Celebrating Title IX: Vail Valley’s female athletes offer local lens

On June 23, 1972, Title IX, which brought equality to women in all aspects of education, was signed into law by Richard Nixon.

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance,” is how the law reads.

Those 37 words have had far-reaching implications nationally and locally. In celebration of the law’s 50th birthday, the Vail Daily reached out to local female sports stars for their thoughts on its impact and the past, present and future growth of women’s opportunities as a whole.

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Karen Lancaster-Ghent

Karen Lancaster-Ghent came to Colorado from Nevada in 1977 and continued her racing career with Ski Club Vail. She would go on to compete as a tech specialist from 1980-1985 with the U.S. Ski Team, representing the team both on the World Cup and at the World Championships and scoring points for the 1982 Nation’s Cup-winning team.

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Upon retirement, Lancaster-Ghent would move onto coaching, winning the USSA Alpine Coach of the Year in 2009 – becoming just the second woman to receive the award at the time — and led SSCV to earning USSA Alpine Club of the Year in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She hasn’t worked with the club since 2018, but is still officiating at all levels as much as possible and remains involved in U.S. Ski Team committees.

“I know that it is widely recognized as a law that aims to equalize gender participation in sports, but the impact of Title IX is far-reaching,” she stated.

“It has been a worthy fight that continues to this day.  The law has created much greater awareness of discrimination in education and I believe because of sports’ social impact, it has helped the cause of non-discrimination in many other areas of society.”

Lancaster-Ghent, whose daughters competed for CU Boulder and the University of Utah, remembers how during her husband’s era as a Buffalo (1972-1975), there was no women’s team at all.

“….one has to wonder if there are more women seeking spots on the collegiate ski teams than 30 years ago because it is more acceptable for women to pursue their athletic goals,” she stated.

Growing up in Lake Tahoe in the 60s and early 70s, Lancaster-Ghent played tennis, ran track and ski raced. “Ski racing was a common sport for boys and girls. I honestly didn’t feel any discrimination,” she recalled.

“But I can tell you there were very few female coaches.” She remembered just during junior high. “There were even fewer female officials. Now there are a significant number of women coaches at all levels of coaching and officiating. I believe this has a direct correlation to the understanding that women have the right to participate in athletics on par with men,” she stated.

While Lancaster-Ghent is pleased to see pay gaps in sports start to decrease, pointing the victory won by the U.S. women’s soccer team, she sees some challenges for continued improvements.

“I guess some would say it is more exciting to watch men’s sports because they can be more aggressive, more exciting. So that has implications for TV viewing,” she stated.

“But we prefer watching women’s ski racing with children to teach the skills because often women are more strategic and pure with their skills.”

Cindy Nelson

A teammate of Lancaster-Ghents, Nelson enjoyed a 14-year tenure on the U.S. Ski Team and was eventually inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2002. She was named to four Olympic teams and broke Annemarie Moser-Proell’s winning streak in 1974 to become the first American to win a World Cup Downhill. A veteran of all five disciplines, she also was the first American to win a World Cup super-G and claimed an Olympic bronze at the 1976 downhill.

Born in Lutsen, Minnesota, Nelson moved to Vail in 1979.

“Firstly, I believe Title IX to be the pivotal movement, then law to promise gender equalities for women and girls in sports and education,” Nelson wrote in an email.

“Mountains of thanks and gratitude to those women pioneers who made it happen! Congratulations IX on its 50th Anniversary!”

Kim Dobson

Dobson is one of the most decorated trail runners in U.S. history. She has won the Pikes Peak Ascent seven times and holds the uphill course record. She attended Arapahoe High School and ran cross-country on a team with almost 100 other athletes while growing up in Littleton.

“I don’t remember any inequalities,” Dobson said of her high school days.

As her career progressed in the professional trail ranks, however, she has witnessed some discrepancies, such as unequal prize money or qualification slots between men and women.

“Well, that doesn’t make sense — shouldn’t it be the same amount of men and women going? And that has changed, which is awesome,” she commented.

“And you’re seeing more women in advertisement and in sponsorships and all of those seemingly small pieces do add up to send a message.” 

Generally, Dobson sees improvement and is optimistic about the future.

“Unfortunately, perfect equality will never exist. We need to push for it in some ways, but when you do, it almost shifts so somebody else is getting the shaft,” she said. “So, it’s a hard subject.”

Liv Moritz

Liv Moritz is a star soccer player at Vail Mountain School and rising Alpine skier at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.

“I think it’s awesome that I get to do things that my grandmothers didn’t have the opportunity to do because of the passage of Title IX,” she stated about her general feelings on Title IX’s half-century celebration.

“I wonder if they would have been good athletes if they had the opportunity to pursue athletics.”

The way Moritz sees it, the difference in opportunities for men and women might not be as stark as it used to, “but men’s sports gain a lot more publicity and exposure, which leads to bigger salaries and endorsements,” she stated.

“Men are able to make a living playing sport while sometimes it’s hard for women to do the same. Even in the Vail Valley, I feel as though men’s high school sports have a lot more spectators than women’s sports.”

Katie Glenn

Glenn, 45, is a former Team USA swimmer who won an NCAA championship and garnered 18 All-American awards at Southern Methodist before competing at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic trials. She is the head coach of Off-Piste Aquatics, a master’s swim team that practices three times per week at the Vail Racquet Club.

“I’m so thankful to the women and men who fought for this legislation, which opened women’s sports in a huge way,” she stated of her thoughts in regards to Title IX’s 50th anniversary. “I had so many opportunities because of Title IX — the chance to swim collegiately being the biggest.”

Glenn’s sister also played college basketball.

