Born in 1936, she grew up in Milton, Massachusetts. Her career as a coach and referee began well before the 1972 passage of Title IX and before she graduated from high school and spanned almost 40 years. She played and coached ASA softball and AAU basketball, bowling, Lacrosse, field hockey, taught physical education, and directed several summer camps. She was also a single mother who gave birth to her daughter Debbie in a Florence Crittenton Home in 1958 and determined to raise her on her own and continue her athletic career. In 1960 she played softball with Mary Pratt’s Raiderettes and in 1962 her South Shore Esquirettes beat the Raiderettes in the Metro Boston Tournament. (a feat perhaps only fastball afficionados can appreciate but take our word for it. It’s huge). Sumner also coached the Waltham Drifters in 1975. In all, she officiated for 33 years. In the 1980s she volunteered with Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). She currently travels to teach and participate in Mah Jongg Tournaments and competitive Whist Clubs and takes part in Senior Olympics. In 2019, despite an injury, she “did 11 events to win 8 medals! Gold in softball throw, shot put and basketball three throw. Others were javelin, discus, broad jump, mile walk and 1/2 mile walk. This is such a wonderful program where you see seniors who want to keep young,” she says. Her 8mm and Super 8mm collection includes footage of her teams’ games; family events; and travels with friends and lovers. She edited the footage herself into six categories: Sports, Family, Camps, Schools, Travel, and Debbie. Her edits involved many splices and the compilations fell apart during a drug store transfer. LHMP has digitized both the full reels the drugstore returned to her and attempted to reproduce her original compilations, adding, with her permission, one further category, “Friends & Lovers.”
Item Data
- Title: Loraine Sumner
- Date Range: 1955-1975
- Collection Summary: Loraine Sumner's career as a coach & referee began well before the passage of Title IX and before she graduated from high school and spanned almost 40 years. She played and coached AAU softball, bowling, Lacrosse, field hockey, basketball, taught physical education, and directed several summer camps. She was also a single lesbian mother. Her collection includes footage of her teams & their games; family events; and travels with friends and lovers. She edited the footage herself into six categories: Sports, Family, Camps, Schools, Travel. and Debbie (her daughter's name). Her edits involved many splices and the compilations fell apart during a drug store transfer. LHMP has digitized both the full reels the drugstore returned to her and attempted to reproduce her original compilations, adding, with her permission, one further category, Friends & Lovers. We are streaming both the compilations and the jumbled reels.
- Description: Referee & coach Loraine Sumner's 8mm bird's eye view of life before & after Title IX. Fast pitches, shot puts, camping trips, life as a lesbian mother, and lots of horsing around. Includes minor footage of Hall of Famer Joan Joyce.
- Biographical/Historical Note: Born in 1936, Loraine Sumner began her coaching career while still in high school when her physical education teacher used to call her out of academic classes to referee. Surrounding schools often hired her on weekends and after school to referee during that period. Sumner went on to referee and coach basketball, field hockey, softball. lacrosse, and volleyball for thirty-six years. She also played AAU softball (Mary Pratt's Quincy Raiderettes) and basketball and taught high school physical education. She put together two renditions of the fast pitch team called the South Shore Esquirettes, the first a team that traveled a a good deal, the second after she became a single mother and needed to stay closer to home. She coached the Waltham Drifters in 1976, the year they made it to the ASA National Tournament in Salt Lake City, Itah. Throughout her career, she filmed her teams and friends practicing and goofing around on camping trips and picnics, and she filmed her daughter. The result is both an extraordinary record of the transition of amateur women's sports before & after Title IX and a wonderful portrait of a single lesbian mother.
At age 82, Sumner entered the Senior Olympics in Quincy, Massachusetts, and won gold in shot put, gold in broad jump, and silver in a windy 3 mile walk. She also plays competitive whist.
- Genres: Amateur Films, Documentary, Home Movies
- Subjects: Lesbian mothers, Women's Sports, Title IX, Fastpitch softball , Coaches, Referees
- Places: Saint Elizabeth Convent, Station, NJ; Pleasure Island, Massachusetts; Santa's Village, Jefferson, New Hampshire; Sea World, Orlando, FL; Otisfield, Maine; Disney, Magic Kingdom, Orlando, FL; Abington, Massachusetts; Boldt Castle, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Camp Fire Girls Camp Hitinowa, Maine; ; Camp Clark, Plymouth, Massachusetts; Camp Cobbossee, Winthrop, Maine; Tower Day Camp ; Newton, Massachusetts; Hingham, Massachusetts; Ogunquit Beach, Maine; Marycliff Academy, Winchester, Massachusetts
- Creators: Loraine Sumner
- Collaborators & Participants: For further information or if you or friends took part in any of these events, be great if you emailed us at info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org & let us know. We'll share your input if that's okay, or just preserve it.
- Primary Format: Super 8 mm
- Physical Length: 2350' of 8mm film in 6 reels
- Arrangement: As Loraine Sumner had her footage processed, she spliced it into 4 categories -- Sports & Travel, Camps, Debbie, and Family. When her daughter took the reels to a drugstore to turn them into a vhs tape as a Christmas gift, the splices must have fallen apart. The chaotic result reflected neither the subject categories nor the chronology. LHMP received both the VHS tape (did we or did she withhold it) and the film. Working with Sumner and the original footage, we recreated the subject categories and created the chronological order of the original categories.
- Access & Use: Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) holds all rights. Donor must approve all uses. Participants also have the right to approve uses of material they appear in during their lifetimes.
- Rights:
- Related Links: On October 22, 2012, LHMP's Sharon Thompson visited Sumner at her home in Milton, MA. She brought dvds of Sumner's 6 reels and watched them with her and her daughter Debbie.
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fastpitch/Erica-Westly/9781501118609
https://www.thenation.com/article/lgbtq-history-behind-league/ or
The LGBTA History Behind 'A League of their Own," interview with Britni de la Cretaz by Davie Zirin, The Nation, 6-12-2018
http://narrative.ly/the-hidden-queer-history-behind-a-league-of-their-own/ on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball L eague by Britni de la Critaz in "Narratively," 5-30-18 detroiturbex.com
- Preferred Citation: Loraine Sumner Collection, Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP)