Museum celebrates local women in sports

A new exhibition, “Play Like a Girl: Massillon Women’s Tiger Teams from Gym Class to Title IX,” can be seen in the Paul Brown Museum within the Massillon Museum through July 3. It tells the history of women in sports in Massillon.

Massillon High School organized girls basketball teams at the turn of the last century — before the school instituted boys teams. After the Massillon Athletic Club was built near the school on North Avenue Northeast, first-year students were required to take physical education classes, the boys in the late 1910s and the girls in 1928.

While the gym classes replaced competitive girls basketball teams, they introduced the young women to other athletic activities. The exhibition traces the history of women’s sports from those early efforts through the passage of Title IX in 1972.

The story is told with information panels, photographs of Massillon Washington High School women’s teams and athletic clubs, a 1905 girls basketball costume, and images of individual ground-breaking female athletes including golfer Eva Shorb and track star Kelly Bodiford Banks. International examples of women trailblazers in a variety of sports genres also are represented through the photographs of Walter Looss.

A second rotating exhibition, “Massillon’s Pro and Semi-Pro Teams, 1890-1926,” also can be seen in the Paul Brown Museum through July 3.

The Paul Brown Museum’s award-winning football history time line is always on display. It spotlights Paul Brown’s fedora, his Hall of Fame gold jacket and a chronology of his career. The parallel Massillon Tiger time line spotlights the 1940 Massillon-McKinley game ball signed by the entire Tiger team and the milestones of Massillon’s high school and professional squads.

A visit to the Massillon Museum including the Paul Brown Museum is always free. The building is accessible, and everyone is welcome. Exhibitions can be seen Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 2-5 p.m. MassMu follows state mandates and guidelines for the health and safety of visitors and staff. Masks and social distancing are required.

The museum receives operating support from the Ohio Arts Council and ArtsinStark.

The Paul Brown Museum is located on the second floor of the new wing of the Massillon Museum, which is located at 121 Lincoln Way E. in downtown Massillon. For more information call 330-833-4061 or visit www.massillonmuseum.org.