Peg Brenden was good enough at tennis to hit with the boys at St. Cloud Technical High School. Likewise, Toni St. Pierre could keep up with the male athletes who participated in track and cross-country at Hopkins Eisenhower High School.
But it was 1972 — and girls weren't allowed to compete on the boys' teams under Minnesota State High School League rules. If they did, their teams faced sanctions.
So the girls sued in federal court. And won.
Now a half-century later, a book chronicles how Brenden and St. Pierre challenged the status quo and won the landmark case that was one of the first in the nation to deal with the issue of equal rights for girls in high school sports.
The book, "Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX," was written by Peg's younger sister, Sheri Brenden. It was published by the University of Minnesota Press.
"I knew my sister had accomplished something important in women's sport, and somehow I really didn't understand the whole story, and I didn't feel like the rest of the world had really taken note," said Sheri, 63, of Minnetonka. "In the sports media world, the male voice is pretty dominant and the male accomplishments are always heralded.
"The female athletes, especially of the past, are kind of left in the margins."
Peg Brenden, 69, lives in St. Paul. She retired from her career as a workers' compensation judge in 2016. St. Pierre died from a rare cancer in 2013 at age 58. Up until her diagnosis, she worked as an obstetrical nurse and still ran competitively.
