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Luzerne County Children and Youth: Throw out mother’s complaint

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Former Coughlin High School athletic director Annette Barbini would have celebrated her 76th birthday Friday. Barbini passed away one day shy of that birthday.</p><p>A resident of Bear Creek, Barbini died Thursday afternoon. According to friends, she had suffered a stroke about a month ago and never fully recovered.</p><p>Known as a pioneer in local women&#8217;s athletics, Barbini coached girls high school field hockey, basketball, volleyball and track and later officiated all those sports.</p><p>She was thee first female member of the PIAA District 2 Committee and would become the area&#8217;s first female athletic director.</p><p>Having grown up near Coughlin High School, she would later coach and serve as athletic director at that school. She was also a PIAA official.</p><p>Maureen Williams, a retired Wilkes-Barre Area elementary teacher, knew Barbini for 45 years.</p><p>&#8220;She was a true, loyal friend,&#8221; Williams said of Barbini. &#8220;She was a pioneer in girls&#8217; athletics. Girls&#8217; sports programs would not be what they are today without Annette advocating all those years on their behalf.&#8221;</p><p>Williams said Barbini got her involved in officiating in 1971 and taught and mentored many women involved in athletics.</p><p>&#8220;Annette had to be one of the strongest people I have ever come across in my life,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;She taught me so much.&#8221;</p><p>Williams said Barbini&#8217;s family is making funeral arrangements. No details were known Friday evening.</p><p>Ruby Carmon, former head women&#8217;s basketball coach at Luzerne County Community College and a teacher there for 28 years, said Barbini&#8217;s contributions to women&#8217;s sports and officiating are immeasurable. Carmon met Barbini when both attended East Stroudsburg University.</p><p>&#8220;Annette has done so much,&#8221; Carmon said. &#8220;She was tough and she acted tough. Even when she was officiating, she scared everybody. She was set in her ways, but she sure did get things done.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Valley West High School athletic director Sandy MacKay said Barbini was always &#8220;very professional&#8221; and had a sincere love for kids.</p><p>&#8220;Annette was an AD to make sure athletes &#8212; boys and girls &#8212; had things to do, that they had sports to play,&#8221; MacKay said. &#8220;She always went by the rules. She made sure she was doing the right thing always.&#8221;</p><p>MacKay said, as an athletic director and as a PIAA official, Barbini &#8220;did things the right way&#8221; &#8212; by the book and she never cut corners. He said she had a deep love for the youth of Coughlin High School and its sports programs.</p><p>Dorie Saracino, who was instrumental in starting women&#8217;s athletic programs at Wilkes University in 1960, said she and Barbini were good friends.</p><p>Saracino said Barbini was &#8220;a super coach&#8221; and she became an excellent athletic director and official.</p><p>&#8220;She was a tough official,&#8221; she said. &#8220;When you worked a game with her, she would tell you if you made a bad call. Annette was tough in everything she did.&#8221;</p><p>Saracino always had a lot of respect for Barbini.</p><p>&#8220;She always told it the way it was,&#8221; Saracino said. &#8220;And you betcha, she was a very ethical person.&#8221;</p><p>According to a story in the Times Leader in 1987, Barbini showed just how tough and determined she could be. After having been passed over for the athletic director&#8217;s position at GAR High School, she sued the school district.</p><p>Barbini won the lawsuit, based on the landmark 1972 federal law known as Title IX that required equal educational opportunities for women attending schools that receive federal funding.</p><p>In athletics, Title IX requires equitable access to facilities, travel and accommodations, meals and equipment and equal coaches&#8217; salaries.</p><p>That goal is nearly reached in the Wyoming Valley Conference, a 21-school league that consists of teams from Luzerne, Wyoming and Columbia counties.</p><p>In its ruling, federal investigators said Barbini should be appointed to the next athletic director&#8217;s position or the Wilkes-Barre Area School District could lose federal funding. Barbini was named Coughlin athletic director in September 1982.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Annette Barbini </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Annette-Barbini.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Annette Barbini </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader File Photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Annette Barbini, pioneer in local women’s athletics, dead at 75