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Home , Alice Coachman, Althea Gibson, Ann Meyers, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Betty Jameson, Billie Jean King

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1 AN INTRODUCTION

GREAT WOMEN WHO OPENED DOORS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Richard Lapchick

As with all history these days, many people know the stories of a few important figures, often without much of the rich detail of their lives. Too frequently the people we know best are white men. Historically, racism and sexism have meant that the stories of people of color and women are far less well known. Sometimes when racism and sexism combine, they totally obscure the lives of women of color. This is true in society and in sport. This is why I have undertaken, along with Jessica Bartter, Ho- racio Ruiz, Sara Jane Baker, Catherine Lahey, Stacey Martin-Tenney, and Ryan Sleeper, to write this book about 100 women in sport who have been trailblazers for others. It is the third book in a series de- voted to shedding light on the lives of people whose life stories are important but are not well known. A revolution for women in sport started in the when, within 15 months of each other, Title IX of the Education Amend- ment Act was signed by President Richard M. Nixon on June 23, 1972, and -great defeated on September 23, 1973. The world of sports was never the same again. In 1970, one in 27 high school girls played a varsity sport com- pared to two out of five in 2008. In 1971 the 294,015 girls compet- ing in high school sports accounted for 7 percent of all high school varsity athletes. In 2007Ð08, the 3,057,266 girls competing accounted for 41.5 percent of all high school varsity athletes, reflecting a more than 900 percent increase since the Act’s enactment. At the college level, in 1971 there were 29,977 women compet- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 2

2 Introduction ing compared to 170,384 men. In 2006Ð07, there were 172,534 women and 233,830 men competing. Women had 42.46 percent of the college team slots in 2006Ð07. Before Title IX, female collegiate athletics received 2 percent of overall athletic budgets compared to approximately 40 percent today. A school with a football program is more likely to have a big- ger disproportion than those without a costly football program. In 1970, there was an average of 2.5 women’s teams per college. Today, the average is 9.28 women’s teams per institution. In 1972, 90 per- cent of women’s teams were coached by women, while in 2007Ð08, 42.8 percent of women’s teams were coached by men. In 2007, we published 100 Pioneers: African-Americans Who Broke Color Barriers in Sport. We recognized that almost everyone knew the story of and how his joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 began to change the face of American sports. We celebrate Jackie Robinson in every ballpark, his number has been re- tired, and there are regular ceremonies in his honor. When Ameri- cans are asked who the greatest racial pioneer in sport is, they most often mention Jackie Robinson’s name. Yet, few know names of the people who broke the barriers in the American League just a few months later, or in the National Football League (NFL), the National Association (NBA), or the National Hockey League (NHL), or who were the first African- American athletes to break down the barriers of segregation at the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 8/Big 12, and Ivy League conference schools. Some know about and in tennis, but few know the names of those who led the way in other sports. Many who know do not know . 100 Pioneers was designed as the second book in a series to tell readers just that. The series began at the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS). Because of the work that we do in the NCAS and the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, we have be- come all too aware of the problems that exist in sport. Each day we seem to read about a rule being violated, an getting in trouble with drugs, an athlete arrested for sexual assault, steroid use in base- ball, the NFL, or , the threat that gambling poses to college sports, or agents recruiting young athletes with illegal mon- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 3

