{"id":10081,"date":"2022-03-28T15:03:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T19:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=10081"},"modified":"2022-03-22T10:42:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T14:42:52","slug":"womens-history-month-title-ix-profiles-sue-kruszewski-hardy-64","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2022\/03\/28\/womens-history-month-title-ix-profiles-sue-kruszewski-hardy-64\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s History Month\/Title IX profiles: Sue (Kruszewski) Hardy \u201964"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FormerTo honor Women\u2019s History Month, University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s Office of Marketing & Communications spoke to Titan student-athletes and coaches about their experiences in sports, which Title IX made possible. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what former women\u2019s basketball and softball head coach Sue (Kruszewski) Hardy \u201964\u00a0<\/span>had to say:<\/span><\/p>\n

Sue (Kruszewski) Hardy \u201964<\/strong>
\nHometown:<\/strong> Detroit
\nMajor:<\/strong> Physical Education
\nPosition:<\/strong> Head coach
\nSport:<\/strong> Women\u2019s basketball, softball
\nRecord:<\/strong> 70-15 (three seasons, basketball)
\nTitan Athletics Hall of Fame:<\/strong> 2017<\/p>\n

Sue (Kruszewski) Hardy was instrumental in the start of women\u2019s athletics at Detroit Mercy. She coached the first women\u2019s basketball team in 1977-78, helped start and coach the softball squad and also led the cheerleading program.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s seen the rise in women\u2019s athletics over 50 years since the institution of Title IX in 1972. In 1973, prior to her career at Detroit Mercy, Hardy coached her Detroit Dominican High School squad to the first Class A state championship held for women\u2019s basketball in Michigan.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved in sports and basketball?<\/strong>
\nIt was interesting how my career path was shaped. I had a kid come up to me one day in high school and say, \u2018Congratulations for making the basketball team\u2019 and I said, \u2018What?\u2019 I had never even tried out. The coach had picked kids out of the gym class. That\u2019s how I started. I graduated and I got right into coaching.<\/p>\n

After college at University of Detroit, I went into teaching at Dominican High School on the east side of Detroit. I taught physical education, biology and health education. I was there for 13 years and had the honor of having the first two Class A state championship teams in the state.<\/p>\n

What brought you back to the University as a coach?<\/strong>
\nOne day I got a phone call from Dick Vitale, who was the athletic director and coach of the men\u2019s team at the University. He said to me, \u2018I would like to start women\u2019s athletics and the women\u2019s program. What do I have to do to convince you to come here and coach for us?\u2019<\/p>\n

And I said, \u2018Here\u2019s how I would come and that\u2019s if you treated us equal. Give us a locker room like the men\u2019s program, 15 scholarships and money to recruit with,\u2019 and he did that. There was no other athletic director in the nation, I believe, that was that supportive at that time. He was extremely supportive.<\/p>\n

What was it like to help start athletics at Detroit Mercy, including seeing success right away with the women\u2019s basketball program?<\/strong>
\nWith the team itself, I did another very smart thing and I hired my assistant Lydia Sims, who was a star basketball player for the University of Michigan. That was a very important move to have her come in and help with the program. She was instrumental in knowing the kids in the city of Detroit. We were supportive of bringing in the city kids in to play basketball. Our team consisted of girls that came because they felt that they were going to get an education and they were going to be given a scholarship to play basketball.<\/p>\n

Right away, within one year, we were seen around the nation because we were bringing in some of the top teams to play. We were ranked top 20 in the nation. Another thing that really helped us was that basketball was a big draw for the University. Vitale had a wonderful team and was such a motivator. We played doubleheaders with the men\u2019s team. Fans would come to see us and stay to see another show with the men\u2019s team. The stands were full. It was really exciting for both programs. Vitale was extremely supportive of our teams.<\/p>\n

Can you reflect on the transformation of women\u2019s athletics since the inception of Title IX, helping start athletics at Detroit Mercy and the strides that have been made now?<\/strong>
\nSports were so fledging back then in 1972. I did play softball and volleyball and with basketball, back then it was half court, and then with Title IX coming in it moved to full court. The advantage I had coming in was that my high school was an all-girls school. We had total support; the whole school came to games. We had the same support from the athletic director. Catholic high schools were the strength back then because of the CYO. We were much stronger than the public schools. When we had state championships, Catholic schools dominated at the beginning. Title IX helped give public schools a chance, too.<\/p>\n

How far have we come? The professional soccer team getting equality lately was great. In some respects, you have popularity in a sport like women\u2019s tennis over men\u2019s tennis. Are they getting the respect? I think they are. Are they getting equal pay? No. Title IX was extremely important, but there is still a ways to go.<\/p>\n

I attended the University for four years and even though I liked going to U-D, I felt there was something missing there and still was missing for 13 years after I graduated. But finally, through the foresight of Dick Vitale, saying that it\u2019s time and he brought me into the program and we went from there and developed the program through the years and added more sports. I take great pride in memories of being there at the beginning and the success that happened makes me feel very proud.<\/p>\n

Check out our other profiles on our women student-athletes and coaches:<\/span><\/p>\n