歪歪漫画

FARGO 鈥� Much like Becky Dooley, the first girl to play on a North Dakota high school boys baseball team in 1974, Carrie Preusse needed to put up a fight.

In 1984, Preusse was a sophomore at Fargo South. Already a cross country and track standout, hockey was her winter love. She began playing park board hockey in Fargo in second grade and eventually played for the Southside Flyers Bantam B team.

It was her fight in 1984 that opened the doors in North Dakota for girls to play on boys teams.

Growing up on the outdoor rink at Clara Barton Elementary in Fargo, she鈥檇 also skate with her friends Kevin and Kim Wagner on their pond. One day at school, their father and South head hockey coach, Myron Wagner, stopped Preusse (rhymes with 鈥渃hoice鈥�) and asked her if she was going to try out for the Bruins.

Eventually she said yes.

鈥淒id I ever think I was going to be opening up a can of worms? No, I did not,鈥� Preusse told the Sports Time Machine. 鈥淎nd for me, it was just being a female. I had played with a lot of these guys through the years on the park board, so I didn't think anything of it.鈥�

But others did. The North Dakota High 歪歪漫画 Activities Association did not yet allow girls to play in boys contact sports.

After Dooley, who was featured recently by the Sports Time Machine , the NDHSAA changed its bylaws to allow girls to play on noncontact boys teams. Baseball, hockey, football and other rougher sports were still off limits to girls.

Preusse said assistant principal Patricia Schroeder relayed the news.

鈥淚 wasn't really happy about that,鈥� Preusse recalled. 鈥淚 said some really nice words and stomped out.鈥�

Devastated, she talked to her father, Rick, later that day. Asking if she still wanted to play hockey, he then told his daughter, 鈥淥K, I鈥檝e already contacted an attorney and here we go. We鈥檒l fight 鈥榚m for it. We鈥檒l try to get you on the ice.鈥�

Newspapers.com

said Preusse could continue to practice with the JV team.

鈥淚 think a female should have an opportunity to try out for the hockey team,鈥� Bennett said in 1984. 鈥淢y personal feeling is that to prevent a female from a chance to show her skill is a denial of due process which, in my opinion, should be protected by ... our 14th Amendment. I look at it as more of a constitutional consideration, because to deny all females a chance to participate is a presumption of female inferiority.鈥�

In the following days, the NDHSAA board was notified of the impending lawsuit.

In early December, the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fargo. Preusse charged four defendants (the NDHSAA, Fargo Public 歪歪漫画s board of education, South principal Richard Warner and athletic director Harold Pedersen) with discrimination. She sought a temporary restraining order preventing the defendants from keeping her off the roster of the Fargo South JV team.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 trying to prove a point to the world,鈥� Preusse recalled. 鈥淚t was just like, 鈥楬ey, wait a minute. Why can鈥檛 I do this? I don鈥檛 understand this.鈥�

She understood the team鈥檚 coaches, which included junior varsity coach Curt Smith, could have simply cut her.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 one of the best players on the team,鈥� Preusse said. 鈥淔air enough, had they cut me, and they could have cut me because I wasn鈥檛 one of the top players, I would have held my head high and walked off that ice and back to the park board (league).鈥�

A hearing, set for Dec. 20, was delayed until Jan. 21, 1985. In the meantime, Preusse continued to practice with the team.

At the time, the NDHSAA bylaw stated that members of both sexes may participate on the same teams in noncontact, noncollision sports. Until the day of her first game, it was assumed that the bylaw also meant members of both sexes were not allowed to partipate on the same teams in contact, collision sports like hockey, The Forum reported.

NDHSAA lawyers determined that the association had not interpreted the bylaw, thus no ruling had been made and there was no bylaw which specifically prohibited teams comprised of boys and girls in hockey. So Bennett ruled Pruesse could play and later urged the NDHSAA to change its rules.

Preusse played her first JV game on Dec. 21 as the Bruins played Fargo Shanley at the Coliseum. She played about half-a-period鈥檚 worth during her shifts as winger on the third line, The Forum reported. While she didn鈥檛 score a goal or have an assist in South鈥檚 6-2 win, she definitely drew a crowd and various media.

Shanley coach Dean Wilson didn鈥檛 tell his team they were going up against a girl skater. Recalling that game more than 40 years later, Wilson said, 鈥淚 just wanted to play. I think that's a good call, because I remember I didn't want anybody to target her.鈥�

But in following games, players may have.

Once a player checked her into the boards, then apologized. In another game, a player came off the bench, skated across the ice and slammed her into the boards, spraining her wrist. He just skated away.

鈥淭here were some extremes,鈥� Preusse said. 鈥淏ut coach would look out for my safety 鈥� fair enough 鈥� they didn鈥檛 want me getting hurt out there.鈥�

Wilson said he understood Preusse鈥檚 fight. At times, the coach struggled with just having enough boys to fill Shanley鈥檚 roster.

鈥淚 remember I got hate mail, because I go, 鈥業鈥檇 love to have all kinds of girls, if they're good players, I want them.鈥欌�� recalled Wilson, the father of four daughters himself. 鈥淎nd I got letters. I mean, people are going, 鈥榊ou're an idiot. Girls can't play hockey, and blah, blah.鈥欌��

Newspapers.com

It was the only season of high school hockey Preusse would play. But it was her efforts that paved the way for girls to play on boys teams in North Dakota. Soon, Kim Rowland and Sue Johnson joined the West Fargo wrestling team and other girls joined football squads in Mandaree and Minot.

鈥淎t the time, back then, no,鈥� she said about understanding her impact. But what about now? 鈥淎bsolutely, and for a long time I鈥檝e understood that.鈥�

After graduation, she moved to the Twin Cities and played hockey for the University of Minnesota women鈥檚 club hockey team and attended Minneapolis Community College. For one of her women鈥檚 studies courses, Preusse was assigned to give a speech on someone significant who made a change in the world.

Contributed / Carrie Preusse

鈥淚 just said, 鈥業鈥檓 going to do it on myself,鈥� because this is easy,鈥� she said.

A classmate, who was also an arson investigator and knew her athletic background, encouraged her to try out for the Minneapolis Fire Department. Today, Pruesse is preparing to wrap up a 30-year career with the Minneapolis Fire Department where she鈥檚 been a captain since 2007. She continued to play hockey with several Division A teams and also operates , an electrotherapy business, with her sister Suzanne Wheeler.

Wilson recalls ice time was difficult to get for girls in the years following years. Some arena workers weren鈥檛 always willing to clean the ice for their practices, he said, and practice times were less than ideal.

It would take 18 years after Preusse played that first game before girls hockey, in 2002, became a sanctioned high school sport in North Dakota. Minnesota launched girls hockey in 1994.