Chris Ernst
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born1953 or 1954 (age 69–70)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sport
SportRowing
College teamYale
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing  United States
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1975 Nottingham Eight[1]
Gold medal – first place 1986 Nottingham LW2x[2]
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Copenhagen LW2x[3][4]

Christine Ernst is an American former rower. She was in 1986 World Rowing Championships and won gold in the women's lightweight doubles event. She led protest a 1976 at Yale University about the inadequate facilities provided to the women's crew—the first such challenge under Title IX. [5]

Early life

Ernst was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her family moved to Scituate, Massachusetts when she was a young child. She trained in gymnastics where she challenged, and beat, the boys in her high school in arm wrestling matches in order to get use of the equipment.[6]: 97–98 

She attended Yale University, receiving an undergraduate degree in 1976.[7][8]

Rowing

Ernst began rowing her sophomore year in college, and by her senior year she was captain of the women's crew (rowing team).[9][8] However, there was no locker room available for the women's team, so they had to wait on the bus after practice while the men showered before they could return to campus.[10]

Ernst leads the protest to Joni Barnett, 1976.

Ernst led a protest regarding the discrepancy in facilities for the women's crew compared to the men's team.[11][6] In early 1976, the nineteen members of the Yale women's crew wrote "TITLE IX" on their bodies and went into athletic director Joni Barnett's office and took off their clothes, and then Ernst read a statement about the way they were being treated that began, "These are the bodies Yale is exploiting…"[12][5][13] This protest was noted by newspapers around the world, including The New York Times.[14][5] By 1977, a women's locker room was added to Yale's boathouse.[15]

After graduating from college, she was an assistant rowing coach at Yale and shifted her focus to sculling, rowing with two oars.[8] She was an alternate on the United States Olympic team for the 1976 Summer Olympics, the first year where women's rowing was an option.[12][16] She also participated as an alternate in the 1984 Summer Olympics.[16][8] In 1986 she won the world championship in lightweight double sculls competing with Carrey Beth Sands,[12] the first time the United States won a gold medal in the event.[17][18] In 1988 Ernst refused to participate in the 1988 Summer Olympics because of her opposition to the political situation regarding South Korea.[19]: 52 

Subsequent years

In 1980, Ernst was the first woman to become a unionized plumber in New Haven; as of 1982 she was one of four female plumbers in southern Connecticut.[20] As of 2012 she owns a plumbing company, Pipelines, in Roslindale, Massachusetts.[12][7]

In 1999, Mary Mazzio produced a documentary titled A Hero For Daisy which portrays Ernst, her rowing career, and her role in the 1976 protest at Yale.[21][9]

In 2012, Ernst was honored at New England Sports Museum’s “The Tradition" in honor of her role in leading the Yale protest.[16][22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1975 World Rowing Championships: (W8+) Women's Eight – Final". WorldRowing.com. FISA. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  2. ↑ "(LW2x) Lightweight Women's Double Sculls – Final". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ "(LW2x) Lightweight Women's Double Sculls – Final". FISA. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ Hildes-Heim, Norman (August 31, 1987). "ROWING; U.S. HEAVYWEIGHTS TRIUMPH". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Adelson, Eric (August 13, 2016). "How a naked protest changed women's rowing forever". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Boyne, Daniel J., The Red Rose Crew : a true story of women, winning, and the water, ISBN 978-1-5414-3503-2, OCLC 1192472548, retrieved June 10, 2022
  7. 1 2 Dupont, Kevin Paul (June 17, 2012). "'76 Yale crew stood up for women's rights – The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Hine, Tommy (July 15, 1984). "Shaking off boycott blues". Hartford Courant. p. 180. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  9. 1 2 Huebner, Barbara (October 21, 1999). "Rowers find a hero Yale protest made splash in Title IX". Boston Globe; Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]. pp. E1 – via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ O'Connor, Karen (August 18, 2010). Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook. SAGE. p. 855. ISBN 978-1-4129-6083-0.
  11. ↑ Clegg, Ellen (September 8, 2000). "How eight women rowing a boat turned the tide". Boston Globe; Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]. pp. D3.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Bamberger, Michael (May 7, 2012). "Naked Power". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  13. ↑ Riley, Lori (May 24, 1992). "YALE HEARD NAKED TRUTH IN PROTEST". Hartford Courant.
  14. ↑ "Yale Women Strip To Protest a Lack Of Crew's Showers". The New York Times. March 4, 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  15. ↑ Wulf, Steve (June 14, 2012). "ESPN The Magazine – The 1976 protest that helped define Title IX movement". Espn.com. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  16. 1 2 3 Connolly, John (June 19, 2012). "Ernst honored for courageous stand". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  17. ↑ "U.S. Women Row to Gold". The New York Times. August 24, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  18. ↑ "US women row away with gold". The Boston Globe. August 24, 1986. p. 76. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  19. ↑ Ivry, Benjamin (1988). Regatta : a celebration of rowing. Internet Archive. London : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-69936-9.
  20. ↑ Cavanaugh, John (July 18, 1982). "MORE WOMEN JOIN BUILDING TRADES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  21. ↑ Rosenbladt, Oli (May 5, 1999). "'A Hero for Daisy' – Chris Ernst Rocks the Boat". row2k.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  22. ↑ Ryan, Bob (June 20, 2012). "Robert Parish among fine group at Tradition – The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved June 10, 2022.

Further reading

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