First M-S softball team looks back on program 50 years later
By FRED KRONER
It was nearly 49 years ago – in the fall of 1973 – that 20 Mahomet-Seymour teen-agers made history.
They were members of the first girls’ softball team to represent the Bulldogs.
More than that, they were pioneers in another manner. Softball was the first varsity sport available for girls in the school district.
For some of the squad members, they were already accustomed to competition on the diamond.
“I played softball most every summer for the Summer Recreation program in Mahomet,” said Cheryl Murdock Whitener, then a senior second baseman. “I remember being very excited about MSHS starting a girls’ softball team.
“I wanted to play mostly because of my love for the game, and being with friends made it all that much more fun.”
The decision to start the sport came with little notice.
“I was a second-year Spanish teacher and my room was right across from the main office,” recalled Sue Arbuckle. “Dr. (Edward) Grogg (a School Board member) walked in one day and said, ‘You are the perfect person to start girls’ sports.’
“I really didn’t want to do it. I knew diddly-squat about athletics, but how do you say ‘no’ to Doc Grogg?”
One of Grogg’s daughters, Jody Grogg Nichols, was a member of the first M-S softball team. She was a junior in the fall of 1973.
“My dad did push hard for girls’ sports,” she recalled. “He would have wanted a coach he thought was a good person and teacher; someone who would make the program successful.”
Arbuckle accepted the challenge and will always be recognized as the first-ever head coach in a girls’ sport at M-S.
If she had any lingering doubts, they were erased at the initial introductory team meeting.
“I saw the eagerness and enthusiasm in the girls’ eyes,” said Arbuckle, who still lives in Mahomet, “and that they really wanted girls’ athletics.
“I felt if that was one small thing I could contribute, I would do it.”
Many of her players needed no introduction to the rookie coach. They were also students in her class.
Cindy Junkin Brumfield and Nichols were each among the four-year Spanish students who also played softball.
“I thought she (Arbuckle) was great,” Nichols said. “I thought everything about her was great.”
Girls’ sports were in their infancy as the mid-1970s approached due to the result of a federal law that took effect on June 23, 1972.
Known as Title IX, it prohibited discrimination at any school which receives funding from the federal government.
The timing of the mandate was such that many Illinois high schools were unable to implement girls’ sports for the 1972-73 school year, although Farmer City-Mansfield (now Blue Ridge) played three games in girls’ basketball that year.
Though Arbuckle, who graduated from Watseka High School in 1967, was not thoroughly knowledgeable in sports, she had the respect of her players.
“She may not have had a background in sports, but I can remember her always being a positive influence on us, whether we won or lost,” Whitener said. “She also made practice a fun, learning experience.
“I remember Mrs. Arbuckle being a lot of fun to have as a coach.”
What the coach accomplished, she said, was a credit to the 20 squad members.
“Those girls were gung-ho,” Arbuckle said. “I wasn’t the instigator. I was the medium.
“My job was to get them off the ground. They would say (at practice), ‘we’re going to do this next.’
“I opened the door and they ran through it. I don’t take pride in what I did myself, but I am proud of them. The girls were absolutely driven to start girls’ sports.
“Girls’ sports were just getting started everywhere.”
Arbuckle’s pulse on the feelings of the players were echoed by Brumfield, who was then a junior.
“I had played softball every summer for as long as I can remember,” Brumfield said. “We were all very excited that we were finally going to play (for the high school).”
The Bulldogs had an abbreviated season, playing two games. They lost to Bellflower and defeated Saybrook-Arrowsmith.
“It was like an exhibition to get things rocking,” said LaDonna Bull Kaiser, then a junior catcher who had played softball since fifth grade. “I was just glad we had a team. It was a completely new venture.”
The Bulldogs practiced at a baseball field just south of what was then the high school (and is now the junior high school) and just to the northwest of the football field (now the soccer field).
Nichols doesn’t view herself as someone who helped establish girls’ sports at her alma mater.
“I don’t really feel I had anything to do with getting the sport off the ground,” she said. “Maybe my dad did. I just wanted to have a chance to play.”
M-S was adding softball to its list of varsity sports at a time when softball itself was in a state of transition. The aspect of slow-pitch competition was changing to fast-pitch at the interscholastic level.
“We didn’t have a fast pitcher (in 1973),” Kaiser said. “The second year is when we started switching around (playing some fast-pitch games and some slow-pitch games).”
Like most things, the M-S softball players didn’t immediately consider the historical ramifications of their participation.
“Reflecting back now, it feels great to be a part of MSHS history,” Whitener said. “It meant a lot to me to be one of the first to play on the first-ever girls’ softball team.”
More than anything, those who were once pioneer players appreciate how the sporting scene has evolved for girls.
“I love that the girls now have the opportunities to play just about any sport they want,” Brumfield said. “I have four granddaughters and they are all involved in school sports. I try not to miss a game.”
Nichols wishes she had the opportunities that are available to today’s high schoolers.
“Being able to play a school team sport was very important to me,” she said. “I would have loved to play all the sports during junior high and high school.
“I think it is great that girls – and boys – have so many sport options now. My kids and grandkids love playing sports.”
This school year at Mahomet-Seymour, 12 sports were offered for boys and 12 were offered for girls.
The girls’ sports were: basketball, competitive dance, cross-country, diving, golf, softball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. Eleven of the sports were girls-only teams. Wrestling was a co-ed team, though there was a season-ending tournament for girls only.
For some of the players on the first M-S softball team, that love of sports didn’t end at graduation.
“Many of us played (on adult rec teams) into our 40s,” Kaiser said.
Arbuckle resigned after one year as the softball coach, but immediately took on the task of starting another girls’ sports program at M-S. In 1974, she was the girls’ track and field head coach.
Though she had no assistants during the inaugural season of softball at M-S, that didn’t mean the players didn’t get feedback from others.
“I remember my dad pointing out everything I did wrong, as well as right,” Nichols said.
Another change in girls’ athletics over the years is the ability for the players to earn varsity letters for their participation in sports.
“There were no letters until my senior year (1974-75),” Kaiser said. “We received charms for a charm bracelet (in 1973-74).”
In 2022, the softball program at M-S has come full circle.
Under a first-year head coach, James Heinold, the Bulldogs (with a school-record 27 wins) have qualified for the Class 3A state tournament for the first time in school history.
They play at 12:30 p.m. on Friday in Peoria against Chicago St. Ignatius.
“I’m pretty proud of that,” Kaiser said. “Softball had a rocky start (five different head coaches in the first six years at M-S) and it has taken a long time to get to this point.”
1973 M-S SOFTBALL ROSTER
SENIORS – Cheryl Murdock, Debbie Rayburn, Mary Shoemaker.
JUNIORS – LaDonna Bull, Diane Carper, Jody Grogg, Cindy Junkin, Becky Rayburn, Laurie Scott, Colleen Stauffer, Yolanda Steffey, Gina Walls.
SOPHOMORES – Patti Austin, Linda Cekander, Patricia Miller, Sue Oliger, Bobbi Schriefer, Cheryl Schudel.
FRESHMEN – Cindy Dale, Sue Prahl.
COACH – Sue Arbuckle.
