On Oct. 22, the College of Saint Benedict will celebrate 50 years of Title IX by honoring 50 of our greatest and most influential student-athletes in a ceremony at 7 p.m. in the Benedicta Arts Center (BAC) on campus. Leading up to the event, we will spotlight just a few of the major events that helped form the foundation of the long and successful Bennie athletic tradition we know today.
 
During her first two years at the College of Saint Benedict, Nancy Frost Bellmont '74 and her friends had to rely on a bit of stealth to continue playing the sport they loved.
 
"1970-71 was my freshman year and there was a group of us who were interested in playing basketball," she recalls. "But there was no real outlet on campus to do that. There were no intramurals in place (for women's basketball) or anything else.
 
"But one of our group had a work study job cleaning the gym (located in the basement of Murray Hall) and she had the key," Bellmont continued. "So she'd open it up and we were able to get in. Eventually, campus security discovered what we were doing and threw us out. After that happened a few times, they reported us to Sister Mary Mark Donovan, the dean of students at the time.
 
"She wanted to know what we were doing in there. We told her we were just playing volleyball and basketball. She said since we weren't making any trouble, they should let us be."
 
So, the pick-up games continued. But in 1972, two events transpired that helped transform them into something more. The first was passage of the landmark Title IX legislation, which dramatically expanded opportunities available to female athletes.
 
The second was the hiring of Carol Agnes as CSB's new recreational activities director. Agnes had taught physical education in St. Paul for five years and worked as a camp director and camp counselor for the Girl Scouts.
 
She also believed passionately in opportunities for women in sports and was ready to take a lead role when it came to establishing athletic programs on campus.
 
"If there is interest in some activity that isn't being covered, a group of interested girls can come to me and we'll work something out," said Agnes, who went on to become the head coach of several CSB sports and serve as the school's athletic director from 1975-79, in the Oct. 25, 1972, edition of The Torch, the CSB student newspaper at the time.

Basketball was at the top of that list. During the 1972-73 school year, a team was created with Agnes as head coach. It was not yet considered a varsity sport. That wouldn't happen until the following year when both volleyball and basketball achieved that distinction.
 
But the 1972-73 team did compete against other schools, making it the first CSB squad to do so post-Title IX.
 
"The gym had concrete block walls and a cement floor covered by linoleum," recalled Bellmont, who went on to become the first female probation officer in Stearns County, a career from which she retired in 2016. "It wasn't a regulation-sized floor, so there was maybe a foot from the lines of the court to the wall. There were a lot of collisions with concrete and a lot of shin splints.
 
"We bought our own jerseys and had them numbered at Fitzharris in St. Cloud," she continued. "They were really heavy and got pretty slimy when you sweat in them. But we were happy to have them because it meant we were actually getting the chance to put on a uniform and play."
 
The group went through their growing pains.
 
"So far, the team has played in five tilts, winning none," wrote The Torch in its March 7, 1973, edition. "But they are still enthusiastic."
 
Indeed, because far more important than wins and losses was the foundation that was being established for the future -- even if no one then could have envisioned the success and growth of the CSB athletic department in the five decades since.
 
"I don't think any of us knew where it would go," said Bellmont, who stayed involved in athletics as a basketball and softball official for many years. "Of course, we had hopes. But we were just out there having fun.
 
"It was an exciting time," she continued. "A few of us were lucky enough to be able to represent Saint Ben's at state-wide meetings with other coaches and athletes talking about Title IX and what it would mean.
 
"Looking back, it feels good to have been a part of that history."