Birch Bayh, Champion of Title IX, Dies
By Ken Reed
Birch Bayh, principal architect of the landmark Title IX legislation that barred sex discrimination in education and sports, died this week at the age of 91.
Bayh, a U.S. senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981, spent a good party of his life fighting for equal rights for all Americans. Title IX, in particular, has had a tremendously positive impact on the worlds of education and sports in the United States.
Bayh drafted the language for Title IX, which requires equal opportunities for girls and women in schools and colleges. The legislation, while still not fully implemented and enforced, has greatly expanded education and sports opportunities for females.
When Title IX became law in 1972, fewer than 10 percent of all medical and law degrees went to women. Today more than 50 percent of all college bachelor’s and graduate degrees are earned by women. Furthermore, only one in 27 high school girls played sports in 1972. Today, more than 3 million high school girls — one in two — play sports.
“There was a soccer field I used to jog around,” said Bayh in 2002.
“One day, all of a sudden, I realized that half of the players were little girls and half of them were little boys. I realized then that that was, in part, because of Title IX.”
Bayh continued to fight for full implementation and enforcement of Title IX long after he left the Senate. Tennis great and long-time equal rights advocate, Billie Jean King, called Bayh “one of the most important Americans of the 20th century.”
“You simply cannot look at the evolution of equality in our nation without acknowledging the contributions and the commitment Senator Bayh made to securing equal rights and opportunities for every American,” said King in a statement following Bayh’s death.
Fans of equal rights for all Americans have long praised Bayh.
“Had (Title IX) not passed, the options and opportunities for women in this country and the world would be vastly different,” said North Carolina State athletic director, Debbie Yow.
Job well done Mr. Bayh. Go in peace.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
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Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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