“I don’t know if I could imagine stopping competitive sports after high school,” Glenn contemplated.

“While there are adult leagues, the transition from high school to college athletics helped keep many teammates and friends engaged in their sports longer than they would have but for Title IX.”

At SMU, where football was king, the women’s swim team actually had more (12) scholarships than the men’s (9). “I found that unusual and a direct benefit from Title IX to balance the field of men’s and women’s athletics,” stated Glenn. She also noted that SMU added women’s volleyball, equestrian and crew, sports with no men’s equivalent teams, “which is a huge plus for women and gives women more opportunities.”

The effect of Title IX has reverberated for Glenn, who recently set a pair of American records at the USMS short-course yards national championships at the end of April. Her 50-yard (29.42 seconds) and 100-yard (1:04.45) breaststroke marks were her 24th and 25th U.S. Master’s Swim (USMS) records. She still holds 12 USMS age-group national records and three International Swimming Federation age-group world records.

“There seem to be more women in athletics all around, which is just a great thing,” she stated.

“Learning to challenge yourself personally, competing in team or individual sports opens so many doors for young girls that were not available historically. It is wonderful to see how many women/girls have benefitted over the years from Title IX.”

Alice Plain

The 2021 Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year didn’t even play a varsity sport at her Indiana high school. There was no girls team at the time.

Volleyball, softball and of course basketball — “everyone played basketball in Indiana,” she said — were offered for girls. At the first meeting, the coach declared skiing to be an unacceptable in-season activity. “So I walked out,” Plain laughed. “That made the decision easy — skiing’s more important than basketball to me.”

Plain’s main athletic influence growing up was her dad. “He was a very active guy,” Plain said of the man who swam for Carleton College in Minnesota, where he met his wife.

“He wanted to teach all of us lifelong sports. That was golf, tennis and skiing. He taught us all those sports.”

She played golf with her dad starting at age five.

“I spent a lot of time with him and learned a lot from him,” Plain said. Her father passed away 11 years ago.

“My father’s influence and everything he taught me — he’s definitely a hero of mine.”

Plain grew up playing pick-up games with the boys at her local course. She went to a small college, Hanover, and made the men’s golf team, where she was often the third man. Halfway through her first season, the coach decided her hotel and travel expenses were not going to be covered, meaning her playing days were through. She offered to pay herself, but the coach, who was also the football team coach, was firm in preventing her from competing.

“It was a different era, just a very different mindset,” Plain said of the coach’s calculus.

“The members of the men’s team ‘went to bat for me,'” an October 2021 Vail Daily story by Holly Proctor quoted Plain as saying. Together, they approached the college’s president, who decided to allow her to continue playing.

“It was huge — I wasn’t alone in my fight, and they wanted me to be a part of the team,” she told Proctor. “It set the stage for me. They knew I could compete, and it gave me confidence on the course and in life to know that I could compete in a man’s world.”

The idea of competing alongside men, which started when she was just a young girl, transferred to her current role as director of golf at Vail Golf Club.

“I have been a member of the PGA of America for 25 years and really, the percentages haven’t changed as far as women in our organization,” Plain noted.

“So, again, part of the reason I succeeded was I was playing with the boys my whole life and wasn’t afraid to compete with the boys and that kind of went along with my career. It’s very rare for women to be in my position and there are not many of us in the country.”

Plain pointed to a frequently played NCAA commercial. “Girls and women that are in sports are more likely to have very successful careers and do really cool things with their lives, and I think sports do so much more than just give an opportunity to be active,” Plain summarized.

“It teaches you so many things. So, I think we need to continue to grow all our programs at all levels and give girls an opportunity certainly equal to the boys. We still have a ways to go to try to be equal in a lot of careers.”

Plain would transfer to Oklahoma State University after playing for two seasons on Hanover’s men’s squad, helping OSU to a third-place finish at the 1989 NCAA championships. “I didn’t think I’d be able to (go to the next level),” she said of her mindset before moving to the top five NCAA DI school from a small NAIA team. “I didn’t really have a lot of history of junior golf.”

During the summer before she went to OSU, her home course was closed for an event and she went to a neighboring course to play. She met a girl there who played for the Cowboys. “She really made everything happen for me going to Oklahoma State,” Plain said.

OSU coach Ann Pitts played an instrumental role in Plain’s life trajectory by taking a chance on a player with a non-existent resume.

“I absolutely don’t think I’d be where I am today without her influence, help, guidance, coaching, everything,” Plain said.

“Giving me a chance — I had nothing on paper that would say you should take this young girl and give her an opportunity to play. She gave me a scholarship as soon as I walked in the door. She took a chance on me.”

Though she never had the chance to experience sport’s transcendent values through organized scholastic play, her college playing days changed her life.

“(Pitts) taught me so much and gave me so many opportunities to play at a high level, which I never thought I’d have, and I learned so much,” said Plain.

“It’s huge. I truly don’t think I’d be in the position I’m in today without the experience of getting to play at Oklahoma State.”

As she watches girls’ golf programs at Vail Mountain School and elsewhere grow locally, Plain is pleased to see strong women celebrated.

“What I love to see is young girls getting involved and being athletes. It’s cool now to be strong, a strong woman and be athletic. That’s a cool thing — it wasn’t so cool back in the day,” she said.

“You don’t get labeled as anything. It’s cool; you’re just a strong athlete. It was not like that back in the day.” 

As Title IX turns 50, Plain is grateful to those who came before her.

“It’s amazing it’s been 50 years,” she sighed.

“You know it really changed the landscape to what we see today. It’s absolutely amazing and I thank all those women that put themselves out there and made it happen.”