Introduction 3 etary inducements. The list goes on and on. That is why it was so joyous for me when Dr. Taylor Ellis, the dean of undergraduate edu- cation in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida, came to my office February 2005. I had just finished a book called New Game Plan for College Sport and was frankly tired of writing. I vowed that I would not take up another book project for several years. Taylor changed all of that on the morning after the 2005 NCAS banquet. He came in, sat down, and said, “When I was a boy, I wasn’t focused and wasn’t liv- ing up to my potential.” He said, “Then someone gave me this book.” Taylor placed a well-worn copy of Barlow Meyers’s Real Life Sto- ries: Champions All the Way, published 45 years earlier, on my desk. He said, “Somebody gave me this book about seven athletes and the obstacles they overcame to do great things in life. This book trans- formed my life and gave me a sense of direction and hope.” Taylor said, “Every year you honor five or six such athletes at the Consor- tium’s award banquet. You have to write a book about them.” So came the idea for 100 Heroes: People in Sport Who Make This a Bet- ter World. I had to undertake the project in spite of my vow to the con- trary. This book could be, I thought, a real celebration of sport. It could portray the power of sport to transform not only individuals, but their impact on the broader society. I ran through my head the names of all the award winners I could recall and knew that their sto- ries would inspire people collectively who could not be in the pres- ence of these people in the halls when we honored them. With the 20th anniversary of the Consortium exactly a year away, I knew that we would have to work hard to get this project done. I enlisted the support of Jessica Bartter, who is the assistant di- rector for communications and marketing of the NCAS. We began to draw all of the names and addresses together and contact the previ- ous award winners who were still alive. Their support for the project was overwhelmingly positive. We began to collect the biographical materials and stories that were the basis for the awards. We also asked Drew Tyler, Stacy Martin, Jennifer Brenden, and Brian Wright, all graduate students in the DeVos Sport Business Management Pro- gram, to help write the individual stories. 100 Heroes was published in February 2006. I knew there was more to do. 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 4

4 Introduction

For 100 Pioneers we included the stories of the first African- American players, coaches, general managers, and team presidents in the various professional sports. We hoped to have the first African- American male and female student-athletes to compete in each of the (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 10, Big 8/Big 12, and Ivy League schools as well as the first African-American coaches and athletic directors in those con- ferences. We have John Thompson and Carolyn Peck, the first African-American coaches to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s and women’s basketball championships, respectively, and Ty Willingham, the first to coach in a Bowl Cham- pionship Series (BCS) Bowl Game. Included is Willie Jefferies, the first African-American Division I football coach, and Gale Sayers, the first African-American Division I athletic director. We also included those icons who did not neatly fit categories, such as Coach Eddie Robinson at Grambling State and renaissance man Paul Robeson. There were three “events” that shaped their times, including the clenched fist, black glove salute of and Tommy Smith at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics; the 1975 NBA Finals, when two African-American head coaches first faced each other for any championship; and the 2007 Super Bowl, when two African-American head coaches faced each other for the NFL title for the first time. 100 Pioneers was a mixture of historical research and inter- views with those who broke down color barriers on college cam- puses and in cities around the country. I believed sharing the inspir- ing life stories of those who paved the way for other people of color in the world of sports can continue to make this world a better place. Such important figures deserve a platform from which to tell their stories and share what their experiences have meant to them. I was part of a team of writers and researchers made up of my graduate assistants at the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Pro- gram in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida. As with 100 Heroes, the team was led by Jessica Bartter. The writers included Stacy Martin, Horacio Ruiz, Jennifer Brenden, and Marcus Sedberry. The editor was Catherine Lahey, and research support was offered by Zoie Springer. We were all proud to play a role by publishing these stories that include the ad- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 5

Introduction 5 versities each conquered, the decisions each faced, and the accom- plishments that each individual achieved. But we knew there was yet more to do and thus a new team, also led by Jessica Bartter, was formed to write about the women who blazed new trails in sport. The book is organized into two parts. The first covers the women who were the decision makers and organizational leaders whose courage and conviction helped open so many doors for others. This section includes the women who were presidents of the Asso- ciation for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), whose very success forced the NCAA to take over their work in putting on women’s collegiate championships and infusing women’s college sport with deep-seated values not apparent in men’s college sport. There are also the stories of the women who were athletic directors of departments with Division I-A football programs. Also included are the stories of and the Women’s Sports Founda- tion (WSF), Tina Sloan Green and the Black Women in Sports Foun- dation, Anita DeFrantz for her work with the Olympics, and as the first president of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). It was the lifelong commitment made by this group of women who fought the fight in the courts, in their colleges and universities, at the conference and NCAA levels, and in Olympic and pro sports. In many cases the great athletes, especially those who benefited from Title IX, might not have had the chance to compete. Many of the women discussed in the section on administrators were also great athletes. Yet, some could never show that on a wide stage. Then there were many athletes in the specific sports sections who also could have been profiled for the leadership they showed in advancing Title IX or in their leadership roles in the WSF, founded by Billie Jean King. Among those who have been presi- dent or leading board members of the WSF are Nancy Hogshead- Makar, , , Donna deVarona, Diana Nyad, and . There were many who succeeded the trailblazers in different sports who not only never had to think about fighting the fight for women’s rights but could think outside of the box as to what they could do competitively as female athletes. Annika Sorenstam played 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 6

