Melba Masse was a pioneer for women in sports long before Title IX happened. She is best known for her 50 years at Essex High School in Essex Junction, Vermont, following her 1954 graduation from Johnson Teachers College, where she was a basketball standout. Masse had been a hoop star at nearby Cambridge High School in Jeffersonville.
Essex Junction hired Masse to teach physical education, which she did for 36 years. She coached several sports and later served as athletic director and then as administrative assistant to the athletic director. She retired in 2005. Masse also played an important role in the development of high school athletics across the state.
Early in her career at Essex, Masse coached basketball and cheerleading. When the current high school was built, Masse was asked to start a field hockey program, a sport she never had played, as well as softball. She coached field hockey for 11 years (record of 96-40-21), softball for 10 years (posted over 100 wins) and basketball for 15 years. Many of her teams won league championships and state championships.
Her many awards and honors include: NFHS Citation (2001); National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) State Award of Merit; Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) Hall of Fame (inaugural class, 2003); New Agenda Northeast Women’s Hall of Fame; and the Vermont State Athletic Directors Association (VSADA) Distinguished Service Award.
More on Masse’s legendary career is available through the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted her in 2018.
