Page 14 — Thursday, March 2, 2023 — The Hastings Banner
Saxons honor local women, Title IX and growth of girls’ sports
Valerie Slaughter
Contributing Writer
There are local legends, and there are
heroes, and while many look to the profes-
sional athletes that make it big out of small
communities, Hastings High School was
graced with the presence of three women who
are local legends and became heroes to many
female athletes over the last 50 years
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Title
IX, which was signed into law 50 years ago
at the beginning of this school year, on June
23, 1972, Hastings’ Athletic Director Mike
Goggins honored the women that had an
impact on girls’ sports at Hastings High
School at halftime of the Saxon varsity girls’
basketball game Feb. 21.
While the girls’ winter sports teams and
some of the female coaches on staff, stood
on the basketball court, Goggins read about
the impact that some of the founding
females at Hastings had and the road that
they paved for those same athletes standing
there that night. Among those female pio-
neers helping to make women’s athletics
possible were Pat Murphy, Cindy Robbe
and Judy Anderson.
Cindy Robbe taught at Hastings for over
30 years and in the early 70’s was the first
girls’ tennis and girls’ golf coach. In her time
at Hastings, she also coached volleyball. In
1974, Cindy led her golf team to a State
Championship, and then led the team to a
runner-up finish in 1975.Pat Murphy, “Miss Murph” as she was
known to all her students, taught at Hastings
for 36 years. Through her time at Hastings,
she coached volleyball, cheer, basketball
and track. In 1977 her girls track team was
runner-up at the State Finals. Miss Murph
was a fixture of Saxon athletics and served
as an unofficial assistant athletic director for
many years. While Miss Murph and Robbe
have passed away, their legacy is still felt at
Hastings.
The third member of the trio of ladies is
Judy Anderson, “Miss A”, as she was known.
Anderson was an athlete in her own right and
played volleyball and softball at Indiana Uni-
versity. After college, Anderson came to
Hastings and was a teacher for 38 years. She
was the first varsity volleyball, basketball and
softball coach at Hastings.
Anderson started teaching in the fall of
1970, and in her own words, went into then
principal, Robert VanderVeen’s office and
“pleaded with him to give me the ok to start a
girls’ sports program. Administration was
slow to want to change because it was some-
thing new. I said just give us the ok, we’ll
coach for free, do our own scheduling of
games and buses, wear navy shorts and t-shirts
so there is no uniforms. We will borrow equip-
ment from the guy’s sports and PE program so
there is no equipment budget. Just give us the
ok, we’ll take care of everything else!”
Anderson said she would appear in
VanderVeen’s office daily and ask him if he
had yet decided to let her start a girls’ inter-
scholastic program. She said they finally got
an opportunity, and in the Spring of 1972,
they played their first softball game against
Lakewood. Only one game for their first
year, and they got “whomped on”, but
Anderson had achieved her first goal, she
had a girls’ team.
“Title IX was the law that changed girls
sports forever, helping to equal out the injus-
tices between the boys and girls programs,”
Anderson said.
Being an athlete herself, Anderson wanted
to share that opportunity with everyone, espe-
cially the girls.
“There are so many positives to playing
sports,” Anderson said. “Sports make life fun,
they teach fair play, how to get along, respon-
sibility and time management. It teaches you
social skills, and how to take criticism, work
harder to better yourself, and to learn to be a
team player. I think it helps to round you into
a better person being in multitudes of differ-
ent situations.”Her love of sports rubbed off on many of
her student athletes.
Eventually, due to a change in the econo-
my, budget cuts and a failed mileage, Ander-
son ended up at the Hastings Middle School
in 1983 where she stayed the remainder of
her career at Hastings. She was able to share
her love of athletics with the younger genera-
tion by continuing to coach volleyball and
basketball at the middle school levels. Middle
school is a tough place for many a teenage
girl, but Anderson pointed out that sports
“help them develop their personalities, some
assertiveness, and through practices and skill
development, the body becomes stronger,
develops better and helps to instill confi-
dence,” which could be argued is something
many teenagers need.
