The first Wausaukee girls basketball team was organized in 1953-54. "Rangerettes" was adopted as their team name.
A '56 WHS Alumnus was kind enough to share her memories of being on the original team:
Ms. Baird, a young, new English teacher, could not believe that we didn’t have a girls team and set about organizing one (we wore our PE outfits as uniforms). We practiced, as any extra-curricular activity would, and she arranged a game with Crivitz. It would have been open to the public. However, she found out that girls were not allowed to play interscholastically and, on top of that, have the game open to the public. As our coach, she was informed that it would be against WIAA rules. There would be penalties involved. Of course, this was before Title 9 was passed in 1972 which prohibited sex bias discrimination. Girls also had to play under “girls rules”. Guards could only go as far as half court and all players could only dribble twice and then had to pass the ball. The game with Crivitz was cancelled. Instead, the WHS girls played the WHS boys’ basketball team using girls’ rules. It was an exceedingly entertaining assembly for the entire student body. That, indeed, was part of the struggle waiting for girls wanting to participate in athletics in those days. Thank goodness, girls finally can participate in athletics, even though it took almost 20 years to get that accomplished!
Here's the full yearbook page from '56 with a bit more detail.
About WAEF
Wausaukee Alumni Education Foundation (WAEF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that was founded in 2019 by a caring group of WHS Alumni and School Administration. We believe Rangers helping Rangers will enrich the K-12 student experience at the School District of Wausaukee. If you'd like to connect with WAEF, please email waefi@wausaukee.k12.wi.us. There is lots of information on our website about our nonprofit: goals, scholarship program, newsletter, blog postings, donor recognition, Board of Directors, school grants, alumni involvement, and how to donate.
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