WELLFLEET, MASS. (WHDH) - The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg touched the lives of so many with her work to put men and women on the same playing field, including a local woman who wanted the chance to play on her high school’s boy’s tennis team.
In 1972, 15-year-old Abbe Seldin was a nationally ranked tennis player in New Jersey and she wanted to try out for her high shool’s team but was blocked from even stepping on the court.
“When I went to high school I wanted to have a little experience playing on a team before I went to college,” Seldin said. “There was no girls’ tennis team.”
So, Seldin’s mother filed a complaint with the ACLU who then connected the family with then Rutgers University Law Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Seldin, who now lives in Wellfleet, can recall speaking to Ginsburg several times.
“I remember her being a very kind person, asking a lot of questions like she wanted to know how into this I was because it would take time. It was not something that would happen overnight,” she said.
The court filings led the state’s Interscholastic Athletic Association to change its rules before the case even went to trial.
The case is seen as a precursor to the Title IX movement in sports.
However, despite this, Seldin said she was still unable to enjoy the victory.
“The experience of what I went through after we won this case… it was not a great experience for Abbe Seldin,” she said
During a preseason workout, she said her teammate dropped her. The fall sending her tumbling down the stadium stairs.
“I went and told my mom and I had the courage to tell my mom, ‘I know we won this but I can’t do this. It’s not right.”
She continued to play in tournaments across the region and then went on to Syracuse University where she eventually received an athletic scholarship.
Though she was not able to immediately benefit from Ginsburg’s work on her case, she recognizes the lasting impact that it made for girls across the nation.
“Girls and women were able to take advantage of it in other situations so, that’s always good,” she said. “Just so proud of whatever she did and the way she went about it in a soft sweet way, it was unbelievable.”
Seldin still plays tennis every week.
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