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GU I D E to Y E L L OW S P R I NG S | 2O22 – 2O23 69 Remember Title IX? Con - gress enacted Title IX on June 23, 1972, prohibiting sex discrimination at schools receiving federal funds. Now fifty years later, let it not be forgotten that an early — per - haps the second — test case concerning school athletics occurred right here in my hometown village. The first case was fought and won by the National Organization of Women after Maria Pepe, age 12, having pitched three games for the Young Demo- crats team in Hoboken, N.J., attracted enough attention that the Little League threat - ened to bar Hoboken’s charter if she — or any girls — were permitted to play. Similarly, in the fall of 1973, two Yellow Springs girls, Leah Wing and Amy Underwood, made the seventh grade bas- ketball team on the basis of skill but were not allowed to play in or dress for any games. At that time, there were no interscholastic sports teams for girls until they reached high school. The school board did not want to risk suspen - sion of all school sports by Ohio High School Athletic Association, or OSHAA, and so complied with the state rule prohibiting girls and boys from competing together in contact sports. Shelly Wing, Leah’s mother, was concerned not only with discrimination against her daughter, but for all girls wanting to take part in school athletics. “We should stop putting sports above justice and rights,” she declared. After months of working with the school board and an unsuc- cessful hearing with OSHAA in Columbus, she decided to take the case to trial. In addition to the possibility of being dropped by OHSAA, there was pressure from other schools to bar girls from boys’ teams because Yellow Springs Schools had no athletic league affiliation. According to a YS News editorial on Jan. 22, 1975, “the Darby Valley Athletic Conference’s attitude last week in denying Yellow Springs membership and citing our seeking of equal athletic opportunity for girls as a reason for this denial shows how the wind blows (incon- ceivably!) in some quarters.” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Ralph Wolf, with backing from the Cleveland Title IX— CHANGING THE RULES OF PLAY By LYNN HARDMAN From July 2015; Reprinted with permission ▲ The 1978 Yellow Springs High School women’s soccer team. FROM BACK LEFT: Laura Carlson, Mona Colvin, Wendy Hillman, Aubyn Thomas, Lynn Carpenter (Hardman) and Teresa Bondurant. FROM FRONT LEFT: Lynn Alexander, Diane Nickoson, Cheryl Butler, Amy Underwood, Donna Nickoson, Krista Simons and MaryAnn Gregg. Help us help your library. To join, send $5 plus any donation you’d like to make to: Yellow Springs Library Association P.O. Box 554 • Yellow Springs, OH 45387 Find out about YSLA literacy grants available through the YSCF, visit yscf.org/literacy-grants. 937-352-4003 • www.greenelibrary.info Join theYSLA .