In 1869 a curriculum was created allowing the Rochelle school to award high school degrees.  The first graduating high school class of 1874 consisted of three students, Emma Stratford, May Parks and Kitty Parker. Three young ladies and zero young men. But this is the story of sport, more specifically girls’ sports at Rochelle High School. 

On Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, I followed the progress of a little lady named Dempsey Atkinson at the Illinois State wrestling championships. Dempsey competed against other girls and fought her way to fifth place. Dempsey is the first female wrestler to qualify for the state championships and this is the second year she has made the trip. Boys have been wrestling since 1955 and have earned 17 medals at the state tournament. Girls (Dempsey) have been competing for two years against other girls and earned one medal. Dempsey has pinned five opponents at the state championships and now holds the Rochelle record for most pins in one season at the state tournament and most cumulative pins at the state tournament. 

Boys have been participating in high school sports for almost as long as there has been school. Boys were competing in organized track since 1897 and football from 1899. The young men were touted as heroes, and became small town legends for their exploits on the field of competition. For the gentler sex, the options were not as available. Fortunately, the young ladies of Rochelle High School were not willing to sit back and cheer for the boys.

The 1907 Tatler (school yearbook) refers to basketball as a “minor sport which has never aroused much interest in our school.” “Nevertheless the girls of our high school have organized a team which in the past two seasons have played very well among themselves.” Based on this we can infer that girls’ athletics at Rochelle High School began in either 1905 or 1906. The one caveat was that the girls could only compete within the school. The Illinois High School Athletic Association, founded in 1900, had determined that member schools could not allow girls to compete against other schools. Another problem was that Rochelle High had no gymnasium, the girls could play basketball but it was played outside and generally not on school property. 

By 1918 Ms. Crawford had a steady hand on the ladies’ sports and basketball was joined by volleyball, archery, hiking and other activities. The advancement of athletics was still slowed by the lack of a gymnasium. The Coliseum (today’s Hub City Furniture) allowed use of their second floor for basketball but this was a limited space at best.  In 1921 a new high school was constructed on Seventh Street. This building offered a gymnasium for the first time in high school sports. “The time is certainly approaching when the value of girls’ athletics will be generally recognized. Girls, as well as boys, need to learn teamwork – the subordination of the individual for the good of the team: they need to learn to be “good sports,” touted the 1921 Tatler. The addition of a gymnasium might not have opened the door for girls’ sports, but it did open the door for women to begin taking physical education classes. In 1924 girls began taking P.E. 

The Girls Athletic Association (GAA) was introduced about 1924. Finally, it began to look like girls would have a path to organized competitive sports in high school. Not so fast. GAA merely helped to organize intra-mural competition. Girls were only allowed to compete within their own school. On the positive side, the school did develop a method by which girls could earn their “R”. For the boys the standards had been set in 1911. Any boy who competed in four full halves of football or placed in an inter-scholastic track meet qualified for a varsity “R”. For the ladies the requirements were slightly more diverse: Faithful work, regular attendance, courtesy, and effort. Cleaning teeth twice a day, eight consecutive hours of sleep with open windows, beginning no later than 10:30, bathe twice weekly. Drink one glass of water upon rising, eating three regular meals each day, eating nothing between meals except fresh fruit, graham crackers, bread. Finally minimum percentages were set for shooting baskets, serving in volleyball, and throwing a softball. In the first year the girls could win their numeral (the last two numbers of the year they would graduate) if they acquired 150 points. The second year they would receive a stripe if they received another 150 points. Third year was a repeat of the second, earn 150 points and receive a second stripe. In their senior year a girl could finally receive her “R” but only if she was awarded another 150 points. To complicate the process, one could only be awarded 150 points in any one year and could not make up for missed years. The GAA did allow for one playday per year. On this one day the ladies were allowed to travel to another community and “play” games with students from another school. By 1970 GAA and the Illinois High School Athletic Association allowed for two play days in a year. Finally, the ladies had suffered long enough, they were ready to play, and arbitrary rules would no longer be accepted. 

Title IX of the education amendment of 1972 opened the door for girls to participate in inter-scholastic sports, and they were ready. The first girls sport was tennis in 1973. The first sport where girls could compete against girls from another school. The first year Rochelle girls’ tennis sent five players to the Illinois State Championships. Once allowed to compete, the Lady Hubs have refused to step back. In 2009 Jen Jenkins became the first Rochelle female to win a state championship, seven more championships have followed. The Lady Hubs have earned 66 medals in state championships compared to 59 earned by the boys. The girls have brought home eight first-place medals in their 51 years of inter-scholastic competition compared to six first-place medals earned in the 127 they have been allowed to compete. Two Rochelle athletes have earned the honor to compete at the state championships all four years that they attended Rochelle High, both girls, Linn Beerman 1973-1977 and Megan Thiravong 2017-2020. 

Put me in coach. I’m ready to play.

Tom McDermott is a Flagg Township Museum historian and Rochelle city councilman.