By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
In a ceremony held between the JV girls game and the varsity girls game the Fluvanna County High School sports department recognized the society-changing impact of the implementation of Title IX 50 years ago by honoring the astonishingly successful State Championship girls teams of 1981 and 1982.
Most of that team, which swept to state titles while posting an unblemished record of 48-0, returned to the Fluco’s gym for the ceremony. Of course, the ‘81 and ‘82 teams played on a court that was two high school gyms ago. Those incredible state champion teams might not have been possible if not for Title IX which required, among other things, that high schools and colleges provide girls and women with equal opportunities in sports.
Women who returned for the ceremony include, Kimberly Shifflett Kidd, Julie Melton Lafratta, Sherry Bullock, Pam Allen Quarles, Denise Allen and Lisa Haney. Several of these players in interviews lauded their coach, who was Feda Kidd at that time, but is now named Feda Morton. The coach and Haney both spoke to the crowd effusively about how incredible the team’s two year run was and how hard the players and the coach worked to achieve that success. Haney noted that she practiced endlessly shooting at a hoop that was installed in the family’s barn.