Watching the growth of girls’ sports has
been a joy for Anderson. She still follows her
former athletes on social media, and still
attends games. She has watched the grand-
daughter of her once beloved friend, CindyRobbe, go through school. She has watched
many sons and daughters of former students
go through their high school and college
careers. She is not only a fan of the sport, but
a fan of an athlete, regardless of the sport,
who portrays the same traits she taught her
own athletes.
In the last 50 years, since Title IX, and the
determination of these instrumental ladies,
Hastings has grown from one girls’ varsity
softball team, with no uniforms and handed
down equipment in 1971, to currently hav-
ing approximately 200 girl athletes per sea-
son, with 13 varsity girls teams at the high
school and 8 girls teams at the middle
school. This year, the wrestling team added
the girl’s lineup and had 13 girls wrestle. In
the state of Michigan last year there were
450 girls, this year over 1,000 girls are wres-
tling. The growth of the female athlete con-
tinues to this day, thanks to the support and
determination of woman like Robbe, Mur-
phy and Anderson.Saxons take down Aviators in district opener
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Saxons got their first win of February
in the final ballgame of February and that
earned them the chance to face the top seed in
their district in the first ballgame of March.
The Hastings varsity girls’ basketball team
opened the 2023 state tournament with a
61-16 win over West Michigan Aviation
Academy (WMAA) in the MHSAA Division
2 District Quarterfinals Monday at Lakewood
High School.
It was the district’s only opening round
game. Hastings was set to face a 13-8 Port-
land team in the district semifinals back at
Lakewood High School Wednesday night,
March 1. Lakewood and Ionia were set to
face off afterwards in the district’s second
semifinal ballgame. The district champion-
ship is scheduled for Friday, March 3, at 6
p.m. back at Lakewood High School.
Hastings moved its record to 8-15 overall
this season with the win Monday. The Sax-
ons’ last victory was by a 58-22 margin over
Delton Kellogg Jan. 31. A string of six
straight Interstate-8 Athletic Conference foes
bested the Saxons in the final six ballgames
of the regular season including the Marshall
team that topped the visiting Saxons 41-
last Friday.
“It’s nice to get a win,” Hastings head
coach Chase Youngs said. “We haven’t had
one in a while. We’ve sniffed some, but it’s
nice to get one.”
The Saxons weren’t at the top of their
game early on, but the Aviators were still
clearly overmatched.
WMAA ends the year with an 8-13 record.
The Aviators were without injured senior
guard Audrey Mileski, one of the top players
in their program’s short history.
“I thought we played well,” Youngs said.
“It is hard to keep intensity up, and it can be
hard to get the girls to buy in, when we’re
subbing in differently and all that. It was
good. They had four free throws in the sec-
ond half. We played a lot better in the second
half than we did in the first, which was good.
We came back out and took it to them. It’s a
good tune-up form what should be a decent
game on Wednesday hopefully.”
Saxon senior center Bailey Cook couldn’t
help but chuckle to herself a few times as
chances around the basket rolled off the rim
time and again. Hastings senior guard Macy
Winegar missed her handful of three-point
attempts in the first half.
Against another opponent, those two
missing the mark might make for a challeng-
ing evening for the Saxons. But the Saxon
defense shut out the Aviators for the first five
minutes of the ballgame. WMAA struggled
to even get across half-court against the
Saxon press early on. Other girls managed tohit the bottom of the net for Hastings.
Sophomore guard Kalli Koning and junior
guard Addey Nickels drained three-pointers
in the first minute and a half to give the Sax-
ons a 6-0 lead and they would push it to 12-
as Cook did manage to get her fair share of
shots to drop.
The Saxons’ best offensive success came
with patient sets, especially with Winegar run-
ning the point and Cook screening and looking
for the ball in the high post. Winegar hit Cook
rolling to the basket for a few easy buckets and
Cook did a good job of finding teammates on
the back side of the lane for open lay-ups.
