Ted Kennedy’s Ties in Sports

Ted Kennedy died of brain cancer on Tuesday night at age 77. While most of the talk today will focus in the political career of the liberal lion, Kennedy did have one gigantic tie to the world of sports: Title IX.↵↵I’m not here to debate the effectiveness of Title IX or its fairness, but either way you view the issue its impact has been wide-reaching on college sports. Without it, it’s unlikely college sports are shaped the way we seem them today.↵

↵↵Kennedy, first and foremost, was a champion of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. But he also followed his initial work by helping overturn the Supreme Court’s Grove City case, which “found that Title IX of the 1972 Higher Education Act only applied to a private college’s financial aid department, not the school as a whole.” He continued to be a supporter of Title IX throughout his political career, appearing at Save Title IX events and more.↵

↵↵Aside from the whole Title IX connection, Kennedy also declined a shot to play with the Green Bay Packers in the mid 1950s. ↵

↵↵(H/T to SBB on the Packers note)↵

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