Name – Mary Cave Jarvis
UW-Stout graduation year – May 1973
Major – Psychology (Education)
Sport(s) Played –Basketball, Volleyball, Track for 2 weeks, 1970, Coach Chris Zampach
Years Played –Basketball - 4, Volleyball - 3
Hometown (High School) – Spring Valley Wi
Currently Reside – Wausau WI
Give us a brief synopsis of your life since graduating from UW-Stout.
I have been fortunate with my employment opportunities as well as my personal life. I was able to work in a progressive school district with a creative and ambitious Social Studies Department. Several of my department colleagues were academically well prepared along with a welcoming attitude toward all levels of staff and students. They were leaders in supporting and developing engaging curriculum. I was allowed and encouraged to do the same with our general Psychology curriculum and in 1995 adding an AP level which is still highly functioning today with a great staff.
My husband and I met here in Wausau in 1974 and married in 1977. I took a leave from my teaching, from 1982-1985, to have our family, two wonderful boys (no bias here). I worked part time gradually increasing my contract back to full time.
How are you using your Stout education in your occupation? In your daily life?
Over the years, I have thought back to several of the classes and instructors I had, with bits and pieces from their class\wisdom they shared. The most influential for my opportunities came from Harlyn Misfeldt. He created a hands-on "Pro-Teaching Education' series of classes which allowed Stout students to combine education credits with their Psychology degree. It was a very practical approach, we developed lesson plans & presented them to our group, plus it allowed us to go into teaching Psychology in a school setting.
Why did you choose to be a collegiate student-athlete at UW-Stout?
I didn't see it as choosing to be a student-athlete, I was just excited to be able to play sports. There wasn't much opportunity for women to play organized sports at the time, so…"I was in"!
What did you like most about competing in collegiate athletics??
I honestly didn't see myself as a high-level competitor, I just loved to play the sports to see how the team and I could learn and improve.
What is the greatest lesson(s) you learned from being a collegiate student-athlete?
I came to realize that winning was good, but the experiences one learns along the way are more important. We didn't win by score often. We improved our skill level, we met new players/friends, we shared challenges and strengths, we had fun!
Who is the most influential person(s) in your athletic career?
Dorothy Stein, a health and physical education teacher that came to our school, Spring Valley, in 1966, my junior year. She expanded our GAA programs of basketball and volleyball, scheduling games with other schools. She took us to a girls' track "play day" in La Crosse. She organized track meets with other schools. There were six of us that competed against other schools with greater numbers. We held our own.
I also appreciated all of the Stout coaches - Kay Carter, Chris Zampach, Rita McKinley. I realized that they gave a lot of their personal time to coach, to develop/create and to expand women's athletics.
Which former Blue Devil student-athletes are you still in contact with?
I have stayed connected with Theresa Walker Maas and Tobi Bodeen, we are still good buds!
How would your teammates describe you as a person and as a student-athlete?
Sorry, I really don't know. I hope I was welcoming, understanding, supportive and a decent athlete. I also believe I was immature at times and could have been a more focused, stronger leader.
You were involved in two sports, plus your academics. How were you able to accomplish all this?
This is a good question! I also worked part time. I usually got up early and went to bed at a somewhat reasonable time (for a college student). It did keep me off the streets, out of the bars and quite busy. I found time to be a slightly above average student, which I regret, but did make up for it with my masters and other studies.
I had an teaching internship at Wausau West from January 1972-to June. Coach Zampach allowed me to play basketball when I could travel to the location or travel to Stout for home games and play. That was kind of Coach Zampach. I personally enjoyed that, even though the schedule being a rookie teacher was challenging, once again I felt privileged, and I truly was. I was able to keep up my end of the bargain.
What are some of your career athletic highlights?
Even though I had some experience playing sports, I was not readily equipped with teaching basic basketball skills or competitive strategies. I was still growing in these areas myself. So, I saw the value of attending coaching clinics and creating player summer camps for area students which were successful in strengthening the skill level and understanding of the game for the students and myself. We went from not winning much at first, to .500 seasons to 1981 and 1982 coming one point short from going to state.
Almost upsetting the Marshfield Conference Champs, with a 28-24 defeat. We set up a constant full court press, with a chaser on their two big guns. This proved to be overtly frustrating to them. They were used to double digit scores. All our players had good playing time, a team effort for sure. They are still talking about it.
