Just over 50 years ago on June 23, 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

According to the amendment, it states, “No person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Over the 50 years of the program there have been millions of young girls and women across the country who have benefited from the passing of the amendment.

One of those beneficiaries was Powell’s own Dale Ann Meeker, who was part of some of the first seasons of sanctioned sports in Wyoming.

Meeker, formerly Dale Ann Feusner, said back in the 1970’s. She and other girls in Powell grew up expecting to have an opportunity and wanted to make the best of whatever opportunities they got.

“At that time it started unfolding, it started getting bigger and bigger each year and more exciting with more opportunity,” Meeker said.

She said her father moved her to Powell from Lovell in eighth grade due to the fact that she would receive more opportunities to succeed at that time as Powell already had girls’ programs.

“We didn’t get too caught up in what was ‘equal equal’ — what we got caught up in was that we had an opportunity, we were gonna seize that opportunity and we were going to have fun,” Meeker said.

As part of the Powell girls basketball team, Meeker competed in and won the first “mythical” state championship (it wasn’t yet recognized as such) under coach Jean Mills in 1975.

That tournament was organized by coach and athletic director Keith Bloom, who invited the top four programs that existed in the state to participate. The first official state championship game was held in 1976, the year after Meeker graduated.

After high school she received the first women’s basketball scholarship to the University of Wyoming.

She was later inducted into the University of Wyoming Hall of Fame in 2008 alongside the entire basketball team that she was a part of.

After graduating from UW, she moved back to Powell and gave back through coaching girls varsity basketball and other sports for more than 30 years.

Title IX has continued to grow even to this day, with athletes receiving additional opportunities this year with the introduction of indoor track and field alongside girls wrestling, expanding winter sports opportunities for girls from one to three.

“You gotta keep kids busy,” Meeker said. “The most important thing is that people are involved in things. Whether it be athletics, academics, clubs or organizations — those are good things because you have adults that have a love or passion for something and they want to share that with the people.”

Since its introduction, Meeker said that more opportunity has been given to girls and women everywhere, with the expectation that they will receive the same opportunities as boys.

Title IX continues to make an impact in helping create an equal opportunity, and those opportunities are certain to continue coming after the first 50 years were celebrated in 2022.