George Guido: Deer Lakes grad Dana Petruska an early beneficiary of Title IX

By: George Guido
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 | 6:58 PM

If you’re a female playing or coaching high school sports, you owe a debt of gratitude to U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, who died recently at 91.

You might never have heard of Bayh, but that’s OK. He hasn’t held office since 1981.

What Sen. Bayh (D-Ind.) should be thanked for is his role in the passage of Title IX in 1972.

Title IX, more than anything else, is a law enacted to help prevent gender discrimination in the United States educational athletic system. The law gives each gender equal rights to educational programs, activities and federal financial assistance. Before Title IX of the Education Amendment was signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972, there were roughly 310,000 women and girls playing sports in colleges and high schools throughout the nation. Thanks to the law, there are more than three million women and girls playing interscholastic sports today, a number that continues to grow each year.

Bayh championed Title IX, drafting the language for that landmark federal legislation.

One of the early people to take advantage of that law was Mars girls basketball coach Dana Petruska.

She played basketball at Deer Lakes, graduated in 1975, and participated in what then was known as the WPGAL, the Western Pennsylvania Girls Athletic League.

“When Title IX came in 1972, I don’t think it was followed the way it was meant to be followed,” Petruska said. “But if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have received the opportunities that I got.”

Petruska, then known as Dana Elder, earned an athletic scholarship — rare at the time — to go to Pitt. She earned a degree in health and physical education and began her career at Pine-Richland.

“I couldn’t have afforded to go to college,” she said. “All the doors it opened for myself and, obviously, all these young girls. I just know how appreciative I was to Title IX, for myself and all of these other young ladies.”

Petruska’s career coaching record at Mars and Deer Lakes combined is 458-281, including a Class 5A state title in 2018. She was Pennsylvania Class 5A Girls Coach of the Year, was inducted into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame and the Mars Area Hall of Fame in 2018.

Also, the WPGAL, to the WPIAL’s credit, was set up months before Title IX and female sports officially joined the WPIAL in 1975.

Local athletes to be honored

The four MVPs from last Saturday night’s Cager Classic will be among nearly a dozen high school athletes to be recognized May 18 at this year’s Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet.

East MVPs Tai Johnson of Mars and Carson DeWitt of West Shamokin will join West MVPs Isabella Mills of Peters Township and Julian Sanks of Knoch at the honorees table.

High school athletes already named to be part of the group’s 50th banquet are Valley News Dispatch Football Players of the Year, Austin Romanchak (offense) of Freeport and Highlands’ Noah Gillette (defense); male and female soccer players of the year Jesse Greystone and Madeline Boulos; Kiski Area’s PIAA wrestling champion Darren Miller and courage award winners Jason Jackson of Plum and Shane Bargerstock of Freeport.

King to be inducted

Congratulations to former Knoch football coach and athletic director Mike King, who will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame on April 13.

King is one of the few people to have played in and coached in a WPIAL championship football game. He was a lineman for the Knights in the 1981 title game against Beaver and coached Knoch to the 2011 title game against Montour at Heinz Field.

King was also a four-year starting lineman at Lafayette.

The event will be at the Butler Days Inn.