December 11, 2019 -- When Carol Ellick, Heights High class of 1974, was sitting in her junior year earth science class, her teacher asked if any students wanted to serve as the manager of the boys’ swim team, of which he was the coach. Carol, who had plenty of friends on the team, eagerly raised her hand.
“Ellick, I said the BOYS’ swim team,” Ted Arnold replied.
The year was 1972 and, aside from the long-standing synchronized swimming club, the Swim Cadets, there was no girls’ team at Heights High for Ms. Ellick to either manage or join.
But the very next day, Coach Arnold said the athletic director agreed it was fine for her to serve as team manager, as long as she didn't go into the locker room.
Carol Ellick, early 1970's.
Ms. Ellick can remember her reaction all these years later: “Ew, why would I want to do that?”
But she did want to get in the water. In addition to recording swim and weight lifting times, putting up lane lines and backstroke flags, and scoring at the meets, she spent her downtime diving with her best friend Brad Petot, who happened to be the team’s star diver. Coach Arnold couldn't help but notice that she had talent and he eventually asked if she would be interested in diving with the team during her senior year.
“Coach,” Ms. Ellick retorted, “in case you haven't noticed, this is the BOYS’ team. And I’m a girl.”
He laughed. But she went to work figuring out how to change the rules so she could dive for the school swim team her senior year.
The United States Congress had passed Title IX the year prior, a federal law forbidding discrimination based on sex in any school receiving federal funds. While it was officially the law of the land, athletic equality was far from the reality in most school districts across the country, including CHUH.
Alumni Carol Ellick (R) and her sister Cynthia visited the new Heights High pool and saw that her freind Brad Perot still holds the boy's diving record.
Ms. Ellick wrote to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, who told her she could join the team: the girls’ team. Which meant the Swim Cadets - not what she wanted.
She eventually found an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who was willing to take her on as a pro-bono case. Ms. Ellick now says she wasn’t out to be a trailblazer. “I just wanted to hang out with my buddies on the team and have fun. And I saw no reason why my gender should be a deterrent.”
In June, 1972 the President signed Title IX of the Educational Amendments, a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. A Michigan 6th Circuit Court then ruled that when a separate girls’ team wasn’t offered, female students must be allowed to participate on boys’ interscholastic teams in non-contact sports. Ms. Ellick was hoping this would force Ohio to let her dive.
And it did.
In April of her junior year, her attorney called to say, “Congrats, you’ve changed the law.” By the time she was a senior, she had earned the number two diving slot, behind her best friend and school record holder Brad Petot.
As athletic opportunities dramatically shifted, so did the school experience for girls across the country. Ms. Ellick’s two younger sisters experienced a new era in girls’ sports at Heights High.
Her sister Cynthia, who graduated in 1976, was easily allowed to manage and then dive on the boys’ team. Patricia, class of 1978, was a member of “the Heights High swim team,” open to both boys and girls.
Looking back, Ms. Ellick says she always knew to stand up for what was right. “You do what you need to do and nothing should be thrown in your way because of your gender. The experience gave me the confidence that when laws and rules are wrong, I can change them.”
She has passed that attitude on to her 32-year old daughter, who has broken into a male-dominated field as a wildland firefighter.
“Just because someone’s a girl,” says Ms. Ellick, “doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to do anything they set out to do.”