Strong work on the offensive glass was
also a positive for the Saxons, one which
forced Aviator head coach Tim Evans into
calling more than one time out.
Cook closed the night with a team-high 13
points.
The Saxons led 34-12 at the half and Win-
egar hit her first three a little over a minute
into the second half. She finished the night
with 10 points as did sophomore forward
Rachael Hewitt.Hastings also got 8 points each from Kon-
ing and freshman Olivia Friddle and 6 points
from junior Myah Vincent.
Sophomore Zoey Bennett, one of a couple
Saxon call-ups from the JV for the state post-
season, scored her first varsity bucket late in
the fourth quarter after the Saxons had man-
aged to force a running clock. Sophomore
Sophia Hamilton hit a free throw late. She hit
one last Friday against Marshall too for her
first varsity point.
Senior forward Ava Bazuin did what she
could for the Aviators, playing physical in the
post and leading her team with 11 points. She
got to the free throw line 17 times, but was
just 7-of-17.
Hastings closed the Interstate-8 Athletic Con-
ference season last Friday with a 2-12 record.
The Saxons had a 12-9 lead after one quar-ter, but then some shooting woes hit and
Marshall pounced. The Redhawks led by as
many as 13 points. Hastings battled back to
within four points in the fourth quarter, but
couldn’t nudge any closer.
“We kind of ran out of gas,” Youngs said.
“The seniors all played pretty hard. I thought
it was a good game for everybody.”
Cook had 13 points in the loss. Winegar
had 6 points and Friddle and Hewitt scored 4
points each.
Lanie Coddens led Marshall with 12
points. Lauren Newman had 9 points and
Ella McAllister 8.
Marshall finished the season fourth in the
final I-8 standings with an 8-6 conference
record. Coldwater and Jackson Northwest
finished tied atop the conference standings
at 13-1.Amy Robbe Pohja, granddaughter of Cindy Robbe, Hastings principal Teresa Heidi,
Judy Anderson, Saxon coach and school board member Val Slaughter and Hastings
High School athletic director Mike Goggins gather to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of
Title IX and girls' sports in Hastings Tuesday, Feb. 21, during the Saxon varsity girls'
basketball game against Pennfield.195437
PUBLIC NOTICECity of Hastings
2023 BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING SCHEDULE
The City of Hastings Board of Review for 2023 will be held at City of Hastings, 201 E
State St, on the following dates:Organizational Meeting: March 7th, noonAppeal Hearings:
Monday, March 13th, 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Wednesday, March 15th, 11:30 am to 5:30 pmMeetings are by Appointment to schedule, contact: City Hall @ ph. 269-945-The Board of Review will meet as many more days as deemed necessary to hear
questions, protests and to equalize the 2023 assessments.By City Resolution, residents are able to protest by letter, provided protest letter
is received prior to March 10, 2023.The tentative ratios and the estimated multipliers for each class
of real property and personal property for 2023 are as follows:Commercial .........................51,79 ...........0.
Residential ..........................42.05 ...........1.
Industrial .............................43.83 ...........1.
Agricultural ..........................47.40 ...........1.
Personal Property ...............50.00 ...........1.Americans with Disabilities (ADA) NoticeThe City of Hastings will provide necessary reasonable services to individuals with
disabilities at the Board of Review meetings upon 4 days notice. Contact: Sarah Moyer-
Cale 269-945-Hastings senior Macy Winegar fires a three-point attempt over West Michigan
Aviation's AddieTurk at the top of the key during the second half of the Saxons' win in
the MHSAA Division 2 District opener at Lakewood High School Monday. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)Hastings sophomore guard Kalli Koning runs the offense as she's defended by West
Michigan Aviation's Addie Turk during the first half of the Saxons' win over the Aviators
in their state tournament opener Monday at Lakewood High School. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)
Hastings sophomore Sophia Hamilton
goes up for her first varsity points during
the fourth quarter of the Saxons' win over
the West Michigan Aviation Academy
girls in the MHSAA Division 2 District
opener at Lakewood High School
Monday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)