By John Walters The inaugural team was hastily assembled and far from victorious in its international debut, but it laid the foundation for an explosion of the sport’s popularity in this country. Title IX radically altered the sports landscape, but not all at once and not without resistance. In the early years of the statute, the “forgotten heroes” challenged bias and championed equality—and the impact is still felt today. Read more about Title IX’s pioneers to remember here. The stewardess—that’s what they were known as then—on the Alitalia 747 flight from Milan to New York approached the wom…