To celebrate 50 years of statehood, The Advertiser is running our list of top 50 sportspersons/teams/people who helped change or shape the landscape in Hawai'i sports since 1959.
Today's person is Patsy Mink. Who, you ask?
Patsy Mink was a Democrat and a US Representative from 1965-1977 and again from 1990-2002. What's her legacy? She co-authored Title IX, which mandated gender equality "under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
That law has enabled countless women to participate in high school and college sports; the statistic which really startled me was this: UH
offers 13 women's sports and $6.5 million was budgeted for fiscal year 2008-09. In 1972, UH only had women's volleyball and track and field. Only $5,000 was spent on women's sports and the lone athletic scholarship went to a drum majorette.
The second-most popular sport at UH these days is women's volleyball, drawing more fans than any other women's program in the country since 1997. The average attendance per match is ~6,000.
Without Title IX and Patsy Mink, who died in 2002, that would never have happened.
Posted by Linkmeister at July 12, 2009 10:22 AM | TrackBackHalf-court basketball was the rule for girls back when I was in high school (Central Illinois) in the early '50s. When they finally allowed girls to play regular basketball, I was so pleased.
By the way, you do know that the Central Oahu park is named for Patsy Mink. It was the least we could do to honor her memory.
Posted by: Illanoy Gal at July 12, 2009 02:01 PM