Biography
Women’s Basketball in the Larger Setting at Beloit College
My Perspective
Shirley J. Ahrens, PhD
Coach of Women’s Teams (1966-1978) & Men’s Tennis (1975-1978)
Associate Professor, Physical Education, 1966-1978
How thrilled I was to leave high school teaching/coaching in California and arrive at Beloit College as an assistant professor in Physical Education, Fall 1966. My new responsibility was as a teacher, not a coach. The latter was to be tangential. It took me a full year to comprehend that the “Beloit Plan” (trimester) which had started in 1964 was truly a nationally innovative academic plan to enhance and create flexibility for a student’s total college experience. The Plan had a direct impact on our physical education department because students were required to pass proficiency tests in several areas of study in the College...natural sciences, humanities, social sciences and physical education. To meet the College’s commitment to develop competencies within each student across this “liberal” expanse, the women faculty in the physical education department had developed comprehensive proficiency tests in five areas: physical fitness, movement/dance skills, motor skills, swimming and competency in an individual sport. Our male colleagues developed proficiency tests in the areas of physical fitness, swimming, and competency in both an individual sport and a team sport. The women physical educators (Kay Yocum, Women’s Director; Peg Foster, Beloit ’53; Shirl Ahrens) adopted the Beloit Plan philosophy by developing a physical education teaching curriculum that spoke to all students by offering a wide variety of classes that encouraged life-long health and enjoyment. This is a sampling of the classes offered and competently taught: dance (modern & social), swimming, WSI, skiing (downhill & cross-country), figure skating, EMT, tennis, golf, badminton, yoga, karate, cycling, physical fitness, canoeing, sailing. The men in the department placed their emphasis on coaching athletic teams, teaching only fencing, weightlifting/fitness and basketball theory.
At the outset of my tenure, equality principles were not served in the realm of athletic competition at Beloit College. In fact, the women’s teams and competitive opportunities were less than those in California high schools.
As a result, during 1966-70 I attempted to create and foster women’s athletic competition (on the Club Sport level) in field hockey, volleyball, basketball, tennis. That was quite a challenge but I was committed to continuing the meager basketball program that I inherited, expand it and offer more opportunities for women to engage in athletic competition. My personal athletic experience consisted of being an All-Star athlete in basketball, volleyball and softball all three years while in high school. Those teams were only club sport teams with minimal competition at “play days” with other high schools in the late 50’s! The same was true when I was a student at Macalester College, a private school in St. Paul. Though I played on the field hockey, basketball, volleyball and tennis teams, they were not varsity sports at the time, but our competition was considerable within a thirty-mile radius of campus due to the large number of colleges and universities present. My tennis instruction and regional competition continued to be a private endeavor. That being said, my background was that of a player/competitor and a teacher, but always with an inclusive desire to work with each student to maximize her/his potential. And any coaching was an extension of that teaching philosophy.
The year-round calendar of the Beloit Plan (trimester), while serving the students’ needs, had a disastrous effect on athletic teams, particularly on the struggling women’s teams. There was little continuity for team membership since students could choose when to be on campus for any of the three terms each year. I might see a player as an underclassman (freshman) and never again during that sport season in the next 3 years! That same effect was not felt by any of the men’s teams, especially football and basketball, primarily because they were varsity teams with higher status, whose players were recruited for the purpose of playing on a team and were expected to be on campus during their sport season. To say that the women on campus put their academics first before any interest in sports compared to the recruited male athletes on campus is a huge understatement during the timeline of 1968 - mid 70’s. As could be expected, men’s varsity team records were amassed without any interference from the complicating factors of the Beloit Plan.
In the fall of 1966, regardless of the sport, there was no established conference for women’s athletics; scheduling was done by contacting individual colleges in northern Illinois and Wisconsin. We had to find and contract for home game officials. We had no budget within the “athletic budget” which was set up for men’s teams. Any funding came from the women’s physical education budget which provided the basic essential equipment for all teams plus the purchase of field hockey uniforms in 1968. A few years later one set of game uniforms, used for both volleyball and basketball, was purchased. The uniforms had to be shared among members of both teams hoping each player could find one that fit! There were no practice uniforms, no warm-ups, or appropriate footwear supplied for any players, and in addition the women’s tennis team supplied their own clothes and rackets. We had no budget for meals on the road; sack lunches from Commons were the norm. We did drive ourselves in a College van to our games/matches. The women were never included in the men’s sports banquets since our teams were not varsity-level teams and therefore accorded no recognition. I took a leave of absence in 1970-71 to start my PhD. The status quo remained while I was absent. Upon returning, juggling practice space and times with the men’s varsity sports necessitated a change in the women’s athletic seasons. As a result, a new part-time coach, Shirley Knauf, was hired for field hockey and basketball. Her assistance was invaluable in further developing the women’s basketball team and relieving me of some of the coaching responsibilities.
Even after the passage of Title IX in 1972, equality principles in Beloit College athletics were slow to arrive. (I took a sabbatical leave in 1973-74 to complete my PhD in Research Methodology and Quantitative Analysis at The Ohio State University.) The women’s teams were still operating on a shoestring. Upon returning in 1974, we women coaches from several independent colleges, with the help of athletic director Ron Roberts from Lawrence University, started a women’s athletic conference in Wisconsin for independent colleges...WIC-WAC...Wisconsin Independent Colleges-Women’s Athletic Conference. We held meetings semi-annually to discuss general concerns and to establish schedules for basketball, volleyball, and tennis. We were finally underway with this small organizational step!
Meanwhile at Beloit, 1975 saw more struggles in trying to increase dollars for our women’s athletic teams. At that time the College was being heavily challenged by the trickle-down effects of the Beloit Plan. There had also been an EEOC lawsuit filed against the College regarding wage discrimination on all levels of employed women which included the classified workers, the clerical/administrative employees and the very few women faculty members. Martha Peterson inherited that lawsuit when she took the helm in June 1975 after President Miller Upton retired. Enrollment numbers were greatly diminished, a state of “financial exigency” was eventually declared, faculty cuts and departmental majors were dropped. Much angst existed during this tumultuous time. As a result, the College had to cut Shirley Knauf from coaching basketball and field hockey at the end of the 1976-77 season. That is also when the men coaches chose to force out one of their colleagues on early retirement; whereas, the three women in the department chose to cut their full-time positions back to 2/3 time in order to absorb the loss of one position in a noble attempt to keep a full spectrum of physical education class offerings to serve the students’ needs on campus. Besides the financial constraints imposed during this period of time, another overriding and negative impact of the Beloit Plan on the women’s basketball team and other women’s teams was the lack of continuity of women athletes on campus. That began to change as the Beloit Plan was phased out and a new basketball and volleyball coach, Ann Arbor, was hired in the fall of 1977. Ann brought energy, enthusiasm and a commitment to fight for the needed changes to implement Title IX for Beloit women athletes, particularly for her basketball team. She continued to be very successful. After I engaged in a long battle with Provost Zeddie Bowen to retain the physical education component of the department, he subsequently supported replacing the physical education department with strictly an athletic department that would serve only the physically elitist students. My professional integrity remained intact as I tendered my resignation in May 1978.
