A discussion about athletics for girls in Minnesota high schools isn't complete without acknowledging Dorothy McIntyre's impact.
As an associate director for the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) for 32 years she oversaw the MSHSL's addition of state tournaments in for girls. Prior to joining the MSHSL staff, McIntyre taught at two Minnesota high schools and was one of the leaders of efforts to convince the MSHSL to officially adopt girls sports.
McIntyre, an Iowa native, came to Minnesota after graduating from college. Her first teaching job was at Ellendale-Geneva High School in southern Minnesota. After two years there, she moved to Eden Prairie High School in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
She began conducting gymnastics clinics in the 1960s and organized a gym team at Eden Prairie. After being told the school district couldn't free up a bus for events on the road, she got her bus driver's license to drive the team to events.
Those early efforts to organize sports for girls were recognized in 1966, when McIntyre was named Eden Prairie's "Citizen of the Year." McIntyre was honored for her work on state and national committees — the Minnesota Girls' Athletic and Recreation Association, the Minnesota Division of Girls' and Women's sports, the Advisory Committee of the National Girls' Athletic and Recreation Association and the National Intramural Sports Council.
In 1969, McIntyre was among a group who developed the first guidelines for girls sports in Minnesota. The next year, McIntyre joined the staff of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), which oversees high school in the state.
In her first seven years with the MSHSL, McIntyre oversaw the creation of state tournaments in 11 girls sports. The first official state tournament for girls was a track and field meet held in the spring of 1972.
"Inside me, the passion was to help change things," McIntyre told the Star Tribune in 2002. "But it's my rural background: You plant in the spring, it grows in the summer, and you harvest in the fall. I was ever raised with the idea that things change overnight."
McIntyre, who retired from the MSHSL in 2002, was named by the Star Tribune as one of the 100 most influential sports figures in Minnesota for the 20th century.
Dorothy McIntyre
Class: 2006.
Contribution: Teacher, associate director of MSHSL, girls sports advocate.
