Women's Fight for Equality

      During this time period, one of the problems Coach Johnson and her teams encounted due to their sex difference was an unfair amount of media coverage in comparison to the male teams. The lack of women’s sports coverage was very evident at the time, even in Trinity’s campus newspaper, The Trinitonian. In a letter to the editor, Kim Kolesnik, expressed her annoyance over the fact that there was a lack of coverage given to the women’s sports teams at Trinity, despite the fact that they were very successful. Kolesnik quotes that in the last seven editions of The Trinitonian, there has not been a single article involving the women’s volleyball or softball team, despite their success (Trinitonian, 1975, p 2). Previously in the year, the women's volleyball team were Zone Champions and made it to the state tournament (Trinity University, 2011). This also happened to be the year that the softball team had made it to the state playoffs. However, due to the lack of coverage described by Kolesnik, there was very little to be found in the school newspaper that described the team’s effort.

      One of Coach Johnson’s star athletes was Terri Hailey, who represented Johnson during her 2011 Trinity Hall of Fame induction, and even managed to be inducted herself in 2005. Hailey played for Coach Johnson in basketball, softball, and track and was the leading candidate for Trinity’s Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year Award in 1981 (Trinitonian, 1981 p13). In one article from The Trinitonian, Hailey is quoted saying that she “didn’t really learn how to shoot correctly until I came to Trinity” and it was Coach Libby Johnson who really taught her the proper skills (Trinitonian, 1981 p13).

      In an interview, Hailey said that Johnson’s biggest frustration was the lack of respect for women despite the fact that Title IX had been around for a couple of years already. Hailey says that when she was on the softball team under Coach Johnson, there was no softball field at Trinity so the girls were forced to practice on the baseball field instead. If the girls were using the gym during basketball season, and the men’s team wanted to use it, the girl’s team would be forced off the court (T. Hailey, personal communication, March 24, 2016). There were also other problems that Hailey mentioned that forcibly gave women an unfair advantage when it came to sports. These problems included obstacles like professors not allowing women to miss class due to athletic excuses, and women being held to a higher standard than men in terms of GPA eligibility (T. Hailey, personal communication, March 24, 2016).