The 35 minutes between their births is about all that separates identical twins Charleda and Maralee Foss.

Both of them, who turn 80 in July, were active girls who grew up in an era where girls’ sports were virtually nonexistent.

When they grew up, both were determined to do something about it.

In 1961, Char started the first girls softball program in Coeur d’Alene.

In 1969, Maralee started the women’s athletic program at North Idaho College.

So it’s only natural that both are entering the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame together. They will be inducted tonight at the 54th North Idaho Sports Banquet, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Best Western Plus Coeur d’Alene Inn.

Look at girls sports now.

“It’s so big, it’s wonderful,” said Char, the older twin. “Back then, if you’d have thought anything on TV would have been girls sports you would have had a heart attack.”

“It means more to me that Char is finally getting recognized for starting softball,” Maralee said. “It means a great deal to me, because I’m the one that started the program at NIC.”

Born in 1937 in Harrison, Char and Maralee graduated from Coeur d’Alene High in 1956 and went on to attend BYU.

While in Utah, they were exposed to “play days” at the area’s biggest colleges.

“That’s all we had,” Char recalled. “It was a one-day event. BYU had basketball, Utah and Utah State would come. Utah had volleyball and Utah State had softball. Those were the three big events of the year.”

Other than the occasional intramural program, that was about it for women’s sports.

Back from school, Char was hired by Red Halpern at the Coeur d’Alene Recreation Department in ’61 to start a girls softball program in the city.

“We had 12 teams that first year,” she said. “It was absolutely wonderful; the kids wanted it so bad, some of them lied about their age ... they had to be 10, and I know some of them told me later that they lied about their age because they wanted to play. They wanted something so bad.”

In the late 1960s, Char coached at Coeur d’Alene High, and Maralee coached at Rogers. In the pre-Title IX days, the twins would arrange volleyball and tennis matches, as well as basketball games between their teams.

“They had no skills. There was no such thing as power volleyball. it was a bump-bump game,” Char recalled. “We’d have them practice receive-set-spike, but it took a long time. ... I did a game with Alice Devers at Lakeland, and her team was mad because Maralee was officiating, and she didn’t like us calling illegal hits. So Maralee said, ‘What illegal hits do you not want me to call?’ After that, they beat us, because she quit calling illegal hits.”

Char then went on to Borah High in Boise, which had started girls basketball the year before. She started the volleyball program there.

“And again it was bump-bump-bump,” she said. “And I made my team practice bump-set-spike ... I came back to Coeur d’Alene three years later, and my girls (at Borah) told me they won because they had been practicing the right skills. I was pretty proud.”

Meanwhile, Maralee was coaching volleyball, basketball and tennis at NIC.

“It was hard, because at that time the gymnasium was occupied by a lot of community activities,” Maralee recalled. “Every Tuesday and Thursday night they had some sort of community activity — a film or something. And that was the only nights we could practice. It was hard scheduling the games around the times available in our own gym.

“We only really got to practice twice a week that first year. Ten years later, it got better. It’s a whole different ballgame now.”

Maralee coached some accomplished tennis teams at NIC in the late 1970s.

Back then, NIC’s women’s teams were members of the Pine League, along with Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Whitworth and Spokane Community College.

“In the beginning, I had two volleyball teams, and when the varsity was playing I coached. But when the JV was playing, I had to officiate.”

Each team was required to supply an official, and back then many teams had just the one coach. Both Char and Maralee took an officiating class as freshmen at BYU, and by then were nationally rated officials.

“And in basketball, you were expected to officiate if you have free time.”

Long since retired, Char and Maralee keep active by playing golf three times a week, including in a 9-hole and an 18-hole league. Char has won six club championships and has three holes-in-one. Maralee has one club championship and has been inches from an ace.

Both look back at those early days of girls’ and women’s sports with pride.

“The greatest honor is that we were part of developing it,” Char said.

“Char, I call her the Pied Piper for girls softball in Coeur d’Alene,” Maralee said. “I think Char starting softball set the pace. ... I’m thankful that Char is being honored for softball, because she influenced thousands of kids in this city for 10 years.”