All Lee Bender really wanted was a hot shower. Somewhere in the pursuit of that shower, she and five other women touched off a mini-revolution that resulted in two of San Francisco’s most revered athletic clubs opening their doors to women for the first time. That was 50 years ago. It all st arted when Bender was introduced to the ritual of swimming in the bay near Aquatic Park on the northern waterfront, though her first experience was a jolt as she slipped into the water. “I thought somebody’s gotta be kidding,” Bender remembered. “It was so cold.” But, like many others, Bender got hooked on the rush of swimming through the bay’s frigid waters – so much so she became a regular. The problem was, after each morning swim she’d have to head to her job as a professor at San Francisco State University. Showering in the filthy public shower at Aquatic Park was not a happy experience. On the other hand, men swimming in the bay would stroll into the nearby Dolphin or South End Rowing clubhouses if they were members, take a hot shower in a proper locker room and maybe even sip a cocktail. But both clubs were men only. “I wanted to join the club to have a hot shower, but the men did not want us,” Bender said of the South End Rowing Club. “They said, ‘We don’t want those girls.'” Lee Bender sits in the boat room of the South End Rowing Club, which she sued in 1975 to gain access for women for the first time. The two clubhouses were located on city-owned land at the foot of Hyde Street and only paid a symbolic dollar a year in rent. The clubs were closely connected to city hall, Bender said. She remembered seeing city officials dressed in suits often turning up for cocktail hour in the club. “The men were sitting here only due to the largess of the city — they were connected,” Lee said. “And they closed their doors to women and they said this is a private club.” Bender and five of her swimming mates, including renowned artist Joan Brown, decided to take a stand. In 1975, they hired an attorney and filed lawsuits against the two clubs to force them to admit women. The women would contribute money every month to their attorney fund, though Bender later learned the attorney never got the money. They also held occasional bake sales to raise funds. “The men had city hall behind them,” Lee said. “We had homemade cupcakes.” But the women also had progress on their side — and the promise of the federal government stepping in. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area was poised to take over the land where the clubs were located, and their policies didn’t favor discrimination. Club leaders saw the writing on the wall and in 1976 relented after a park board banned sex bias by city concessionaires. Bender and four of the women joined the South End Rowing Club while another opted to join the Dolphin Club. “It was wonderful to have a locker, a hot shower,” Bender said. “Our accommodations were pathetic. We didn’t care, we were ecstatic.” South End Rowing Club President Vanessa Marlin, right, looks on at Lee Bender, who was among six women who sued the South End and Dolphin clubs to gain admittance for women. Bender fondly remembered the South End president at the time, John Tarantino, agreeing to take “the trouble makers,” as the women had become known. But even once they were admitted to the club and its hot showers, Bender remembered she and the other women were not warmly embraced. “I didn’t come to the club for years because I knew that I was hated,” Bender said. It took years before she finally felt accepted in the club, and even longer before she and the other plaintiffs realized the significance of the road they’d paved right through the club’s front doors. “When a lot of the other women started coming and saying, ‘Hey, we really appreciate what you guys did,’ at that point we thought, ‘Yeah, we did do something good,'” Bender said. According to South End leaders, more than 2,000 women have joined the club since it opened to both sexes. Current South End president Vanessa Marlin said women in the clubs owe a debt of gratitude to the six who filed the lawsuit. “They fought for what they thought was the right thing to do even though it came at a cost,” Marlin said. “They did it for the greater good of women, and so many of us are here today because of that.” Of the six women who filed the lawsuit, Bender is the only one still living. She is still active in the club, and counts the bay swimming and rowing as among the happiest memories of her life. “The greatest club on earth,” Bender said without a trace of sarcasm. “That’s what we say, and I think it’s true.” ...read more read less