Mers – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

The following series of documents represents requests made by women’s sports teams during the late 1970s. Evidence from the letters shows that concerns that emerged in LaPointe’s 1977 review of women’s athletics remained unresolved but that women athletes, and coaches of women continued to ask for support.

The women’s indoor track team wrote the first letter to the Athletic Director and the Deans of the College on February 9, 1979 (Document JH, 59.1). The team suggests that the men’s coach, Frank Sabasteanski, possessed too much responsibility in coaching both teams. In addition, they argue that a women’s coach would be more appealing for female students, and would also be able to work in other areas of the athletic department. The letter demonstrates the team’s desire for equality between men and women’s teams. Members of the team signed the letter and carbon copied Athletic Director Ed Coombs, three deans, and Sally LaPointe, the first female coach at the College.

A response, written on March 5, 1979, to Athletic Director Coombs from Dean Paul Nyhus (document available in Special Collections at Bowdoin) insisted that Coombs reply to the team and fulfill their request by the upcoming (1980) school year. However, today, forty years later, there is still one coach for men and women’s track, Peter Slovenski.

Richard (Dick) A. Mersereau (see interview, Part 2, 00:05:50), volunteer women’s basketball coach, wrote the second letter on May 4, 1979, to Vincent (Vinnie) B. Welch, a member of the Bowdoin class of 1938 (Document JH, 59.2). Mersereau requests that his team travel to London to play against European teams. Not only would this experience give his players a different type of competition to improve their skills, but it would also “provide a rich cultural experience.” Mersereau calculates the cost of $500 per player, and directs his request to Welch, a supporter of women’s athletics at the College, and, according to Mersereau, a successful fundraiser. Before closing the letter, Mersereau commented, “Thanks…for any help you might offer this dreamer,” suggesting he has little confidence that any women’s sports team at that time would be approved to do something as far-fetched as traveling to Europe.

Ten days later, on May 14, 1979, Welch forwarded the letter to C. Warren Ring, Vice President of Development at the College, who then sent a letter to President Enteman on May 18, 1979 (documents available in Special Collections at Bowdoin). Paralleling Mersereau’s dreamer quotation, Ring writes, “Mr. Welch, quite understandably, does not know how to answer Mr. Mersereau’s request.” Ring offers many questions that, in his opinion, need to be answered before taking further steps in planning a trip to London. The letter does not offer any conclusions; however, an interview with Mersereau revealed that a lack of funding did not permit the team’s trip.

JH59.1 - Letter from the Indoor Track Team

What About the Female Athletes? A discussion with Richard (Dick) Mersereau, ‘69

In this interview, Richard (Dick) Mersereau, widely known as Mers, discusses his time as a volunteer women’s basketball coach from 1975 until 1981. To hear about Dick’s ability to help improve the circumstances of female athletes on the basketball team during the ‘70s and early ‘80s, his responsibilities as a coach of one of the first women’s sports teams at Bowdoin, and the commitment that his players displayed to the team, listen below.

Audio: click title(s) below to begin listening

Intriguing Pieces:

Time: Part 1, 00:02:40

Quotation: [In reference to beginning a career as a volunteer women’s basketball coach]“As far as they [the administration] were concerned, if a group of women wanted to do basketball, well, the good news was, we would respond, we would have a team. The less good news was, you know…get by as cheaply and as easily as they possibly could, which gave me, the 26-year old, an opportunity to coach, which I had never done before.”

Time: Part 1, 00:06:15

Quotation: [In reference to differences in treatment of the women and men’s basketball teams]“We practiced and played my first year there, the team’s second year, in Sargent gym, which was 10 feet shorter than regulation, had light coming in the windows if it was an afternoon game, and had dead spots…it was a second class facility. Being a child of the ‘60s and caring about the women I was coaching, I innocently asked somewhere toward the beginning of the season, ‘How come we’re practicing and playing in Sargent gym, and the men are in Morrell gym?’ And the answer came back, ‘Well the girls aren’t as good as the boys.’ In other words, the girls don’t deserve equal treatment because they’re not as accomplished.”

Time: Part 3, 00:02:40

Quotation: [In reference to describing how important basketball was to the female players] “We, as a collective group, cared as much about what we were doing, as much as the men’s team, as much as the hockey team. People tended to support one another. We’d finish our game and we’d go watch the hockey game cause that’s what else was going on. They’d announce our score. We took some pride in that.”

Citation: I, Jill Henrikson, interviewed Richard (Dick) Mersereau, Bowdoin class of 1969, in his office at the Cram Alumni House on October 21, 2011 in Brunswick Maine. We discussed Dick’s time as a volunteer coach of the women’s basketball team starting during the 1975-1976 season, and ending six years later after the 1980-1981 season.

Letter from the Indoor Track Team and Letter from Dick Mersereau

Interview with Richard Mersereau, Women’s Basketball Coach, by Jillyan Henrikson ’12