Claudia Lane Dodson Equity Award

Claudia Lane Dodson was a founding member of the Women In Sports (WinS) organization; Dodson was serving her third term as its president at the time of her death in August of 2007.

Claudia devoted her life to ensuring equity and fairness for young people in sport. As a teacher and coach at Meadowbrook High School, she inspired young women to achieve success through hard work and commitment. She carried these lessons off of the court and into the work place.

Dodson went to work for the Virginia High School League in 1971. Over the course of her 31 years with the League, she paved the way for generations of girls by implementing and expanding opportunities in sport. Dodson was the driving force behind the development and expansion of athletic programs for female students in Virginia, and when she retired in January 2002, VHSL offered 31 state championships in 12 different sports for girls.

Claudia Dodson made executive decisions every day, and she made them based first and foremost on fairness.

In honor of Claudia Dodson's dedication to Equity, WinS has developed the Claudia Lane Dodson Equity Award. All of the award recipients have demonstrated a long-term, sustained commitment to helping girls and women gain equity in high school sports in the commonwealth of Virginia. We honor and recognize three women that have made significant contributions in many forms, from public acts such as organizational leadership to personal acts such as coaching and mentoring.

Brenda Fay Langdon, Betsy A. Thomas and Emilie Tilley

These women have many things in common. They have filled many rolls: athlete, coach, teacher, school administrator and community volunteer. These women started working in Virginia when opportunities in sport were practically non-existent and they have worked as tireless advocates to ensure that females involved in sports receive equal treatment and resources.

Brenda Fay Langdon

Sue Hughes wrote, "Brenda has been involved in girls’ and women’s sports since she was a fifth grader playing basketball in North Carolina. She continued to play basketball through high school and on intramural teams in college. Upon graduation from East Carolina University, Brenda began teaching girls’ health and physical education and coaching basketball. During this time she was instrumental in getting boards of education to initiate other girls’ sports."

In 1977, Brenda became the first female athletic director of a AAA school in the state of Virginia. In that position at Albemarle High School, she worked tirelessly to make others aware of the inadequacies between the boys and girls programs. She served as the first female on the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators’ Association Board. She has also served on the VHSL executive committee and the VHSL Sports Advisory committee.

After her retirement from Albemarle High School in 1991, Brenda was the color analyst for the University of Virginia women’s basketball games. Brenda served as the WinS president from 1998-2000.

As one of Brenda’s former athletes, Janice Redinger, said, “. . .Brenda enlisted help from others, but it was through her special ability to argue for change in a non-threatening, logical, reasonable way that she achieved great success. The fact that these changes came before Title IX had any effect at all, underscores Brenda’s trailblazing ways. For example, when Brenda discovered that the girls’ basketball team at Albemarle High School had only one ball to practice with, and the boys had twelve, Brenda fixed it. When she discovered that the girls’ softball team had to pay for their own uniforms, which consisted of a T-shirt, and the boys’ uniforms were supplied, Brenda fixed it. When the girls were not permitted to ride that activity bus (for fear that they would get pregnant), Brenda shone a bright light on the idiocy of that policy, and fixed it."

Betsy A. Thomas

Our next award recipient hails from the Tidewater area. Betsy A. Thomas grew up in Poquoson, attended Madison College—now JMU--, in Harrisonburg, and upon graduation, in 1964, began teaching and coaching cheer and girls’ basketball (with 6 players on the court) at James Blair High School in Williamsburg. She also started and coached the girls’ tennis and field hockey programs. When Blair became a junior high school, she moved to the newly constructed Lafayette High School and continued to coach multiple sports (including boys’ tennis).

In 1982, Betsy was named athletic director. She was the 3rd female in Virginia to be appointed AD at a AAA school. She had a very successful 33 year career in Williamsburg/ James City County including a 163-58 tennis coaching record.

Friend, co-worker and retired field hockey coach Fran Hermance writes in her letter of recommendation, “As a tennis coach there were district regional and state championships but the interesting part is that Betsy never played tennis, yet she produced winners over and over. It takes a special kind of rapport with your athletes to accomplish that!”

