Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz will be recognized this month as one of 40 former high school or college athletes who have made a significant impact on society in the forty years since Title IX was enacted.
Stosz will be honored as one of the 40 FOR 40, June 21 in Washington, D.C., by the Women’s Sports Foundation, espnW and Women in Cable Telecommunications.
Title IX, from the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibited the exclusion of anyone on the basis of sex from participating in an education program or activity receiving federal funding. The list of honorees includes Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Tina Fey, Mia Hamm, Queen Latifah and Brigadier General Loretta Reynolds, the first female commander at U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.
Rear Admiral Stosz became Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy last year, and is the first female leader of any of the nation’s service academies. Before joining the service, Stosz was very active in high school sports as the co-captain of the track team, a member of the sailing team, a stand-out shot putter and in 1977, she was the Maryland state champion discus thrower.
“Title IX greatly affected my life and helped me develop the confidence and character necessary to attend the U.S. Coast Guard Academy,” she acknowledges. Also a former junior Olympic swimmer, Stosz was technically a member of the men’s swim team at the academy, where she graduated in 1982 shortly after the service academies opened their doors to women. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy now has the highest percentage of female cadets of any of the U.S. service academies.
The institution has developed a number of stand-out female athletes recently, like Cadet Holli Bastinck who was named a first team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. She helped Coast Guard win its third straight New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament championship, leading the conference with a .452 batting average and 70 hits. This fall, Bastinck will serve as Regimental Commander, the highest ranking cadet within the 1,000 plus corps of cadets.