Prospect High mourns pioneer of girls sports

A longtime physical education teacher at Prospect High School, who was at the forefront of Title IX and implementing girls sports into interscholastic competition, has died.

Nancy Dallia passed away April 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 76.

Ms. Dallia retired from Prospect in 1988 after a 28-year teaching and coaching career, but some of her results still are visible at the school.

In the front lobby, a photo of her 1972 bowling team, that won one of the school's first girls' conference championships, is on display, as well as her 1977 conference championship softball team.

"She was very enthusiastic in the early days of girls' sports, and she especially loved girls' softball," says Jean Walker, the first girls athletic director at Prospect.

Ms. Dallia joined Prospect's staff one year after the school opened, in the 1960-1961 school year. One of her colleagues, who joined the physical education department three years later, Ruthann Normann, remembers they began coaching girls in intramurals.

"We were both very active in GAA (Girls' Athletic Association) and after-school intramurals, so all the girls had an opportunity to participate in sports," Normann says.

By the time Title IX was enacted in 1972, Ms. Dallia and others in her department had been tapped to cover the growing number of sports opening up to girls.

"We all pitched in and coached sports that we didn't necessarily know much about," Normann adds.

Ms. Dallia coached badminton first, with Walker, from 1969 to 1971, before coaching bowling, from 1972 to 1977. In 1973, she became the school's first softball coach, leading the team through their championship 1977 season.

During the first few years, Walker recalls, there were just two "sports days" a week that girls teams could compete. That soon grew to four days a week, before changing to full interscholastic competition.

At the same time, Ms. Dallia also left her mark in the classroom and in Prospect's physical education department, which she helped to shape.

"We always called her the head of the department," Normann adds. "She never officially held the title, but she did all of the scheduling and made sure the curriculum remained up to date."

Her expertise in physical education and its role in a well-rounded education, came into play when Ms. Dallia was tapped to serve on the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and Improvement.

She served on the peer review committee, helping to determine whether schools met the national standards for accreditation.

Ms. Dallia is survived by her brother, Arthur Dallia of Brandon, Wis., as well as nieces and great nieces and nephews.

Services have been held.