimming and tennis in 1974-75. Basketball was added in 1975-76, making this the 25th anniversary for a full girls sports schedule.

"I can't attribute all of that to the lawsuit, but some of it," said former IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Pat Roy, one of those fighting for opportunities at the time. "The girls were already saying to themselves, 'If athletics are good for boys, why can't they be good for girls?' They were beginning to ask some pointed questions that people could not answer."

But 25 years later, the pioneers who fought for girls sports during those early years have been forgotten by today's athletes. Those athletes did not think about the future the way today's athletes don't think about the past. The biggest difference is that the early athletes had no past to build a future on.

"I never felt I was fighting a battle," former South Side coach Bobbi Widmann-Foust said. "I simply wanted the opportunity to participate in athletic events I felt I had ability in. In Indiana there were not the opportunities for women."

Before the IHSAA started sponsoring sports, girls competed in the Girls Athletic Association, which was a glorified form of intramurals. Those opportunities were limited.

"I remember there were intramurals with either gymnastics or basketball," recalls current Woodlan girls basketball coach and former Leo star Tonya Burns-Cohrs. "I remember asking if I could play basketball, and the instructor said it was only for boys."

The sports were phased in over a period of four years to allow schools the chance to find coaches and officials and work out schedules. Girls teams were almost always given practice times late at night after the boys had used the gym during prime hours.

Reporters of the time pushed gently for the inclusion of girls sports, but only if it would not offend their friends who were coaches of boys sports.

"Now we may not make too many friends among high school athletic directors, but this writer is of the opinion that sports should not be limited to boys," wrote Jim Costin in the Dec. 1, 1972, News-Sentinel. "Thousands of dollars, in fact millions when you consider the cost of gymnasiums, are spent annually for a boys program. Why leave the gals to leading cheers?"

Often the girls were ridiculed.

"It's as if Doris Day were trying to play the part of Dick Butkus," wrote John Peirce in the Auburn Evening Star. "Volleyball has about as big a following in Indiana as property taxes. The day a well-executed spike in volleyball becomes more important to a female volleyball player than whether her blouse is well-pressed is the day volleyball will begin to grow to spectator proportions."

The first female athletes also had to use shoddy equipment, and the uniforms were usually hand-me-downs. Sometimes the socks for the girls basketball team were previously used by the boys baseball team. Norwell star and 1977 Miss Basketball Teri Rosinski remembers buying boys shorts for the girls team so they didn't have to practice wearing cutoff jeans shorts, even though the boys shorts hung past the girls' knees.

Widmann-Foust used to run distance races in Ohio under the name Bobbi instead of Roberta because girls were not permitted to run distances in Indiana, and organizers in Ohio weren't sure if she was a boy. She remembers passing male runners who would spit at her. While she was at Purdue, women were not allowed to run on the track. She ran on the golf courses instead.

For several years Lee Ann Berning was the class of female tennis players in the state. In 1974 she won the GAA state title by beating Shelly Fredlake of South Bend St. Joseph's 6-3, 7-5, but her accomplishment was not recognized by the IHSAA, which began the state tournament the next year. Fredlake won the first "official" state title.

"The year after I graduated, she wins it and gets all the accolades, but I'm not bitter," Berning said, laughing. "I'm over it. It's only been 25 years. I can still beat her today."

Now Berning can laugh about it, but not then.

Coaches at that time worked three or four sports, some in the same season. Referees often called junior varsity and varsity games. Girls basketball teams had one ball, while the boys had 12.

Today women can become head coaches, and athletic directors would like to find more of them. Female athletes can earn college scholarships, and there are plenty of role models for them.

"Now I think the sky is the limit, and kids really can create their own destiny," said Rosinski, now the Homestead girls coach.

They have been given marvelous opportunities, with Title IX as the law and gender equity as the norm. It's all because the pioneers fought and never gave up.

"I think we're all pretty proud of what has happened, but we're all a little bit afraid maybe that girls right now are not very appreciative of what they have and the darn thing will fall through the cracks," Roy said. "I've talked to more than one woman of my vintage that has that fear.

"We almost lost it during the Reagan administration, and politicians can still come along and rip it apart. I'm not sure that the participation means a lot to some of the girls these days. The women that are coming along in leadership positions to take our places do not understand either."

It's understandable why they are so protective, because they fought so hard to get the opportunities in the first place. Today's athletes take their opportunities for granted, which by another measure means the pioneers won their battle against tradition, stereotypes and chauvinism.

They won the first and only competition that truly mattered.

IHSAA and girls sports through the years

1972-73 - The IHSAA begins sponsoring girls sports in volleyball and gymnastics with 4,474 athletes participating.

1973-74 - Golf and track are added.

1974-75 - Swimming and tennis are added.

1975-76 - Basketball is added. Warsaw wins first state title.

1976-77 - Teri Rosinski of Norwell becomes second Miss Basketball.

1978-79 - Wayne wins state track title.

1979-80 - South Side wins state track title.

1980-81 - Northrop wins state track title.

1981-82 - Cross country is added as Harding's Kristy Walker wins first state title. Heritage wins girls basketball state title.

1982-83 - Jody Beerman of Heritage named Miss Basketball. Homestead wins first of three straight gymnastics state titles.

1983-84 - Concordia wins cross country state title, as Northrop's Laura Didion wins individual title.

1984-85 - Softball is added.

1985-86 - Northrop wins state basketball title. South Side wins second straight track title.

1986-87 - Lori Meinerding of Northrop named Miss Basketball. Jamie Gorrell of Woodlan wins cross country title.

1987-88 - Snider wins volleyball and basketball state title.

1989-90 - Huntington North wins state basketball title. South Side wins track title.

1990-91 - Northrop wins state track title.

1993-94 - Tiffany Gooden of Snider named Miss Basketball.

1994-95 - Soccer is added. Amy Yoder of East Noble wins cross country title, and Michelle Hatfield of Snider wins the golf title. Huntington North wins state basketball title, and Dwenger win the gymnastics title.

1995-96 - Lisa Winter of Hunt. North is named Miss Basketball. Harding wins state track title.

1997-98 - Eastside wins Class A softball state title.

1998-99 - Luers wins first of two state basketball titles in Class 2A. Homestead wins its fifth gymnastics state title.

1999-00 - Bishop Luers wins second state basketball title in Class 2A. Northrop wins girls track state title.

2000-01 - Almost 60,000 athletes will participate in 10 sports.

GIRLS SPORTS

Blazing a trail

Women celebrate 25 years of a full high school girls sports schedule.

IHSAA and girls sports through the years