Four decades before Geena Davis donned a catcher’s mask as Dottie Hinson in the iconic 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” Kent State alumna Lois Youngen, ’55, was earning her college tuition playing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).
Lois started her baseball career in 1951 as a 17-year-old, playing catcher for the Fort Wayne Daisies before being loaned to the Kenosha Comets. She played another two seasons with the Daisies and two seasons with the South Bend Blue Sox.
From 1951 until 1954, Lois was behind the plate or in left field from June through August, with games seven nights a week and doubleheaders on Saturday. She earned between $50-$55 a week, equivalent to about $600 today, and used that money to fund her education at .
The highlight of her career came in 1953 with the South Bend Blue Sox, when Lois caught one of five perfect games ever pitched in the 12-year history of the AAGPBL. It was 72 years ago, but Lois remembers it vividly.
“Jean Faut was the pitcher. She was the G.O.A.T. pitcher of our league at the time,” Lois said. “Jean had eight strikeouts that game. She could put her fastball anywhere she wanted, and her curveball was dropping off a cliff. We didn’t talk about it on the bench. We didn’t want to throw a jinx into it. Only one of two balls got out of the infield. One of our players made a very nice running catch, but that was the only hard hit ball that was hit during that game. We beat the Kalamazoo Lassies on Sept. 3, 1953, and the score was four to zero.”
Raised on Baseball
Lois grew up playing sandlot baseball with the neighborhood boys in LeRoy, Ohio - now Westfield Center. It was mostly pick-up games with other neighborhoods and cities. She recalls that the team was pretty good, and her teammates gave her the option of playing either right field or being catcher.
“Being smarter than the boys, I said ‘I want to be in on the action, so I’ll be a catcher!’”
That decision would serve her well in future, as she went on to be a professional catcher. She would practice with her father, Elden “Ty” Youngen, who was a pitcher and captain for the Kent State Normal College baseball team from 1924-26. Working with that level of talent gave Lois an unexpected edge over the competition.
“I’d stand up against the garage door, and he’d throw to me, and I would catch. I got so I could handle most anything he could throw, which was better than what the boys could throw,” Lois said.
But playing baseball wasn’t a popular option for girls while she was growing up. Seeing a girl playing any sport competitively in the 1950s was unusual, and it brought along some unwanted teasing. Lois didn’t let that deter her, but eventually, the neighborhood boys decided that having her on the team wasn’t worth it. They came to her house and told her they didn’t want her playing with them anymore, which was a crushing blow for Lois.
About a week later, the boys showed up again. This time, they were asking her to come back. They had been losing and needed their catcher. Lois was thrilled to get back to the game, but she also learned a valuable lesson that day: everything depends on winning.
Lois kept playing throughout her childhood, and her parents continued to be supportive of her athletic interests. There were no organized sports for young women through the school system, but in high school, Lois was recruited to play for the Ashland Lumbergirls, a girls softball team in Ashland, Ohio.
“In the 1940s, a woman’s place was in the home, but I always knew it was at home, first, second and third!”
Coming to Kent State
In the fall of 1951, Lois followed in her parents’ footsteps when she chose to attend Kent State and study physical education. Both had attended Kent State and worked in education. Her father, Ty Youngen, ’26, worked as a teacher and principal; her mother, Helen Roll Youngen, as a third grade teacher.
Just like in high school, there were no varsity sports for women at the time. Instead, Lois described “sports days” and “play days” with other nearby schools. But the women never competed directly, and the events were more participatory and recreational in nature.
“The philosophy of the time that prevailed throughout most of the United States was that women should just participate. They didn’t need to be excellent. They didn’t want to compete.”
But Lois did compete on a professional level, drawing mixed reactions from peers and professors. She was surprised to find, however, that most of her male classmates and professors were very supportive of her, and that encouragement was one of the most impactful parts of her Kent State experience.
After graduating in 1955, Lois earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1957. A few years later, she traveled west to the University of Oregon. She was hired as an assistant professor of Physical Education for Women and worked her way up to director of Physical Activity and Recreation Services. During that time, she earned a doctorate from The Ohio State University in 1971. She retired in 1996 after a 36-year career with the title of professor emerita.
While at the University of Oregon, Lois worked with iconic track coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. The pair taught a revolutionary jog-run course that combined men and women in the 1960s. Lois coached 26 different sports, including tennis, badminton and basketball, and she started the women’s track and field team in the early 1970s.
Giving Back
Although Lois attended three different universities and spent her career in higher education at another, her undergraduate alma mater holds a special place in her heart. Over the years, she has given back to support current and future Kent State students, all while honoring the legacies of her family.
In 2009, Lois helped to establish the Ty Youngen Memorial Baseball Scholarship, and in 2017, she established the Dr. Lois J. Youngen Softball Scholarship. Most recently in 2024, she endowed the Helen Roll Youngen Softball Scholarship, in honor of her mother.
Lois will be the first to tell you that she was a baseball player, and that softball is a very different sport. However, she’s a staunch supporter of women’s sports, something that wasn’t available to most women during her youth.
“There are opportunities for women now, and I want to be supportive of that.”
She stayed connected to the AAGPBL through its Players Association, serving as both board director and president over the years. Her legacy lives on in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, where she is a part of the permanent display on Women in Baseball. Bethel Park in West Eugene, OR, even has a “Lois Youngen Ball Field” named in her honor.
As for the Hollywood reimagining of the AAGPBL, Lois thinks it’s a fair depiction with a touch of cinematic hyperbole. But at the heart of it, the movie “captured the spirit of our league and the spirit of the women that played in it.”