Betsy has worked at the state level, providing her jovial, yet hardworking dedication on the Virginia High School League’s Sate Basketball Sportsmanship committee, the Tennis Advisory committee, the sports advisory committee and the VHSL Sports Medicine Committee.

She has served as a VHSL tournament director for field hockey, basketball and soccer and district and regional director for gymnastics, tennis and softball on numerous occasions.

She created the Peninsula District Women’s Coaches Association and served as its president for 10 years. She was the driving force in merging the Peninsula District men’s and women’s associations, improving equity among men and women coaches and leading to more insight of women’s sports.

Tom Dolan, assistant director for the VHSL considers Betsy Thomas a great mentor. He writes, “Betsy is an exceptional person, a pioneer and a motivator of people. She has the ability to reason with the unreasonable, see in people capabilities far beyond their own beliefs and most importantly always make people feel worthwhile whether praising or disciplining them.” He continues, “Having known both Betsy and Claudia, I have often thought their personal traits and qualities to be strikingly similar. If you wanted someone who would always represent team, school or organization with the utmost work ethic, integrity and dignity, Betsy and Claudia were the people to select."

Betsy has been a seven time Peninsula coach of the year, a teacher of the year, a Virginia Coaches Association Coach of the Year, a National Coaches Association Coach of the Year. She has received the Special Achievement Award from the Peninsula Sports Club, the Lifetime Achievement Award form the Virginia High School League. She is a member of the Lafayette High School Hall of Fame and a Lafayette Faculty Emeritus.

Emilie Tilley

With degrees from both East Carolina University and the University of Virginia, Emilie Tilley hails from Virginia Beach. A born leader, Emilie taught and coached for several years and served as an assistant principal at two schools and as a principal at six different schools.

Virginia Beach is known for a tradition of athletic accomplishment and Emilie Tilley is the recognized builder of that tradition. She started the field hockey team at Frank W. Cox High School and coached it to a record of 98 wins, 2 losses and 7 ties. She also has a state championship athlete in track and two state championship athletes in gymnastics.

One of her former players, Nancy Fowlkes, who is herself a national record holder with 11 field hockey state championships under her belt, writes this, “Ms. Tilley used sports to teach life lessons. She demanded excellence in skill and attitude. She was unfamiliar with the sport of field hockey and encouraged her players to “look like the figures in the books.”

Fowlkes continues, “On a personal note, Emilie Tilley changed my life. She has been my teacher, coach, colleague, principal and mentor. I chased her “win percentage” in field hockey for my career. She served to create in me a desire to achieve maximally and to work to develop a strong character and work ethic.”

In 1972, Emilie was recognized as the Coach of the Year. At that time, only men went to the awards presentation, so her principal had to receive the award on her behalf.

Emilie does her part now, to make sure that females are properly recognized by granting annual scholarships through the Health and Human Performance Foundation at East Carolina University and the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Foundation.

Emilie was the first female coach to serve on the VHSL Executive Committee in 1974 and served a second term as principal from 1990-1993. She is active in her sorority Delta Kappa Gamma and has served on the VHSL Foundation Board of Directors.

She has been awarded honors from East Carolina University, Virginia Beach City Public Schools Education Foundation and she was the first female to receive the sportsperson of the year award from the Virginia Beach Sports Club. The baseball field at Frank W. Cox High School bears her name.

Emilie retired in 2001 as Assistant Superintendent for High Schools but continues to stay involved and serves the central office on special projects.

Mike McGee, Director of the Office of Student Leadership for Virginia Beach City Public Schools has this to say,”Her counsel continues to be highly valued, and the reverence which she is afforded is well deserved. Miss Tilley continues to serve the school division as a grievance hearing officer and as a hearing officer in student disciplinary matters. It is by design that she hears the toughest cases, including those of gender harassment. Her fair and guiding hand has been an invaluable resource to Virginia Beach, the Virginia High School League, and to the programs which we serve.”