‘I’ On Sports
By Ted Menswar Jr.
June 23, 1972.
My guess would be that few if any readers would have a clue as to the significance of that date in United States history. To be completely honest, when I first saw it, I didn’t have a clue either.
However, that date is of the utmost importance to the subject of this issue’s “Where Are They Now?”
June 23, 1972 was the day Title IX was enacted into law, and that law changed everything.
Before that date, hence, before that law, sports were just about entirely for the male gender. Sure, girls could join the gym team or become a cheerleader, but before that year – for girls, for women – there was no such thing as soccer, or basketball, or softball, or volleyball, or field hokey, or track.
Simply put, there were NO female sports.
For those of you who don’t understand the significance of Title IX – this, simplistically put, is it.
Though the new law was applicable to more than just athletics, it meant that for every male sport offered, there would have to be one available to females. It didn’t have to be the same sport. They just had to be equal in the number offered.
A difficult interview, for both of us.
Before I even started, I knew that the interview with the subject of today’s article was going to be tough. Not because its subject, Celeste Beaulieu Lafond, would be a difficult person to speak to, but because I knew she would not be able to answer the standard questions I had asked every other person featured in WATN…all of whom were males.
3 important questions – each with no answer.
Questions like:
“What sports did you play before high school?”
She couldn’t name any because there weren’t any for her to play.
“What’s your favorite sports memory as a child in youth sports?”
She couldn’t name any because there weren’t any sports for her to draw memories from.
“Who was your favorite and/or most impacting coach from your youth sports?”
She couldn’t name one because she didn’t have any – there were no sports for her to play!
First female inductee to the MMHS Hall of Fame
I could have interviewed a number of great female athletes from the Queen City, but I wanted to talk to Celeste for several reasons. She was an extremely talented athlete during her days at Manchester Memorial High School. She was a member of the Class of 1976, the first class at Memorial to have one of its members – a female – inducted into the Crusader Hall of Fame. And I always remembered her as a “tell it like it is” person, one who would be totally honest in her feelings.
While there are eight other women who have been inducted into Memorial’s Hall of Fame-RED DIVISION-ATHLETES, Celeste is the only one from that total who was there at the beginning of “female sport,” another reason why I wanted her to be my first female subject of WATN.
Picked before a guy! Yikes!
Celeste Beaulieu’s early years were not filled with dolls or tea parties. Through her dad, they instead focused on fishing and hunting. Her baptism into the sports world came through her neighborhood. At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, she was a tom boy, she was “one of the guys”. She played baseball with them. She played touch football with them. How good was she? Well, as she put it…”When we got together for ‘pick-up games’ (you older folks will remember those), I even got picked ahead of some of the guys.”
“You Throw Like a Girl!”
That may seem like “no big deal” today, but back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, that was HUGE. For a male (who was picking his team) to select a female ahead of another male was a slap in the face of the next male-to-be-picked’s masculinity. Any of you males who are reading this – just picture that for a moment…a GIRL got picked ahead of YOU. Must have been because you threw “like a girl” or ran “like a girl,” huh? (Sorry, ladies!)
Writer’s Note: Ever watched the college softball playoffs? Many of those girls can throw and run as well as (and some even better than) a lot of the “guys” I’ve coached.
‘Nuf said! Back to Celeste…and the guy picked AFTER her.
No shame here, Buddy. You were probably a decent athlete. Celeste was just better. In fact, Celeste was a heck of an athlete as a “kid.” but didn’t get to show the rest of the world beyond her neighborhood until she was in high school (since there were no female sports in junior high, either).
She played basketball (was a captain for two years) under the tutelage of Norm Dallaire (former principal of Webster Elementary School) and enjoyed it immensely.
A Cherished Opponent
As she put it…”I really liked playing against our city rival, Central. They had a player, Peggy Ingalls, who I became very good friends with. In fact, we stayed in touch through college, but lost touch after we both graduated.” (Hey, Peggy, Celeste is only a text message away).
… and a Couple Cherished Teammates
“It was through hoop that I also met my life-long friend and teammate, Kelly Burke Hartwell (herself a great athlete!) We’re still close because our kids are the same age and we have the same interests. We even used to vacation together!”
Another Memorial hoop-mate, Donna McQuade, was the player that had the greatest impact on her. In Celeste’s words…”Donna was very committed to basketball. She played hoops outside almost every day and that was unusual for a girl to do that back then. She inspired me to improve my game by showing me how much time really needed to be put into it.”
