Athletic Equality at Centre College

By Sam Rogers

You may have heard of a recent basketball scandal. Sedona Prince, a basketball player at the university of Oregon, has exposed inequalities within in the NCAA basketball tournament. In a video posted to her Tik Toc account, she is seen showing the very large and fully stocked men’s weight room in comparison to the women’s weight room which only had some exercise bands and a set of free weights. This sparked major backlash and outrage from everyone. Even prompting celebrities like LeBron James and Steph Curry to comment. Eventually the NCAA rectified the situation, but this is just the latest in a long history of discriminatory acts against female athletes. Today Centre does a good job at making sure male and female athletics are treated equally. While it is not perfect it is better than most college environments. However, just like every school, Centre has had a history with discrimination to female athletes. In the essay I will explore Centre’s past concerning the differences between male and female athletes, how those differences changed with the establishment of Title IX, and what female and male sports look like today at Centre. Centre often prides itself on its long history of athletics.

When I was being recruited here, I heard multiple times how over 50% of the student population were student athletes. What they fail to mention is that this history is largely male athletes.

Women’s athletics got its start at the Kentucky College for Women, which was the all-female school that partnered with Centre. Women’s sports then looked nothing like they do today. Athletes were often referred to as members of a club instead of recognized as a real sport. For instance, female swimmers belonged to the swim club instead of the swim team. One of the few sports to actually recognize women as athletes was basketball. However, basketball was still extremely gendered. As you can see from the women's team picture, their uniforms were very conservative as to preserve their femininity. They were made to wear long skirts or pants with long socks and a belt. Their shirts were collared with some sort of scarf tied around the front. When looking at male uniforms, we can see tank top were worn. They were allowed to show a lot more skin to show off their muscles and to assert their manliness. In addition to uniform differences there were also differences in what was seen as an acceptable sport to play based on your gender. Some of these stereotypes carry over to today. Take football and cheerleading for example. Football was seen as a sport strictly for men to play. It was a way to prove you are a man and showcase that on the field. Cheerleading was seen as a female sport. The women were there to support the men and cheer them on in their sportily endeavors. While stereotypes surrounding these sports continue to be broken with the addition of male cheerleaders on most college teams and the recent history being made by Sarah Fuller, kicking off for Vanderbilt during a Power Five conference game, there are still huge differences in the ratios of male to female players.

One place we can really zero in on this disparity between female and male athletes is basketball. Centre basketball has been a prominent sport since the beginning of sports at Centre. Women’s basketball began back in the 1900s at the Kentucky College for Women. There were several successful teams dating back to as early as 1921. However, despite the success of these teams, they never received the same treatment the male basketball players did. One disparity is that the women often played the local high school or themselves instead of other colleges. The team would either be divided up into the red and black team or odd class versus even class, led by the respected captains. Their seasons often consisted of playing each other multiple times as well as playing the local high school. Men as this time were playing other colleges in large gymnasiums. The only time they played each other was when they were scrimmaging. By the 1960s women had integrated to Centre and finally had their own team associated with the Centre name. However, this by no means meant they were equal. Although they were finally playing other colleges such as the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Midway College, these games were played in a separate gym from where the men played. They had their own gym, referred to as the women’s gym, for practice and games. This gym was an old high school building that had been renovated for their use. This gym was also shared with several other sports including gymnastics and volleyball. They never had a space that was truly just theirs. To put it plainly, women’s basketball was just not seen as important as men’s basketball.

The winning 1963 Volleyball team

Another place these differences can be seen is in volleyball. Volleyball was recognized as an intramural sport; however, they still faced many challenges. For instance, they did not have a normal season like the other teams. From 1961 to 1968 Centre hosted a volleyball sports-day that included winning intramural teams from other Kentucky colleges.  On this day they would compete in a tournament versus other schools. This was considered lucky compared to sports like basketball where they had to divide the team in two in order to play. They did not have their own practice space, they had to use the women’s gym which was also used for things like gymnastics and physical education courses. They were a successful team, winning the 1963 tournament during the “all sports day.” Despite their success, they were still cast aside and seen as not important. Unfortunately, this was often the case for women’s sports at Centre during this time.

Things did not begin to change for women until the passing of Title IX. Although it was passed in 1972, it was not really enforced at Centre until the 1980’s. One of the biggest things to change was the formation of the Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1983 (Davis). This was the first collegiate conference for women. This was important because now women are able to compete against other colleges and not just themselves or high school teams as they had in the past. This also helped recognize sports who had previously been categorized as clubs on campus and not organized sports. Now that they are recognized as official sports, they can gain access to things like practice facilities and game arenas that they may not have had before or would have had to share. Another large advantage of the Women’s Intercollegiate Conference is visibility. Women are now able to be seen as real college athletes. They are recognized by not only the school, but also other athletes and their peers as true college athletes. This is a huge step for women, especially when you consider that they were not even a part of the Centre College campus until 1962. Title IX also did things like creating practice areas for women’s sports and providing funding to allow them to buy equipment or uniforms. Title IX changed the world of sports for women everywhere.

The environment surrounding male and female athletes has changed considerably from the beginning. Men and women are now treated as equals when it comes to any sport. I am currently on the softball team and one thing that attracted me most about Centre was the care they take in making sure female athletes are treated as equals on campus. We have our own practice facilities that are separate from the boys and we have access to 24/7. We receive the same amount of recognition from the administration as the baseball team does. The softball team, and every other female sport on campus, is just as visible as the males. I am proud to say that I am a Centre College student athlete.

We have come a long way since the beginning of female athletics at Centre. When I compare what I have access to today as a current female athlete to what these women had, I feel very fortunate to be able to have my own facilities and be recognized for the hard work I put in. Sadly, most of the time that feeling is short lived because I remember how far we still have to go. For evey gold medal we earn there are still those who question if we belong there in the first place. For every record we break there are those there to belittle our achievements, often by saying that the female version of the sport is so much easier than the male. It is something my generation continues to fight, even at a place like Centre where there is a large emphasis on equality. It disheartens me to know that generations to come will also have to fight this fight. I am curious as to when it will be over. When will we finally be able to say that we are equal? What is it going to take to get us there? The strong women who came before me made sure that my experience was better than theirs, and I can only hope that I am able to make the next generations better than mine.