#high school sports

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Girls’ Sports Before Title IX

Title IX, which expanded opportunities for women in athletics and many other fields, turns 50 this year. Thanks in part to Title IX, girls’ sports were thriving in local high schools by the late 1970s. Before 1972, girls’ athletic options in schools often centered around one organization – the Girls’ Athletic Association.

The G.A.A., as it was known, was a common fixture in high schools nationwide from the early 1900s. Students who joined the G.A.A. would compete against each other in a variety of intramural sports. In Minneapolis, G.A.A. sports often included basketball, baseball, bowling, swimming, tennis, and skating. Some schools offered such varied options as horseback riding, “walking clubs,” and first aid classes.

Girls who participated in G.A.A. could often earn school letters. Like the Washburn High School “W-wearers” pictured above, G.A.A. members would earn points for participating in club events. Enough points would earn you a letter. In many schools, G.A.A. or cheerleading were the only letter opportunities for girls.

By the late 1960s and 1970s, local G.A.A. clubs began to disappear. In 1969, the Minnesota State High School League officially amended its bylaws to include the administration of girls sports. Through the 1970s, more and more Hennepin County high schools began to field girls’ sports teams for interschool competition and the role of the G.A.A. decreased. By the 1980s, none of the yearbooks in our Hennepin County Library Yearbook Collection mention an active Girls’ Athletic Association.

Explore these and other images of local G.A.A. activities through the years in the Hennepin County Library Yearbook Collection.