Remembering Title IX

Published: June 22, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

Even after the gender equality law Title IX was passed in 1972, women had to fight for respect and relevancy, especially in sports.
In West Bend, that meant the young women playing basketball in the Skygarden, which could be the equivalent of an attic, far from a regulation-size basketball court.
That was just one problem the women of the 1970s who wanted to play sports had to overcome.
The girls also had to put down temporary lines on the floor for volleyball games and put the numbers on their own jerseys.
So as Cathy Spies, nee Johnson, held her Wall of Fame plaque May 22, all those memories were rekindled. On Sunday, it will be the 41st anniversary of Title IX, a law that allowed her and many girls after her a chance to be respected.
“We would just get together just to play,” Spies said. “Not because we had a tournament this weekend.”
“The guys’ time slots were established,” she added. “If we wanted something, we had to do it ourselves. Title IX made it that, legally, we had to have equal opportunities, but it took a while to get there; maybe prove ourselves a little bit; show we deserve it.”
Spies, along with Megan (Duwell) Herrick, Janet (Koenig) Montgomery and Carl Kuss, were honored during the annual West Bend High School’s Senior Student-Athlete awards ceremony. Each inductee received a plaque detailing their accomplishments.
Spies had no idea she was even worthy of being a member of the Wall of Fame because she didn’t have a lot of accolades to back it up. That shouldn’t come as a surprise because that was something else women had to battle, getting recognition.
She has her daughter, Heidi, to thank for getting the recognition that may have otherwise gone unnoticed, never appreciated.
Heidi Spies, who graduated from East in 2011, was a star on the Suns’ volleyball and basketball teams, but was also the one who played an instrumental role in getting her mom into the Wall of Fame. The elder Spies had no idea it was coming.
The younger Spies was doing a research project on women in sports for her psychology class at St. Norbert College in DePere. That’s what she told her mom. But how could she get all of her mom’s information without her being suspicious?
“It was difficult that I didn’t want to her to know what I was doing,” Spies said. “I’m not very good with surprises.”
Spies was introduced to the idea by East athletic director Jeff Rondorf. He contacted Spies to ask her if she’d like to nominate her mom for the Wall of Fame as her mom’s name came up in a discussion as a former student-athlete who should be honored by the school.
“I was really excited about it,” Spies said. “I thought it was a neat idea for me to look at her accomplishments. I learned a lot about her career.”
At East, Cathy Spies played volleyball, basketball and track.
In volleyball, she was on the Suns’ first state-qualifying team. In her senior year, she helped the Suns win a conference championship, the first year that a conference champion was declared.
In track and field, Spies set school records in the high jump (5-2) and long jump (16-11), and qualified for state in both events.
She went on to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where she excelled in volleyball and basketball, being named all-conference in both sports multiple years. She was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
In 1984, Spies returned to West Bend to teach and coach. She coached the West volleyball team for 10 seasons, winning four conference championships and finishing in the top four at state twice.
Heidi Spies knew about her mom’s basketball and volleyball accomplishments. But what her mom did in track was new.
“I did not know she excelled at the level she did,” Heidi Spies said.
To get this information, Cathy Spies drove to visit Heidi at school and gave her daughter a large scrapbook of her accomplishments, motivational quotes and poems.
“I got to see her life from her point of view,” Heidi Spies said. “It was neat to see everything she had done.”
Once armed with the information, Spies went to work in putting together the nomination packet. Then the hard part was keeping it a secret from her mom as she was admittedly nervous about lying to her mom.
“What made me the most nervous was when she wanted to see the paper,” Heidi Spies said.
Cathy Spies said, “I couldn’t understand why she wanted specifics. I’m like, ‘Nobody’s going to know the difference. Just make things up.’”
“Having her nominate me really meant a great deal,” she added.
Heidi Spies was in the crowd to watch her mom accept her latest honor.
“It was really exciting for me to see her get the award knowing I was a part in her getting that,” she said. “I was really happy for her.
“I’m so proud of everything that she’s done and I’m happy I got to be a part of it,” she added.
Lynn LaPorte, who Cathy Spies said was the true pioneer for women sports in West Bend, was also in attendance.
Going through the information and to hear of the struggles women had during the 1970s as they fought for equality was an inspiring moment for Spies. Her mom was one of the biggest reasons she was able to compete in sports 30 years later.
And in the past 30 years, Cathy Spies is in awe to see how far women in sports has evolved and how quickly it has done so.
“It also makes you feel really old,” she joked.
“There are so many more opportunities out there for young ladies today,” she added.
Once she discovered what everybody was up to, specifically her daughter, Cathy Spies was a bit sassy, Heidi said. But she quickly became appreciative and thankful. It was worth the secret.
“She was really appreciative that I did that for her,” Heidi Spies said.
And by the way, there was never a paper.