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GAA Pins & Girls Gym Uniform
GAA Pins & Girls Gym Uniform
Donor: Nancy (Jones) Barre, Class of 1970 (girls' gym uniform) & Lela (Randal) Emmerich, Class of 1967 (GAA pin)
Author: Eva Smith, Class of 2028 & McKinley Jones, Class of 2028
Story Contributor: Nancy (Jones) Barre & Lela (Randall) Emmerich
Web Page Designer: Jade Farley, Class of 2027
Highlands girls gym class
The squeak of gym shoes, heavy breathing, restraint from your uniform, whistleblowing...not a single boy in the room. That is what it was like in the HHS gym class for Nancy Jones Barre (Class of ‘70), Lela Randall Emmerich (Class of ‘67), and many other girls at Highlands until the mid-1980’s. In class, they had to wear one-piece Highlands gym uniforms.
The long-time girls P.E. teacher (and advocate for girls’ sports) was Loyce Meadows. She was a force for confidence-building and fitness in her female students. Meadows ran a very tight schedule in class for the girls, including good hygiene and showering after class.
According to Lela Emmerich, when the girls entered the gym, Ms. Meadows gave them 5 minutes to rush into the locker room, put their books on the shelf above the locker, change into their uniforms, and scurry to the gym floor for class. Then with 6-7 minutes left in class, the girls would hurry back into the locker room, shower, wait for Loyce to “check,” then change back into their school clothes.
The gym suits the girls had to wear, eventually got an upgrade when Barre became the gym teacher, following Loyce Meadows.
Barre reports, “...we went to a different style. I changed a few things when I was there, after a while we went from the navy-blue ones to a sky blue and white striped uniform, which was more of a cotton all-in-one piece.” The new uniforms were stretchier and roomier, allowing the girls to move more comfortably. Separate from P. E. class, Highlands also provided GAA for girls.
Nancy (Jones) Barre girls gym uniform
GAA honor pin
Before 1972, high schools typically didn’t offer competitive sports teams for girls; they were only for the boys. At Highlands, the Girls Athletic Association or GAA was a way to get girls involved in sports (before Title IX was passed). The GAA had rewards such as a pin, a guard, and a letter. Even though GAA was an after-school organization, students would learn the rules and practice these sports in gym class, taught by Loyce Meadows. Title IX was a federal nationwide education amendment that prohibited discrimination based on the sex of a student in regard to programs offered by any federally funded school. This 1972 amendment changed athletics for girls, because the schools were now required to give girls equal opportunities as boys to play in competitive athletics.
“Title IX was passed in 1972 and then the GAA stopped, with 1975 being the final year of GAA at Highlands. Because of Title IX, we did have girls’ sports teams added on. If someone didn't make the team, they were able to join intramurals and everybody played. Hundreds of girls and Loyce would have round-robin tournaments,” Barre said.
Prior to Title IX, girls had a few sports like cheer, swimming, and tennis, but the GAA gave the girls more competitive sports options. With GAA, the girls would earn points that led to rewards, such as pins, guards, and letters. Pins were earned 1st and then it was guards and last were letters which took a lot of points to get. To get these points, the girls would have to do some sort of athletic activity, record it on a piece of paper, and submit it to the gym teacher, Loyce Meadow’s, box.
For GAA, girls would get several points and to get those points the girls would have to do athletics outside of school. The girls got extra points for being on teams and for their attendance. Every 400 points they got lead to pins, guards, and letters. Any girl you talked to would say that they were in the GAA.
When the girls in GAA played basketball competitively against other schools, they wore uniforms, but they were different from the gym class uniforms. In the late 1960’s, they were two-piece uniforms with a satin top and a pair of shorts. They were very hard to play in and very hot.
“GAA Uniforms were silk and they had "Highlands" on them, but that was like a satin top and shorts,” recalled Barre.
Even after the implementation of Title IX, most schools continued to allow the boys' teams to practice right after school. The girls' teams were forced to wait until the boys were finished practicing, which could be 7 p.m., but Highlands was different. The girls and guys had equal gym time. Mrs. Barre (girls’ P.E. teacher and basketball coach) and Mr. Kenney Shields (the boys’ P.E. teacher and basketball coach) created a schedule for who got to the gym at certain times, which made it equal. The girls gained more access to sports they didn't have before, and gym classes were no longer separate.
“…at most schools, the boys teams would get the gym right after school, and the girls would come in after the boys were done, but not at Highlands… It was Kenney who said that it needed to be this way, so we were fortunate,” Barre expressed.
Highlands’ girls’ athletics has always received attention, thanks to proponents of girls sports, such as Loyce Meadows, prior to the implementation of Title IX. Ever since, our coaches, such as Barre and Shields, have worked cooperatively to manage gym-time for all teams.
Currently, in 2024, our students take physical education class in a co-ed structure with boys and girls from the same grade (typically) taking class together, without uniform requirements. They are asked to wear rubber-soled gym shoes. Our P.E. and health teachers prepare our students for a future as healthy, active adults.
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