Mostly I enjoyed seeing the players develop their skill level. With that came personal confidence which was/is a lifelong achievement transferable to many other categories of life-long learning and personal achievements.
What are some of your most memorable or favorite sports moment(s) at UW-Stout?
I enjoyed meeting kids from diverse backgrounds along with the traveling that went with it. It was inspiring to interact with players with higher skill levels in a variety of ways; rebounding, shooting, defensive agility etc. It was an awareness that I found motivating and exciting.
One example of a tough moment in basketball was a game at UW-La Crosse. We lost 77-7 and I lost 7 pounds. Talk about a wellness moment; every cell in our bodies was cleansed, before cleansing was in vogue!
The first unofficial year at Stout, January 1969, we played Iowa basketball, six (man) person basketball with two forwards, two guards and two rovers. You could change rovers during the game.
I recall playing one-on-one with a camp coach from Iowa in 1977. Her high school average was 29 points. She had great moves to the bucket, nice touch on the boards and solid shooting form. Her defensive skill were absent. It turned out to be fun to play against her!
What are some other activities you were involved in on campus (or off campus) while in Menomonie?
My priorities were mostly playing sports whenever the opportunity presented: softball, basketball, volleyball, short-lived track opportunity.
I needed to work part-time at home and later on-campus and of course pay some attention to my studies, which I was interested in, didn't ignore, but didn't always budget time to do my best with everything else as a priority at that time.
You were involved in the Wausau teacher's union and were the chair of the union. How did you get involved in that part of your career? What stands out from your history with that?
Great full-time job, great school, great community, and white privilege, worker friendly environment, all of these going for me personally. The reality of being a woman, having children. Many find themselves re-building the position they gave up to have a family. I was no different.
I had given up coaching to have a family in 1980. The team came close to advancing to the state level in 1981 and 1982, with a good coach, but unfortunately didn't see the value of continuing to build the team at the younger levels.
A seniority issue, an administration attitude, "Mary wants to be home with her kids." This was true, but Mary wanted to pay her bills also. I took a leave of absence in 1985. It took to 1992 to get back to full time, luckily in my same teaching job. I was one of the fortunate folks. Some are not as lucky, especially in other fields of work.
In 2007, since I had some experience working with the union issues, and there was need for leadership, I agreed to the president's position. Well, our union decided to issue a letter of concern the first year with some improvement, but later escalated to a letter of no confidence. The short story is, he left, I stayed! I did decide to retire in 2010, unrelated to the superintendent's situation. Unfortunately, if time is taken to build trust and quality communication, these situations can be prevented. Oh well.
On your Hall of Fame questionnaire, you said your biggest thrill was the opportunity to play college ball, after a limited opportunity in high school. Did you ever dream of playing college ball while you were in high school? What did you play in high school? I know there were not a lot of opportunities for girls outside of GAA (and other like organizations). How did you get involved in Stout athletics?
GAA was the only avenue of sports for girls when I was in high school. It was an average GAA (Girls Athletic Association), playing seasonal sports, not much else until my junior year. Miss Stein came, added fun, skills and expanded the program. But it was good to interact with the town kids. I was from Wilson, used to chasing cows, not balls.
I did play softball in my country school, (Wilson) a total of 26 students of mixed grades. A one-room schoolhouse until the consolidation with Spring Valley in approximately 1962. The boys let me play with them. They were shorthanded and needed a pitcher (half slow pitch & half fast pitch}. I had a decent arm, so they let me play. I was also willing to shag balls and play anywhere so I filled in wherever they told me to. I loved it!
I have heard stories about how hard it was for women to get time on the court during the early part of the 70s. What was your athletic schedule like? i.e., did the women have to take the leftover practice times? What was traveling to games like? When were your games? What kind of crowds attended?
Yes, this is very true!
We had a sprinkling (of spectators), a few friends, but with schedule changes and odd hours of playing, it was tough to build a following. Also, there were inconsistencies in scheduling at the last minute etc. in women's intramural games, schedule changes, times, days etc. The men's intramural had precedence over the women's traveling team for gym time. They often changed our game times with very little notice. It made it difficult to balance work schedules with practice and game times.
The times didn't bother me so much. Though not my first choice, it was still an opportunity to play! Our basketball practices were most often 6:30 am or later evening. I wasn't privy to the budget, but we traveled and played either three or four volleyball matches or basketball games over a weekend and we got one or two dollars each for a meal. We purchased our shorts and shoes. Stout furnished our jerseys, which I think we shared with volleyball.
