Against the backdrop of the girl’s varsity basketball matchup between Hoquiam and Rochester on Friday, Feb. 4, it’s hard to remember a time when female athletes were barred from competing at the high school level. Yet, as this generation’s sports stars bounded up and down the court, deep in their warm up routine, dozens of former Hoquiam High School (HHS) female athletes waited outside to be honored for their contribution to Hoquiam’s athletic legacy — even though for some, chances at equality came too late.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other educational program that receives funding from the federal government. Reflecting on the momentous occasion of this law being passed with the Education Amendments of 1972, HHS Athletic Director Annette Duvall invited female alumnae who participated in athletics while in high school to return last week for a celebration.
The event began with a dinner celebration cooked by Hoquiam School District Superintendent Mike Villarreal. Former Grizzlies congregated to introduce themselves, take pictures, and share stories about their experiences as female athletes that span across the decades since the passage of Title IX.
Following dinner, attendees were then escorted to the gym in their matching red T-shirts and black face masks for a procession around the basketball court. The true guests of honor, those women who had graduated before the passage of Title IX, lined up at center court to greet the athletes from both Hoquiam and Rochester as they were announced for the match.
Patti Reynvaan, referred to as her family’s “matriarch,” graduated from HHS five years before Title IX was enacted. While she was unable to participate in sports herself, she possesses fond memories of watching her four daughters participate in HHS athletics.
“Being a girl’s sports mom was the best time in my life,” she said.
Reynvaan has 16 grandchildren, all Grizzlies, and expects to be wheeled in to watch her great-grandchildren participate in the legacy of Hoquiam athletics in the future.
HHS has a proud history of female athletics, and took home the first Washington State Female Wrestling Championship in 2006. Hoquiam’s strong athletic program often funnels into Grays Harbor College (GHC), and several attendees shared their experience of going on to play college athletics.
One of these athletes was Tanya Bowers Anderson, who graduated HHS in 1976 before playing volleyball, basketball, and softball for GHC. She was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 1999 for being an outstanding all-around athlete and for her service to the community.
“HHS athletics meant a lot to me,” she said. “The coaches believed in me, they supported me, and without that I wouldn’t have stayed in school. Sports were my savior.”
Duvall intended for the event to be an opportunity for today’s athletes to learn about Title IX and the obstacles female athletes faced in the early years to pave the way for the improved access of today.
“I leave Hoquiam with tears in my eyes, but hope in my heart,” said Bowers Anderson of the next generation of female athletes.
