PLAY LIKE A GIRL: Massillon Women's Tiger Teams from Gym Class to Title IX

History panels, photographs of Massillon Washington High School girls’ teams and athletic clubs, a 1905 girls’ basketball costume, and images of groundbreaking female athletes such as golfer Eva Shorb and track star Kelly Bodiford Banks illustrate the history of Massillon women’s sports. 

Even before Massillon High School organized boys’ basketball teams, the school offered girls the opportunity to play competitive basketball at the turn of the last century. First-year female students were required to take physical education classes beginning in 1928. While gym classes replaced the girls’ basketball teams, they introduced the young women to other athletic activities. Play Like a Girl traces the history of women’s sports from the those early efforts through the 1972 passage of Title IX.