asked, ‘Who can get a car?’ Someone might say, ‘My boy- friend has a car.’ So six of us would ride in one car, four in another … and that’s how we got around.” At some schools where the women Ramblers played,


they had to use men’s locker rooms. One night the men’s team had a game right after the women, and the male players began walking into the locker room while the women were still dressing. Paula Hild helped coach the first women’s basketball


team in 1973–74, and she coached the first women’s volleyball team in 1974–75. She also served as the faculty representative for the women’s basketball team. “Toni got everything started,” says Hild. “She put up signs, called other schools to schedule games, and did much of the team’s leg work. She was a good volleyball player but an even better basketball player. On the basketball court, she was aggressive and feisty. Off the court, she was even more determined to achieve her goals.” Mary Alexander Truitt (BSN ‘75, MSN ‘80) played


basketball with Nessi in high school and throughout their time together at Loyola. “Toni was always an ambitious person with a lot of energy. She was really competitive on the basketball court, and she just loved the game,” says Truitt. “I never saw Toni without a camera. Whenever she wasn’t on the court, she had a camera in her hand. She re- ally balanced a lot of activities and never missed a beat.”


The ‘stars align’ for history book Since graduating Loyola, Toni has remained in the Chi-


Getting the ball rolling When Nessi covered men’s basketball behind the cam-


era, she rubbed elbows with Bob Langer, a sports pho- tographer for the Chicago Sun-Times. He agreed to give Nessi a few photography pointers. In addition, he covered one of the women’s games and published an article in the newspaper. “I usually covered pro sports but also tried to cover sports and teams that rarely got attention in the news or were struggling to get recognized,” says Langer. “Toni was a strong person who had something in mind and kept pushing forward. I just wanted to help give the team a boost in hopes it would take off.” Everything came together in Nessi’s junior year


(1973–74). During the implementation phase of Title IX, passed in 1972, integrating women’s intercollegiate sports into the culture of the University met some resistance. With the help of Jeannine Monforti, the women’s athletic director, and Shirley Scheible, the head women’s basket- ball coach, the women persevered and completed the first official women’s basketball season at Loyola. “When we first got started, there was nothing,” says


Nessi. “We were lucky to get gym time. We were lucky to have a coach. And we even had to share uniforms, so one girl might be wearing the top and another girl the bottom, because we didn’t have enough uniforms for everybody.” When playing away games, there was no official bus or transportation. “To go to a game, we just


cago area. She worked in automotive engineering after college and eventually worked in the food industry as an engineering consultant. Today, she works for General Mills, a long-time consulting client, and still finds time to take photos. Combining her fond memories of basketball and vol-


leyball at Loyola along with 10,000 photo negatives from her student days on the Phoenix, Nessi combed through numerous archived newspaper articles and recently self-published a book to tell the story of the first women’s basketball and volleyball teams. Women’s Basketball and Volleyball at Loyola University of Chicago features photos, newspaper clippings, timelines, reflections, and vignettes chronicling the players, coaches, and other supportive people who helped put these two intercollegiate sports for women on the map. It is a celebration of all of the women who competed in the first few years of Loyola’s women’s sports program. The book provides a listing of all Loyola women athletes from 1972 to 1979. “It was an alignment of the stars that allowed this book


project to come together, given that I was on the Phoenix and also the yearbook staff as well as a player on these teams,” says Nessi. Last year, she organized a reunion of several players from the basketball and volleyball teams and the Phoenix reporter who covered their games to help celebrate her project and their shared history. “We’re just a bunch of middle-aged ladies now who want to relive our glory years.”


’74


First Loyola women’s volleyball season starts


’73


Basketball and volleyball recognized as official women’s sports at Loyola


Women’s first official volleyball game in November (only game that season/year)


Famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs


First Loyola women’s basketball season starts


’71


Association for Inter- collegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) founded to govern collegiate women’s athletics and to administer national championships


’72


Illinois High School Association ruled high-school-age girls can compete in contact sports (including basketball and volleyball)


Loyola women’s basket- ball team competes in first official tournament at University of Illinois, Circle Campus (only games that season/year)


Title IX passes


SIGNS OF THE TIMES


SPRING 2012


23


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