Our cushy vehicles consisted of Stout station wagons with three or four students packed in the back seats with the equipment tucked in and around the remaining crevices. We learned to sleep in the most creative and awkward positions, returning from our warrior road trips with hydration and electrolyte deprivation totally out of our awareness. We also had a player as a driver. I was often one of the player car drivers. I would bet all of us made it to our first Monday morning class. However, we didn't have many four-year participants. Those schedules silently took their tolls on building a healthy program. Despite all of this, we had fun!
Apparently, your Stout athletic career had a big influence on you as you started the girls' basketball program at Wausau West.
West opened in 1970, girls' basketball was in all schools in the Wisconsin Valley Conference except for Wausau West. There were a couple strong programs, D.C Everest and Marshfield. The rest were average teams at the time.
West had no budget, no equipment, no gym space, no willing coach except me. What we did have was a handful of very enthusiastic girls that had little to no experience but really wanted to play, great kids!
So, in 1975, the hunt for equipment, uniforms, scheduling, referees, etc. never mind a budget! We borrowed balls from the physical education department, uniforms (the ones with legal numbers) from the volleyball coach. We scheduled around all of the other sports, including some early morning and evening practices. The athletic director found some funds for referees. I volunteered my time as the only coach for a varsity and a JV team.
So…the building began.
Note: I wanted to start a team in 1973-74 but I had a long-term subcontract only, feeling it risky for the program to start, then not get hired back. After signing a regular contract for 1974-75, I felt more secure to start and commit to a girls' basketball program. I coached for five years before my husband and I decided we wanted to start a family and we had a good JV coach willing to take the position. I was disappointed that he didn't invest more time in continuing the clinics and camps for the JV program. That's where the success comes from, darn!
You played during an era when women's sports were really just getting their start. Title IX was passed while you were in college. You were on some of the first varsity programs, then you helped to bring opportunities to high school girls. Do you see yourself as a trendsetter or a trailblazer? What advice do you have for women and girls competing today?
I've reflected and emphasized many of the opportunities and joys of creating/developing a sports team, which I prefer to remember and focus on. There are also many challenges and setbacks that occur along the way with or without Title IX.
Title IX became the guiding law in 1972 to more justly equalize educational/sports programs. Well, not everyone got the memo. Some haven't gotten it yet today.
I would identify more closely with the "trailblazer" label. Once you set your goals and identify what must come together to make it happen, you still need to work with others, adjust your goals or methods of achieving them. Some people may have a similar vision, some may not, but you must work with them.
For me personally, for the most part, I had understanding coaches and athletic directors that worked with me the best they could without upsetting the other coaches. They had an equilibrium to maintain, to keep peace, a balance within the established programs, including the community. Change itself can often be a challenge for all of us, I understood, appreciated the gains we made.
Reality: you never knew if practice could truly be a normal practice because the wrestling coach decided that day, extra room was needed because of a big match coming up, or the boys basketball teams needed all of the courts that day. Oops, the visiting boys' team is here and they always use the girls' locker room. The girls weren't always seen as a priority especially when skill levels were just beginning. You can fill in the blanks. Title IX was important. It was in the background, but invisible day-to-day. It was imperative to build relationships beforehand and work together. My situation was good, still with challenges. Not everyone had those luxuries.
We had a district policy that programs had to have 30 players out for the sport for three weeks before you could have a second coach. If you didn't make that number, congratulations… you had the opportunity to coach the junior varsity along with the varsity, with the same pay. After the first year of volunteer coaching, the pay was bumped up to 3%, wow!
In 1977 or 78, by then we were qualifying for two coaches each year. I filed a lawsuit for equal pay, with, at the time, Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations (DILHR), now called Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. After months of investigation, they determined that I should not get equal pay because I was not responsible for four or five coaches like the boys' program. I found that interesting, a true catch 22!
Thank you for this opportunity to reflect and remember the many challenging but fun, worthwhile sports adventures. I continue to stay in touch with many of the early players that I coached. (They are the true trailblazers). It is fun to see them in the community contributing in many ways. That is the true and deep benefit /motivation being a part of a sports program and other programs that engage kids providing inspiration, confidence and success.
I am honored to be a part of Stout's women sports history. I thank you for your personal inspiration and willingness to revive the history and inviting my story and my perspectives.
