Louise James, 95-years-old, loves to swim. She loves it and has one mean stroke! Last year she received a varsity letter from the University of Michigan. Late in 2008, Louise and several other female athletes, who competed for the University before Title IX gave women’s sports equal footing with men’s, were awarded honorary Varsity letters.
“They decided it had been unfair not to recognize women’s sports,” Louise said. “So they hunted down all the women who’d been connected with sports.”
She still swims several times a week in her local pool in Acacia Village. She was ahead of her time, representing women’s sports before women’s sports were recognized, and now seventy years later, she is finally awarded for a sport she is still passionately involved.