SigMT

SiG MT 38 Continued on Page 40 Head Coach Bonnie (Morrow) Cook, front center, kneels for a picture with her 1976 Glasgow track team. Cook was passionate about coaching kids that worked hard to be better athletes. always had to work in a man's world," Cook said. "We (women) deserve equality … If you didn't step up and say anything, they wouldn't do anything about it." Title IX, a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments in 1972, made it illegal to discriminate against a person based on gender in any federally funded program or sport. Cook's first experience with Title IX came about when she organized and coached the girls' high school basketball program in 1973, but unlike her male counterpart, she was not paid. She pushed for equal pay in 1974. Cook taught and coached in Lewistown from 1973-75 and moved to Glasgow in 1975 where she continued teaching and coaching basketball. In 1977 Cook returned to Fort Benton to help her parents on their irrigated farm, but her advocating spirit for women's sports never ceased. "Young girls need to learn to do as many things as they can, because you never know what life offers you," Cook said. "Right now, if I needed to, I could build my own house, do all the electrical and plumbing in it. It might not be the fanciest house, but it's going to stand." A few years aer returning to her hometown, Cook took note of volleyball's increased popularity and helped Karen Taylor, Fort Benton High School's physical education teacher, start a volleyball program in 1980. Cook continued coaching basketball, track and volleyball at the junior high, junior varsity and varsity levels on and off for the next 20 years. She took her enthusiasm for sports a step further and began officiating sports in the early 1980s. She started an officiating pool for volleyball which included smaller schools across the Golden Triangle like Fort Benton and Chester. She officiated basketball for nearly a decade before hanging up her whistle to watch her daughter play high school ball. She later joined the Great Falls officiating pools to officiate class B and C schools, where she continues to officiate volleyball games for Choteau, Fairfield, Belt, Power, Valier, Augusta, Great Falls, Fort Benton and more. Cook has been asked to officiate 104 postseason tournaments in the last 37 years and has only turned down two due to weddings. Last November, Cook officiated the class B state volleyball tournament in Shelby, her 31st state tournament in the last 37 years and 102nd post season tournament. Officials for postseason games are voted on by all the coaches in the district. Cook was also awarded Montana's Volleyball Official of the Year in 2013. When Cook played and coached volleyball, teams needed to win two games in a match, but now they must win three out of up to five. Games took much longer back then when the traditional side-out-scoring system was in place, however, when the National Federation of State High School Associations adopted the rally scoring format, where points are awarded on each play, regardless of which team serves, Cook said games went much quicker. Blocking a serve was legal back then but is no longer allowed, however a double hit on the first ball over the net is now legal, according to Cook. ey also added a defensive specialist, known as a libero. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Cook

• Cover