THAT KIND OF CHARACTER

In 1971, twenty-four girls enrolled at Governor Dummer Academy, ending Govs 200-year history as an all-boys school. With female students eager to compete at the highest levels in athletics, the Academy began to build its girls athletic program. Around the same time, Title IX passed, and the Academy would continue to expand their program in a competitive independent school marketplace. Then and now, Govs female athletes are passionate and fierce competitors, and scores of alumnae have pursued athletics beyond Byfield as players, athletic trainers, coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs.

“Athletic competition builds character in our boys. We do not need that kind of character in our girls, the women of tomorrow.”

—JUDGE JOHN CLARK FITZGERALD

Sit in the stands at any Govs track, eld, court, or rink—where more than thirty girls and coed athletic teams o er top-level competition for today’s exceptional female athletes—and it may seem unbelievable that this remark by Judge Fitzgerald was made a mere fty years ago.

What’s even more surprising: the statement was part of the Judge’s dismissal of a 1971 lawsuit from female Connecticut athletes who wanted to participate on boys non-contact sports teams, a case that closely predated the passing of Title IX in 1972.

At the same time that this case was being dismissed, history was moving in a di erent direction here on the Governor Dummer Academy campus.

In 1971, twenty-four girls enrolled in the Academy, ending Govs 200-year history as an all-boys school. As for girls athletics? e Academy stated that it would like “the newly enrolled girls to enjoy the advantages of athletic competition.” is goal, however, was still far in the distance. During the early to mid-1970s, girls changed in their “locker room” in Boynton (a former common room when the building operated as a boys’ dormitory), practiced modern dance in the chapel aisles, and participated in their rst o cial season of interscholastic sports without playing a single game.

After a girls physical education instructor was hired, female athletic opportunities expanded to one sport a season. Still, girls sports were neither thoroughly considered nor implemented in the rst ve years of admitting girls to the Academy, despite tremendous enthusiasm and athletic potential among the girls.

Although Govs was a private school

# of ISL Championship wins for Govs girls varsity softball—the most ISL wins for any girls varsity team at Govs and therefore not obligated to follow Title IX rules, the school needed to meet the demands of its newly enrolled girls in order to compete in the competitive independent school marketplace. Beginning with lacrosse as its only girls team, the Academy gradually added new options. By 1976, girls had at least two choices per season, and by 1979, the girls lacrosse team won the ISL Championship (becoming the rst in a long line of Govs girls championship teams).

One of the outstanding athletes from this team was Sue Perry ’81, who went on to become Govs rst female athletic director and an early inductee to e Governor’s Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.

In a 1992 Archon article, Perry described her struggles during her tenure, including one instance in which a man arrived in her o ce asking, “Who’s the guy in charge here?” Another man remarked, “Don’t you want to be someone’s secretary?” Despite these moments, Perry also mentioned one of the Academy’s major strengths that still exists today—that we “learn a great deal from the past, both the things we did well and the things we did not do well.”

# of NEPSAC Championship wins for Govs girls cross-country—the most NEPSAC wins for any girls varsity team at Govs

Today’s female athletes and coaches bene t from the hard-won advancements of those who came before them. Perry’s athletic leadership was followed by subsequent women Bert McLain P’07,’09 (1999–2017) and Claudia Barcomb (2017–present).

As director of afternoon programs from 1999 to 2017 (and as one of only two female directors in the ISL), McLain described a very di erent experience from Perry’s, saying she was “pleasantly surprised by the respect that I was given.” She added that, in taking the job, she believed “it was important to represent the female side,” which had not always been given equal attention. Part of this meant advocating for equality in resources dedicated to girls athletics. When a donor wanted to update