Karen Kuhn – Title IX Trailblazer from Wisconsin

Serving Wisconsin public schools for nearly 40 years, Karen Kuhn finished her career as associate director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). For much of those four decades, she coordinated WIAA game rules and managed tournaments for the sports of basketball, cross country, track and field, and volleyball.

Kuhn, who was a pioneer for girls sports in Wisconsin and nationwide, retired in 2002 and became Wisconsin’s first female inductee in the National High School Hall of Fame that summer at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Boston.

Before joining the WIAA in 1971, Kuhn taught physical education and coached girls basketball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball for seven years in three Wisconsin junior high and senior high schools.

Kuhn served terms on NFHS rules committees for track and field, volleyball, swimming and diving, and girls basketball. She also was a frequent workshop presenter at NFHS Summer Meetings and NFHS National Athletic Directors Conferences.

The 2000 winner of the WIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, Kuhn has also twice received the Meritorious Service Award by the United States Volleyball Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women’s Sports Advocates of Wisconsin, Inc.

Question: What kind of athletic participation opportunities were available for you during high school?

Kuhn: I had none available in my school. Through the city, I had access to softball, recreational tennis and swimming. That was it.

Question: You started your career as a teacher in 1964 at Steuben Junior High School in Milwaukee. Following stints at St. Francis and Whitefish Bay High Schools, what drew you away from teaching physical education and into an expanded role in administration?

Kuhn: First of all, Title IX came as you know. The WIAA decided there was a need for a female presence in the office to help with development of girls sports. Women, quote, “invited me to apply for the position.” I was very happy teaching and coaching. I was quite content and getting ready to start working on a doctorate degree. I thought, “All right, I’ll give it a try.” I truthfully never thought I would be offered the position.

Question: What differences did you see in girls participation opportunities from the time you were hired by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) to oversee girls sports in June 1971 through your promotion to assistant to the director in 1973?

Kuhn: First of all, more sports were offered, including the feeder sports such as non-varsity and middle school. I think – right or wrong – we started to identify with boys programs with the number of allowed contests and more restrictions were removed. When we started, it had to be coached by a woman. We were not allowed to publicize it in newspapers. And then probably the biggest differences were expanded sports seasons and tournaments.

Question: What differences did you see in girls participation opportunities through to 1992 when you became associate director?

Kuhn: Many of the women who had started out as coaches had left the profession. Some just left to raise families, while others kind of got out as the program expanded. The pressure from parents to win could become unbearable. We started to have more and more men coaching the girls sports. And, again, we had the same problem as the boys – a lack of officials.

Question: Being one of the first females to climb the ranks of administration, did you have any mentors during your early career?

Kuhn: No other women were around to serve as a mentor, but I had a very supportive staff with whom I worked within the WIAA. Particularly, executive director John Roberts, assistant director Frank McCormick, and Matt Otte, who was our media person – all of whom had daughters and saw the value of sports.

Question: What sort of challenges did you face on the state and national levels?

Kuhn: I would say on the state level that the biggest challenge – and it really hasn’t been resolved yet – was seats and placement for sports. We have a heavy overload of girls sports in the fall. And in the wintertime, when facilities become tight, we have only a couple activities. So, girls really had to make choices about a sport. I think nationally there was some thought that girls physically could not or should not be doing certain things. For instance, should they run the same distance in cross country as the boys. Is the two mile not a good event for girls? There was always the thought medically of was it right or wrong. There was also an ongoing battle for getting media coverage.

Question: You were among just a few pre-Title IX state administrators. What was your perception of the girls sports movement at the national level at that time? How about in Wisconsin?

Kuhn: Very positive. Immediately they started to write rule books that included girls sports. For a while, we had a separate girls basketball rules committee and a separate girls track rules committee. Quickly it became a coed book with girls and boys rules in them, and included representation on the rules writing committee with men and women. It was also very positive in Wisconsin. It obviously depended on the school district. However, the board kept pushing. I think the biggest thing was the fear that we were taking away from the existing boys programs and facilities. That’s a hard issue in the wintertime with wrestling and basketball.

Question: Your career work includes some notable contributions at the national level. What was your understanding of the girls sports movement during the 1970s as it related to the NFHS?

Kuhn: It was slow, but they were working. They were looking for the states to develop and then come forward with what needs in leadership they should be providing. Former NFHS Executive Director Cliff Fagan and his staff were good, good people. The staff worked very hard. It was a much smaller staff, of course, when the Federation was in Elgin and later in Kansas City. They had so many responsibilities. At that time, they were also trying to get audio visuals going with films. Former rules editors Tom Frederick, Dick Schindler and Susan True were just phenomenal. They worked endlessly to help the states.

Question: In a previous NFHS interview, you said “My best memory from the 1970s was in May of 1976 when our WIAA Boys and Girls Track and Field Tournaments were combined?” What went into making that change occur? Why was that your favorite memory from that time period?

Kuhn: Number one, we had to get a facility that would allow for spectator seating, as well as workers that could work for two full, long days and be willing to volunteer.

It was probably my favorite memory because our teams could be cheering for the other part of their school body before they would run to get through all season and then go to separate places. Some parents had to decide whether they were with the son or daughter, and coaches had to decide what team they were going to be with. We did, however, finally get it all together in one event.

Question: In 2019, during its Centennial Celebration, the NFHS recognized you as one of the top five leading women in girls high school sports. What does that level of recognition mean to you?

Kuhn: Very humbling. Very, very humbling. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I surely was not qualified but I had a lot of people that helped me.

Question: When you look back at your list of accomplishments, what stands out to you as the most significant and why?

Kuhn: One had to be serving as chairperson of the NFHS Track and Field Rules Committee because the Federation, states and executive board put a woman into that role. Since then, we’ve had the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee feature a woman in that role with Fran Martin. That impact is significant.

For many years, I was the only woman at the Federation’s basketball rules interpreters meetings. It was kind of like, “Do you know this is basketball? Are you supposed to be at gymnastics?” But the atmosphere definitely kept changing to be more inviting.