Exeter grad and longtime official Dee Kantner is grateful for Title IX passage 50 years ago

Jun. 23—Dee Kantner earned 13 varsity letters at Exeter back in the 1970s and didn't realize how lucky she was.

Title IX had been passed by Congress as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, a few years before Kantner began playing field hockey, basketball, track and, briefly, cross country at Exeter.

It went into effect 50 years ago Thursday and prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.

Essentially, it has created more opportunities for female athletes, such as Kantner, who went on to play field hockey at Pitt and who has been a distinguished basketball official for almost 40 years.

"I really wasn't educated about it in high school," she said. "I didn't realize equality for women in sports was an issue then. I never really delved into Title IX until later in life. I went, 'Holy smokes!'

"Clearly I am aware of it now."

Kantner will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies in October in Reading. She was the main speaker Wednesday night at the Berks County Chapter of the Hall of Fame Scholarship Dinner at Green Valley.

The chapter awarded $500 scholarships in memory of longtime sports figure Dr. Richard Flannery to 36 Berks County senior athletes, 18 boys and 18 girls.

"I know these kids didn't know Doc," Kantner said. "It's something we as a society don't stress enough, history and the people who came before us and made it better for us."

The 62-year-old Kantner, who has lived in North Carolina for a long time, doesn't know where she would be without longtime Exeter girls basketball coach Jean Frey or Exeter history teacher Don Bickel, who convinced her to try cross country as a senior.

"He needed a body to run," she said. "I think the world of the man, so I said, 'Of course, I'll run for you.' I threw up every time I ran a cross country meet. I hated cross country."

Frey remains a large influence in Kantner's life; they talk frequently.

"I really believe I was predestined to continue in basketball in some form just to repay the debt that I owe," Kantner said. "That debt is the embodiment of Jean Frey. There's no way I'd take a possession off in officiating because I would hear her voice or her stupid whistle.

"In her era, women were supposed to glisten and not sweat."

Title IX also made it better for Kantner and other women in athletics. She became a basketball official in 1984, was one of the first two women — along with Violet Palmer — to be hired by the NBA in 1997 and worked her 25th NCAA Women's Final Four in April.

Kantner, who was fired by the NBA in 2002, said she believes there are more and better opportunities for women in athletics since 1972.

"But there's still work to be done," she said. "Violet and I were the first ones hired by the NBA. Now they have six full-time women (officials). There should be more than that, but they're making progress.

"There are a whole lot more women in the pipeline with the G League. There seemed to be quite a gap after they hired Violet and me. And now I think (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver is on board completely to make sure that's being addressed."

She cited what happened at a 2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament site as a sign that women are still fighting for equality. Oregon player Sedona Prince posted a video that she shot of a "workout room" for the teams at that site, which was sparse.

"These situations are still presenting themselves," Kantner said, "and people still need to give voice to the fact that the inequities still exist. It's obviously much better.

"I have older friends who didn't have the opportunity to play sports in high school, or they had one team or they could have been a cheerleader. That was it. By the time we came along, those opportunities did exist and I didn't realize how bad it had been."

She remembers the days when she was the one girl who would play football and basketball with boys on the playground before high school.

"I was tough," she said. "My mother said I had to stop when I was 14 because they were tackling me. I told her, 'They still can't catch me.'

"I think of the appreciation now for an athletic girl or an athletic woman. In the '70s, when I was growing up, I was a little muscular and tried to hide it. I'd get asked, 'What's wrong with you?' Shoot, now I try to wear sleeveless as much as possible,"

Kantner said she believes women's pursuit of equality goes on, even 50 years after the passage of Title IX.

"We need to continue to keep pressure on the parties who are in control," she said, "to recognize women and girls in athletics deserve the same kind of funding, the same kind of attention, the same kind of coaching, the same opportunities (as men and boys).

"We are most grateful for the true pioneers who stepped into the Title IX era. Where would I be without it? I would probably be working a different job."