Passage of Title IX and GCC Athletic HOF helped pave the way for GCC Women's Athletics to celebrate 50 years

The first individual to take the podium at the inaugural 2002 GCC Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony recalled throwing the javelin from the upper parking lot to the athletic field. And that was before Donna Mayhew qualified for a pair of Olympics in 1988 and 1992. How about 2002 inductee Cathy Ferguson winning two gold medals in the 1964 Olympics as a swimmer while still in high school, attending Glendale College soon after and participating in intramural sports because she was seeking some normalcy in her life and just wanted to have fun?

Seminal events in 1972 and 2002 helped GCC Women's Athletics get to where they are now in 2022 and currently celebrating Women's History Month. The passing of Title IX in 1972 paved the way for organized athletic teams to be a reality at all levels in schools and other organizations, including Glendale Community College. The creation and first induction ceremony of the GCC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 was designed to honor athletes, coaches, teams and supporters of sports and all things Vaquero.

Starting in 2002 with the induction of Mayhew and Ferguson, Olympians in their own right and Lady Vaqs as well, a deserving female or team has been honored as part of every class, eighteen in all until the last ceremony in 2018 due to construction of the new gym facility and the pandemic. It is without a doubt one of the highlights of every ceremony, their stories shared of not just success but perseverance in the early days of women's sports on campus.

Female teachers leading physical education classes was one thing before the early 1970's but recruiting women to compete on intercollegiate teams after Title IX was passed put early GCC pioneers such as Virginia Manker Pierce and Blanche Donovan in the HOF in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Later it was Women's Tennis Coach and Women's Athletic Director Terry Coblentz in 2013 and Dianne Spangler, former cross country and volleyball coach in 2016, took their rightful places of honor.

These former coaches as well as the athletes and teams they shepherded helped pave the way for the women's athletic programs of today as they have grown to eight teams in 2022 at GCC where female athletes thrive on and off their fields of play, in and out of the classroom and in their chosen fields when they move on, where their competitive instincts make them prime candidates to succeed.

Each fall, winter and spring, in women's soccer, volleyball, cross country, basketball, softball, beach volleyball, tennis and track and field, women wear the cardinal and gold of the Vaqueros, representing their school teams and themselves with no promise of accolades or acknowledgements but with plenty of purpose.

Before them, future Olympians and state champions have worn the uniforms they wear today as Lady Vaqueros, at first just tee shirts with masking tape with numbers scrawled on them back in 1972 but they were probably beyond proud to be playing organized sports at GCC and finally being taken seriously as competitors.

Fifty years and counting.