Separate gender bodies in Iowa prep sports have helped female athletics

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

Just about every journalist dreams about landing an exclusive interview with a historic dignitary (even dead ones) amid an ideal time and setting.

Like visiting Nelson Mandela while he was in prison in South Africa.

Like getting a chance to talk with Aretha Franklin on the set of The Blues Brothers.

Or to document the thoughts of Robert Oppenheimer after the first successful atom bomb test at Jornada del Muerto in New Mexico.

But more close to my beat, the one interview I really would have loved to get would be with Caitlyn Jenner along the homestretch of Drake University’s “Blue Oval” track during the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships with the banner logos of the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union displayed side-by-side — as often the case at the state meet — in the background.

When Jenner was a “he” — note the pronoun usage — and went by the name Bruce Jenner, he rose to prominence by winning his first Drake Relays decathlon in 1972 several years before getting his likeness posted on Wheaties cereal boxes in the wake of winning a gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

One particular question I would have loved to ask Jenner — and it would have been more loaded than a fully armed Gatlin gun — would be Isn’t it time for Iowa to get in line with the rest of the country and adopt a single bi-gender athletic body for high school sports?

Mike Wallace … eat your heart out.

This type of ambush journalism wouldn’t have been inspired by non-native bigotry, rather frustration … though frustration is often bigotry’s most reliable muse. As a new resident of Iowa and employed as a sports editor, I was having issues with this two-body setup — unique to say the least as Iowa remains the only state in the Union with separate bodies with exclusive dominions over separate genders.

Adjustment to the nuances is what addled me the most. One was the different terms used for state-qualifying meets and tournaments. With the boys (IHSAA), they’re called “Districts”; with the girls (IGHSAU), they’re called “Regionals”. Or is it the other way around?

I still haven’t permanently stamped the corresponding terms onto my grey matter, and I still get phone messages and emails enlightening me of my continual mistakes.

Then there is the difference in formatting when the organizations release their respective basketball polls. The IHSAA periodically releases a Top 10 poll for each of its four classes; the IGHSAU releases a Top 15 poll for each of its five classes.

So what was the origin of all this madness?

According to the IGHSAU website, it started due to an argument in church some time ago.

At the 1925 Iowa State Teachers’ Convention held at the Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, superintendents and principals in attendance decided — in the wake of a heated row that nearly provoked fisticuffs — that competitive sports before paying crowds was good only for boys’ activities, not for girls’, and girls basketball (Iowa was one of the few states at the time to offer prep girls hoops) would no longer be a state-sponsored interscholastic activity.

A compromise was eventually reached, and the IGHSAU was born to counteract the expulsion of females from the state-sponsored IHSAA.

Fast forward a century later and we can see the results of that church brouhaha.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, while catering exclusively to female student-athletes, has arguably done more to advance female athletics than any other two-gender single-body state entity.

I know. A bold statement. Yet there is a wealth of empirical evidence for me to lean on.

That cultural transcendence of women’s college and professional basketball due to the unprecedented visibility of University of Iowa women’s team as well as Iowa becoming the first Power Five NCAA Division I school to offer female wrestling are easily tracked consequences of this dual setup.

A more direct example is the growing prominence of the Iowa State Girls Wrestling Championships, which recently held its third IGHSAU-sanctioned event at the Xtreme Arena in Coralville. The talent, the competition, the spectrum of emotions, the electrified fans and the fire-spewing pageantry at this multiple-day-and-night event were breathtaking for those fortunate enough to be in attendance.

It may have taken more time than it should for me to finally acknowledge the benefits of a single-gender sports organization. But I like to think my nature is malleable enough to discard former prejudices and misconceptions instead of doubling down on them like a coward, as well as nixing dumb questions for dream interviews. (I’ll keep asking dumb questions in real interviews)

And though I may be more firm with my personal politics, I will cross over when I feel it’s appropriate.

Those who know me know I’m no fan of the reinstated administration and most of its acolytes, but I will stand with them on this issue: only biological females should be allowed to compete in interscholastic female sports. Club sports and professional sports perhaps should be allowed leeway to adopt policies on a more ad hoc basis, but there should be no deviation when it comes to interscholastic competition.

Notice my emphasis on “competition”. Like with those educators who argued in that Des Moines church a century ago, a reasonable accommodation could be forged in good faith.

For example, I don’t see anything wrong with a girls wrestling team that — with multilateral agreement with the coach, school administrators, team members and their parents — chooses to allow a biological male member on the team, not to compete at the varsity level, but to spar with a female teammate or teammates who may not have another female teammate of comparable weight and strength to train with.

This transgender/sports issue is not going away soon, especially when it’s continually used as a political wedge. Regardless, Iowa’s two-body approach should be maintained and adopted by other states.

It may take a while to embrace, but I can name at least one left-leaning sports editor who eventually saw the wisdom of it.