Title IX’s impact on college campuses is well known, but what about life afterward? You only need to look at the life of Benita Fitzgerald Mosley to see that opportunity and success doesn’t stop at the college level.
Benita was born in 1961, making her 11 years old when Title IX was enacted. Growing up in Dale City, Virginia, her talent in track surfaced early. She says she never experienced any discrimination in her athletic pursuits. As a standout hurdler, she won three state 110-yard hurdle titles.
After graduating high school, she attended the University of Tennessee on a full athletic scholarship, a school renowned for its track and field program. At UT, she was a 14-time All-American and won four NCAA titles, including three 100-meter outdoor hurdles championships.
She made her first Olympic team at the age of 18. Unfortunately, the United States boycotted the 1980 Olympics held in Russia that year. But at the 1984 Summer Olympics, she won Olympic gold in the 100-meter hurdles. She was only the second American woman (after Babe Didrikson) and the first African-American woman to win gold in that event. She was also an alternate for the 1988 Olympic team.
A Title IX success
Off the field, Benita earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. She is fully aware that her athletic and academic successes stem from Title IX.
“[The law] was instrumental in allowing me, as a real fresh Title IX baby at 11, 12 years old, to have all these opportunities that led to a college scholarship and an Olympic gold medal and (being a) 14-time all American,” Mosley said. “It’s unbelievable to think how different my life would have been, if not for that law.”*
A family tradition
Benita was born into a family that had already made its mark. In 1964, Benita’s mother, Fannie W. Fitzgerald, was one of four African American teachers to integrate the public schools in the Prince William County, Virginia, school district.
Virginia had vigorously fought school integration after the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that segregation was unconstitutional. Rather than integrate, some counties closed their public schools, and white families opened private white-only schools. Other white families fled the cities for the suburbs.
Benita attended Gar-Field High School, a pioneer in the successful integration of Virginia public schools. A girl named Joyce Russell Terrell, daughter of the president of the local chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), was the first African American student to attend the high school. She started there in 1961, under police protection, the year Benita was born.
Benita is proud of the legacy of the women who led the way for racial equality.
“They all represent many unsung heroes who have quietly enacted change behind the scenes — not calling a lot of attention to themselves, just quietly doing the right thing,” Benita said.**
A grateful beneficiary
Today, Benita is the director of all U.S. Olympic training centers, president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and CEO of Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA. She is a board member for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum. In addition, she is vice president of LeagueApps, a technology platform for youth sports organizers that aims to create positive youth sports cultures.
Widening out Title IX’s reach, Benita credits the gender equality law with her ability to fashion a post-college career in sports marketing and administration that includes these leadership positions.
“Women didn’t have the opportunity to pursue degrees in law, medicine, engineering. Women didn’t have the opportunity to be sports executives,” Mosley said.*** “I’ve had opportunities throughout my career that were only made possible because of Title IX, and I’m forever grateful.”
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* Cora Hill, “Title IX pioneers: Benita Fitzgerald Mosley turned women’s opportunities to Olympic gold,” Knoxville News Sentinel (June 20, 2022).
** “Historical Marker Unveiled for the Courageous Four,” Prince William County Communications Office (September 13, 2022).
*** “Title IX pioneers.”