DAETWEILER MADE SPORTS LEAGUES HER OWN OBITUARY: CATCHER ON FAMED WWII BASEBALL PRO TEAM ALSO STARRED AS COACH, TEACHER. (From the Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) - Friday, November 5, 2004.)

Decades before Title IX mandated the full inclusion of girls and women in interscholastic sports, Louella Daetweiler was a pioneer in the women's sports movement.

Daetweiler died August. 22 after a long illness. She was 86.

Throughout her life, Daetweiler was active in sports, first as an athlete and later as a teacher and official. In 1944, she played professional baseball as a backup catcher for the Rockford Peaches, the team featured in the 1992 film ''A League of Their Own.''

She also played softball with the Huntington Park Blues and field hockey in the Los Angeles Field Hockey Association. As a nationally rated official in several sports, she helped supervise the softball rule books used by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports.

But it was as a teacher and coach that Daetweiler had her biggest impact. About 30 to 35 of her former students who went on to become teachers and coaches had remained in contact over the years. Many gathered to celebrate Daetweiler's 85th birthday, according to sister-in-law La Veta Daetweiler.

''They all said the same thing,'' La Veta said. ''She was a strict disciplinarian, and you had to toe the line. They all credited her with them becoming teachers.''

Marjorie Cook, a student of Daetweiler's who later became a teacher and coach, said sportsmanship and attention to detail were hallmarks of Daetweiler's teaching.

''She had such good ethics about everything,'' Cook said. ''She wouldn't allow us to look wrong at people.''

As a coach at Compton High and Junior College, which at the time were combined, she taught and coached teams in basketball, volleyball, softball and field hockey.

Although Daetweiler was delighted with the attention that came from ''A League of Their Own,'' La Veta said she was proudest of her selection in 1980 as the first woman inducted into the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Athletics came early and naturally to Daetweiler. The youngest of seven children, Louella attached herself to her older brother Walter, who was also a baseball enthusiast and catcher.

''He told me whenever he went out to play with the boys, he always had to take her,'' La Veta said.

Daetweiler was born April 30, 1918, in Lynwood. She attended Compton High and Junior College, went to UC Santa Barbara and received a master's degree in physical education from the University of Southern California.

She taught and coached sports in the Compton area at Clearwater Junior High and Compton High and Junior College. She retired in 1979 and spent much of her retired years as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and promoting girls and women's athletics.

As a physical education teacher, she created sports teams and programs at a time when such activities were either frowned upon or ignored.

Daetweiler was among many influential coaches and teachers who helped support the growth of girls and women's sport, culminating in the 1972 passage of Title IX, an amendment to the Education Act that banned gender discrimination in schools receiving public funding.

Daetweiler, who was never married, is survived by her sister-in-law. At her request, there was no service held. The family requested that any memorial donations in her name be donated to a favorite charity.