Robin Herman

Robin Herman (born 1951) is an American writer and journalist. She was the first female sports journalist for The New York Times.

Biography

Herman was born in 1951. She was among the first class of women enrolled in Princeton University in 1969. Herman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973.^[1] She joined The New York Times in 1973 as its first female sports reporter. At the 1975 National Hockey League’s All-Star game in Montreal, she became the first female reporter to enter a male professional sports locker room.^[2] She has had a very successful and eclectic career, ranging from sports writing to assistant dean of communications for Harvard school of Public Health. She has been a writer for the New York Times, the Washington Post, has taught at Harvard, has had other high ranking positions at Harvard, and has published books on Renewable energy, as well as the need for equality.

Early life

Herman was born in 1951. She grew up in Port Washington, Long Island, New York.^[3] She attended Princeton University in 1969. She was among the first class of women admitted into Princeton University . She graduated from Princeton in 1973 Magna Cum Laude in the first graduating class of women in Princeton history. She was the first female staffer of the Daily Princetonian at her time at Princeton. She started out covering men’s rugby and went on to become the paper’s first female sports editor and later a managing editor.^[1]

Career

She became the first female sportswriter in the history of the New York Times upon graduation in 1973.^[1] In 1975, she was the first woman ever allowed in a men's professional locker room at the 1975 N.H.L All-Star Game in Montreal, Canada.^[2] Robin had been trying to convince N.H.L teams for over a year to allow her and other women sportswriters in the locker rooms for post-game coverage. She and Marcel St. Cyr entered the locker room as the first women ever allowed to enter into a men's professional team locker room in any sport.

1975 All-Star Game

Robin Herman and Marcel St. Cyr became the first women allowed in a men's professional locker room on January 21, 1975.^[4] The Wales All-Star team easily beat the Campbell Conference All-Star Game 7-1. Robin and Marcel instantly became the news, and television cameras swung to them. Herman tried and tried to sway the attention to the game, but it was for naught. The game was essentially meaningless, and the real story, as everyone knew, was that there were women in the locker room.

“Breaking the locker room barrier” was seen as a symbolic assault on traditional male privilege and power. As the only female member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the time, Herman stared down intimidation and eventually pried open the locker rooms of all but four NHL teams before leaving sports for political coverage in 1979.^[1]

Other journalism

In 1978, Herman left sports writing to become a political reporter for The New York Times. She was a political reporter for the Times for five years. Later, in 1991 she wrote for the Washington Post. She covered issues relating to health and medical fields ^[5]

Harvard

Herman became the Assistant Dean of Communications for Harvard University in 2006, and would hold this position for 4 years.^[6] She had served as director of the School’s office of communications for the previous six years. according to HSPH Dean Barry Bloom “Robin has provided an extraordinary level of service to the School community,”.^[6]

Political views

Aside from writing for the Times as a political writer for five years, Herman She writes about women’s issues, including sports, on her website, www.girlinthelockerroom.com.^[1] She stated that her idea for the blog started when George W. Bush ran for re-election in 2004. She stated “I felt that women’s rights and integrity were being undermined by the Bush administration and that younger women did not realize that their standing in society was being eroded,”. “I wanted to voice a warning that they need to pay attention. I thought my experience as the ‘girl in the locker room’ was shorthand for the barriers we had to break and the case we had to make that we deserved equal opportunity and treatment in the spheres of employment and other rights.” ^[1]

Published works

Herman wrote a history of science book “Fusion: The Search for Endless Energy.” (Cambridge University Press, 1990).^[5]

Awards

Herman is the 17th winner of the Mary Garber Pioneer award, Association of Women in Sports Media's highest honor. It goes to a person showing distinguished work in the sports media industry and commitment to upholding and advancing the values of AWSM.^[1]

See also

Robin Herman is mentioned in the documentary "Let Them Wear Towels". The documentary details the struggles of those who first seek to enter the all-male locker rooms in various professional sports leagues. It is part of the series of documentaries produced by ESPN Films entitled Nine for IX. The series focuses on women in sports, and is told through the lens of female film makers.

References