Track – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Letter from the Indoor Track Team and Letter from Dick Mersereau

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

Interview with Beth (Cantara) Richardson ’79, by Jillyan Henrikson ’12

A Female Athlete in a Men’s Athletic World: A Discussion with Beth Richardson, ‘79

In this interview, Beth Richardson, a member of the basketball and outdoor track teams at Bowdoin from 1975-1979, discusses her time on campus as a female student-athlete during the first years of coeducation at the College. To hear Beth’s take on how the administration viewed women’s athletics, her relationship with her teammates and Coach Dick Mersereau, and the women’s basketball team’s second-class citizenship, listen below.

Audio: click tracks(s) below to begin listening

Intriguing pieces:

Time: Part 1, 00:01:35

Quotation: [In reference to bonds shared with teammates] “…so, an incredible sense of camaraderie throughout all 4 years, a sense of support, you always knew there was someone you could talk to…it was like having a bunch of sisters.”

Time: Part 1; 00:04:20

Quotation: [In reference to a comparison of the women and men’s basketball teams] “We put up with a lot. We were definitely second class citizens [in comparison to the men].”

Time: Part 4, 00:26:35

Quotation: [In reference to final comments on experiences as a female student-athlete at Bowdoin] “You know, it was kind of an interesting balance between having a group of women who you really loved and loved you, and having virtually no recognition by the College. It was really odd. You know, to be that tight and to work that hard, but not have the College see you as a serious athlete. But, we had a good time.”

Citation: I, Jill Henrikson, interviewed Beth Richardson on November 4, 2011 at her home in Portland, Maine. We discussed both Beth’s experiences as a member of the women’s basketball and outdoor track team, as well as her identification as a student-athlete on the Bowdoin campus from 1975-1979.

Interview with Patricia Pope ’75, by Angelica Guerrero ’11

Running with the Guys: A Conversation with Patricia Pope

A transfer student from Smith College, Patricia Pope came to Bowdoin in search of a more balanced experience socially and academically. While Ms. Pope describes her overall experience at Bowdoin as positive, she talks about the ways in which the difficulties she encountered during her time here prepared her for life. To hear about how this woman created a space for herself in the classroom, on the track and through the power of baking, listen below.

Audio: click below to begin listening

Intriguing Pieces:
Time: 00:08:10
Quotation: [In reference to a professor overlooking a footnote and giving Ms. Pope what she felt was an unfair grade] “I had one situation that was character building I could say now but was devastating for me at the time. I had written a paper on the first female secretary of labor, Francis Perkins. And I had written a term paper on her, and I received my first C ever,-in my life. The professor had not read my footnote indicating that there was no original research I could perform because Ms. Perkins’s papers were locked up for fifty years following her death. And so I had to use secondary sources in researching and writing my paper. He had missed that footnote and given me a C. Several history professors came to me, very, very concerned about that and that started a dialogue”

Time: 00:14:15
Quotation: [In reference to baking as a way of building community] “Interestingly, I lived in Pine Street my senior year, which was a lot of fun. And we discovered the power of baking because whenever I would bake chocolate chip cookies, within ten minutes, everyone in Pine Street would show up in our flat and we’d wind up making a big dinner together…”

Time: 00:17:20
Quotation: [In reference to discovering chewing gum in her braid after class] “I had very long hair. I remember one time I used to braid my hair back and I had someone sitting behind me who was just very upset with me because he thought that I was getting favorable treatment from the professor in that class, which I wasn’t, and to my amazement, I got out of class and he had put chewing gum all up and down my braid…”

Citation: I, Angelica Guerrero, interviewed Patricia Pope on Friday, November 4, 2011, in the Nixon Reading Room in Hawthorne-Longfellow Library at Bowdoin College. We discussed Patricia Pope’s experience at Bowdoin as a student, and in particular, as a member of one of the first classes of female students admitted to Bowdoin during Bowdoin’s transition to coeducation.