Honoring Section XI Pioneers During Women’s History Month

For Women’s History Month, we remember the pioneers in women’s sports in Suffolk County.

Women like Cathy Gallagher, Dr. Jean Berger at Ward Melville, Ruth Gracey at Port Jefferson, Jeannette Rogers at Babylon, and Annamae McKeever-Kress at Sayville put forth trailblazing efforts as coaches and athletic administrators.

They are remembered today and will serve as an inspiration for girls and women for generations.

Berger, Gracey, Rogers, and McKeever-Kress were instrumental in developing and organizing the Suffolk County Girls Athletic Association in 1949, 23 years before Title IX’s historic legislation. Their persistence and dedication led to countless opportunities for girls to play and coach sports in Suffolk County. They were diversifying the playing field long before it was the norm, and their efforts were recognized more than 70 years later.

Before Gallagher began her career at Section XI, she was a physical education teacher and coach at Smithtown and Cold Spring Harbor high schools and a PE teacher at Suffolk Community College from 1959 to 1968. She also enjoyed a career in sports officiating from 1967 to 1974.

She started as Associate Director at Section XI in 1973 and became Executive Director in 1982, a position she held until 2003. Among her many accomplishments at Section XI were playing a significant role in the reorganization, thereby eliminating separation for boys’ and girls’ programs and introducing new procedures and office policies.

In 1985, she successfully computerized the entire operation, which enabled her staff to schedule all contests in all sports at all levels. Statistics for all varsity contests became computerized, providing a daily update on league/division standings.

In 1986, she established procedures for monitoring and administering a misconduct policy to impose on offenders, a program still working efficiently today.

The Section XI website, launched in 1998, dramatically changed the organization. It provides up-to-the-minute information on every aspect of various sports to athletes, coaches, parents, and officials.

All of these women are inductees of the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.