Reta McKannen from Auburn, AL

I grew up in Auburn, AL, in the deep South where football was part of our lifestyle. But no one encouraged me to play any kind of sports, we had p.e., but team sports weren’t offered to girls in my high school.

I went to Auburn University in 1973 and although Auburn did have girls' basketball and swimming, I never even considered trying out since never having played in high school, I had no experience. Instead I was an intern in the Sports Information Department. I loved it! I was not only the first female to work in that office, besides the secretaries, but I was the only female in sports information out of most of the colleges in the southeast.

It wasn’t always easy to do my job. In 1975 I was barred from the press box during an Auburn/ Georgia Tech game because their sports information director didn’t allow women in “his” press box. At first, as a 17-year-old college student in an all-male world I was treated as "just a pretty little girl." When I complained about it to the coach’s wife, Evelyn Jordan, one of the first women to head an academic department at Auburn University, she was very matter of fact: "Honey, just get your foot in the door. You can prove yourself once you’re in." She was right, and by the time I graduated, I believe I had won the respect of the rest of the department.

The experience I gained working in sports information led me to a bachelor's degree in journalism, a 15-year newspaper career, several years in public relations and public affairs, and then a law degree at the age of 42. I am now running for judge in Huntsville, AL, having practiced law almost 10 years.

These days my main involvement in sports has been through rooting for my daughter Jennifer and her teams. Jennifer began playing recreation league sports at the age of 7, and has continued to play in school ever since. She is considering playing college volleyball, and I really believe she could play college softball. She's a terrific athlete, but more than that, athletics have enabled her to develop people skills that will carry her through life. She has already asked me about the possibility of law school, which obviously makes me proud. But I know that as a result of having to make her grades to play on the teams, having had to work hard to achieve, having proven to herself that she can do whatever she sets as her goal, she can choose any profession and be successful.

Looking back, I didn't feel disadvantaged until I realized later the real advantages my daughter had that I was never afforded! I still love Auburn, and I can't be angry for not having had what I didn't know I should have. However, I'm thrilled about the opportunities my daughter enjoys as a result of Title IX and I want to see that both girls—and boys—continue to benefit from it’s intent: gender equity.

It disturbs me that there are those in Congress who would cut funding for this law when it took so many generations to establish even a semblance of equality in athletics. It bothers me that some of the coaches today who have received scholarships and other benefits from Title IX, don’t fight for gender equity in the schools where they work. Most of the girls today don’t know enough about Title IX and the coaches never mention it to their teams, as though it is a given. I’m appalled by that and encourage them to tell the girls how fortunate they are and why. I think if the girls don’t understand the history and the struggle they will lose appreciation of their heritage and what went before.

I recently became aware of inequities in the girls’ athletics program at our high school and felt I had to do something. Even though my daughter wouldn’t be benefiting directly from my actions I felt I owed it to all the girls growing up in this town that I love to have equal opportunities – and this time, unlike my experience, I know what they are missing. I filed a Title IX complaint letter with regard to locker room inequities for girls’ volleyball and basketball as well as the girls' softball team's lack of restroom and concession facilities compared with the boys’ baseball teams. I've been asked by the Civil Rights office in Atlanta to collect information about the same sports at the other city high schools for the same investigation.