Byline: John Leusch Daily Herald Sports Writer
One of the pioneers of high school girls sports in the Daily Herald area will be leaving the coaching ranks this June.
Joanne Travis, the first girls sports coordinator at Forest View High School, is retiring after 31 years in District 214 and two years in District 211.
She has coached volleyball, badminton, track and field, tennis and softball in her 33-year career.
'Today's girls have so many more opportunities than when girls sports were started in the 1970s,' Travis said.
'They now can continue on after high school, whether it's Division I, II or III and play the sports they love. Back then, after you finished high school, it was over. A lot of them are coming back now and coaching, too.'
Travis said she had to laugh when a student recently approached her and asked where she played college sports.
'I said they didn't have them for girls back then,' she said. 'He gave me a puzzled look and I just repeated that there were no sports for girls then.
'Of course, we're talking about 17- and 18-year-old kids so they have no clue whatever how things were back then.'
Travis is greatly impressed by today's athletes.
'The level of skills today is unbelievable,' she said. 'And obviously, the coaching is better than it was back then.
'I'm really happy for the young ladies to have these opportunities today. I was just a small part of helping develop it and I'm happy I was able to have that small part.'
Travis had not even started kindergarten when she knew she was going to be a physical education teacher.
'My mother and the mother of Ron Ashley (former Prospect boys basketball coach) were good friends,' Joanne said. 'I even remember his mother saying you should be a physical education teacher. I was probably 4 or 5 years old. If nothing else, that rang a bell for me. So I did it.'
Joanne graduated from Palatine High School in 1963 and then studied physical education at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Ohio.
In 1968, she was offered a job at Palatine High School to direct pom poms and orchesis.
Joanne's mother, Doris, was the secretary to longtime Palatine athletic director Chic Anderson.
'I didn't want to work there because it was too confusing with my mom already there, but they really needed a person so I finally agreed,' she said. 'I really didn't know a thing about pom poms or orchesis.
'But, thank God, the kids knew what they were doing. In our generation, we had to learn on the job because we never had anyone coaching us when we were in school. We hadn't been coached then like the boys.'
In the fall of 1970, Travis accepted a physical education position at Forest View, along with the head coaching position for badminton and tennis. She was there until the school closed in 1986 and then transferred to Elk Grove.
In 1973, her Elk Grove track and field team tied Wheeling for the Mid-Suburban League championship and placed fourth in the first state meet for girls. That team included state discus champion Vanessa Calabrese.
'Daryl Phillips (a boys track and field coach) helped me a lot with Vanessa,' Joanne said. 'I was fortunate to have some very good athletes come out for track and field. And they did an excellent job.'
In those early day of girls sports, Travis, like many coaches, ran two girls sports programs in the same season. She would direct track and field practice in the morning and then badminton after school.
One of her major contributions was starting club volleyball for area high school girls. They were able to develop their skills during the off-season.
Travis and a partner directed the River Rapids Club, which operated at Lyons Township. Some Members of Rolling Meadows' 1979 state runner-up volleyball team participated in the club.
Travis, currently Elk Grove's freshman boys volleyball coach, plans to move to Arizona for her retirement years and play plenty of golf.
'The reason I was in this job all these years was to give the girls the opportunities that we were not given in years past,' she said.
'That's why all of us (the pioneers) did it so long - to give these young ladies a chance.
'I'm going to miss the day-to-day contact with the kids and my peers at school. That's what I am really going to miss.'
