“Game-changer” girls’ sports complex planned in Newton County

Girls’ sports backers have plans to establish the first-of-its-kind $98 million sports leadership complex near Fair Oaks Farms in Newton County designed for girls in 12th grade-and-under. Named Marvella, the project is also planning a Title IX museum in honor of Indiana senator Birch Bayh, the author of the federal amendment that prohibited sex discrimination in education. He died in 2019 at age 91. The sports complex is named after Bayh’s wife who inspired him to draw up the legislation after witnessing her own difficulties getting accepted into college. Marvella Bayh died from breast cancer in 1979.