It was during basketball that she experienced her most embarrassing sports moment.
“I sprained my ankle during a game at Trinity. I was lying on the floor screaming, but not just because of the pain. I was also yelling at myself because I couldn’t believe that I had injured myself again! The same foot!”
Enter JBK – Her Favorite Coach
While Celeste liked basketball, she LOVED softball, playing it every year from its inception.
She started as a catcher then became a shortstop, a position at which she really excelled. It was her softball coach, John Kolb (who later became city AD and then Assistant Principal at MMHS), that she selected as the person who most Influenced her athletic life.
In her words “He taught me the game, but still made it fun.”
Because there were no sports offered at the college she attended (Catholic Medical Center School of Nursing), her post-high school athletic highlights have been through her children. One “set” was particularly noteworthy, attested to by the fact that the Union Leader even did a story on it.
It’s In the Genes
While in Minnesota, she watched her oldest daughter, Ashley, win the U.S.A. Cup with her soccer team, as son, Nathan, hit a home run during a state tournament win by his Goffstown Little League team, while youngest son, Josh, a member of his All-Star baseball team, also won the tournament they were in. All three happened on the same day!
Though her husband, Dennis, is a talented athlete himself, Celeste is quick to point out that the athletic abilities now exhibited in her children have most probably come from the Beaulieu “gene pool.”
Happy Now?
She’s absolutely thrilled that there are so many sports now available to kids in general and to girls, in particular. However, she’s equally furious when she sees kids used as “pawns” by adults who care more about “control” and winning than about insuring that the athletes under their care still have fun while learning to play their respective games. As she put it, “Coaches should be more concerned about teaching teamwork, teaching kids how to get along with people, and teaching them how to lose gracefully.”
Holding no Grudges, but…
Her only regret was that, since sports for women were so limited in high school, she’ll always wonder, had she been able to start at a younger age and develop her athletic skills to an even greater degree, if she would have chosen a different college to attend where her favorite sports would have been offered.
Several times during our conversation, she stressed that she did not want anyone to feel bad for her, saying “That’s just the way it was back then.” Celeste stated emphatically that, though she would have liked the opportunity to play college sports, no matter what college she went to, her career choice would have been the same, nursing.
Her Nursing Career Hits Home
Today she is a registered nurse at Manchester’s Elliot Hospital (been there for 25 years) where she is a member of the NICU staff. That’s the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit whose primary responsibility is the care of premature babies as well as babies that need special care.
As a grandfather for the third time, I can personally attest to the quality of this particular hospital staff. Last month, our youngest son, Todd, and our daughter-in-law, Karrie, had their first child. Not that this wasn’t a special enough occasion, our granddaughter, Kadence, is the first GIRL to be born into our immediate family. The fact that she was born five weeks prematurely caused us obvious concern, but the care given to all three of them, especially by Celeste, was superb (and dad, mom, and baby are doing fine).
When I asked the still active skier, mountain climber, ocean kayaker, walker/runner how she wished to be remembered, after pausing for a few moments to reflect, she answered “As a good listener, a good friend, and an honest person.”
Having known her for many years, both as a student and as an athlete, I want to add one more immensely important characteristic/quality that she undoubtedly possesses: caring.
Stepping briefly away from my “role” as a writer, and returning to that of a grandparent, this comment I wish to make directly to her.
“Celeste, as good an athlete as you were, and you were outstanding, it is extremely comforting to know that you are equally skilled as a nurse and as a person. Sincerely put and with heartfelt thanks (and I am not alone in these thoughts), our granddaughter could not have been in better hands – yours! Though her mom and dad were both very good basketball players, here’s hoping she’ll also pick up your ball-handling skills. If that takes place, I know we’re looking at a potential “All Stater.”
ADDENDUM
That “preemie” baby, Kadence, is now a senior at Manchester Memorial.
Though she played basketball, soccer, and softball, and participated in Girls On the Run before entering high school, she turned to track and field hockey (captain) as a Crusader.
Lastly, she has been accepted to the freshman class of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Celeste, Karen and I sincerely believe that none of this would have been possible had it not been for the excellent care that you and your fellow nurses and doctors provided to Kadence. We hope that you and husband are enjoying your well-deserved retirement.
Ted Menswar Jr. is a life-long resident of the Queen City and a retired member of the English Department of Memorial High School who has been involved in local sports for 70 years as a player, a coach, a mentor and a fan. He can be reached at tedmenswar@outlook.com