6 Introduction in spots on the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tour. So did Michelle Wie. We had women coaching men’s Division I men’s bas- ketball teams and playing Division I-A football. There have been winning women in motor sports, as jockeys, and in the Iditarod sled- dog race. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, nearly 3,000 girls play high school football. On the level of men’s professional sports, women have been owners, team presidents, assistant general managers, referees, team physicians, trainers, and radio and television broadcasters. We are no longer thinking about exclusivity. In many ways, we owe that sea change of thinking to the administrators featured in 100 Trailblazers. The second part is on 11 of the sports in which women have been most successful and focuses on the trailblazers in each rather than the modern-day greats. There are rare exceptions to that, such as in tennis, where Serena and are featured along with Hazel Wightman, Margaret Osborne duPont, Billie Jean King, , Althea Gibson, Evonne Goolagong, and . It was, of course, in tennis where Billie Jean King’s victory over Bobby Riggs helped change all women’s sport for all females. Anything seemed possible after that magical day. There were women who were great at several sports who were hard to place. One early star was Eleonora Randolph Sears, whose full story is not included in this book. Before Annika Sorenstam was winning major after major on the links; before Venus and Ser- ena Williams were competing for titles; before was winning Indy Racing League competitions; and even before was flying across the Atlantic, Sears was par- ticipating in each of these sports, not to mention boating, football, hockey, boxing, skating, , and trap shooting! Not only was she participating, she was competing at a very high level. In fact, a 1910 magazine article proclaimed her “the best all-around athlete in American society.” Of all the sports she competed in, Sears seemed to take tennis and squash racquets most seriously. She captured four U.S. women’s doubles tennis championships. She won two titles with in 1911 and 1915, and two more with Molla Bjurstedt Mallory in 1916 and 1917. She also won the mixed dou- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 7

Introduction 7 bles championship in 1916 with Willis E. Davis. In addition, she was a two-time finalist for the national singles championship. Sears became the first woman to ever play squash racquets when, in 1918, she demanded that the local men’s-only club allow her to play on its courts. The game, now referred to simply as squash, is an indoor variation of tennis. Sears beat the best local male player the first time she ever played the game, inspiring women to take up tennis. In 1928, she won the first national squash racquets champion- ship for women. The mere fact that there was even a squash racquets championship for women was due almost entirely to Sears’s influ- ence. This is just one example of her impact on the growth of wom- en’s sports. In her era, Sears was called the trailblazer for women’s entrance into sports. was in a category by herself and was such a great all-around athlete that she could have been included in several sections of this book, including . However, you will find her in the track and field section. Of all the great women golfers, we have selected as our trailblazers Glenna Collett-Vare, , , , , Carol Mann, , JoAnne Carner, , and Annika Sorenstam. More recently, women from other countries have dominated the women’s tour. In the major 2008 championships, Mexican won the Kraft Nabisco, Chinese golfer Yani Tseng won the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championship, and South Koreans and Ji-Yai Shin won the U.S. and British Opens, respectively. In the figure skating section, we featured Sonja Henie, Mabel Fairbanks, , Jenkins, Katarina Witt, and Kristi Yamaguchi. There were so many phenomenal skaters in the second half of the 20th century that many in the 1990s and in the new millennium could not be included. We also featured for her domination of speed skating. The same was true for those whom we selected to feature as swimmers and divers, with Eleanor Holm, Florence Chadwick, , , , Mary Meagher Plant, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Diana Nyad, and as our swim- mers and and Pat McCormick as our divers. These swim- mers and divers set the way for today’s greats. At the 2008 Beijing 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 8

8 Introduction Olympics, the U.S. women’s team totaled 31 medals, including two gold, 18 silver, and 11 bronze. , Rebecca Soni and won the headlines and hearts of the fans. Like swimming, every four years, gymnastics becomes one of the world’s favorite sports and the Beijing Olympics proved to be no exception. The performances of American gold medal winners Nas- tia Liukin in the women’s individual all-around and Shawn Johnson in the women’s balance beam dominated the headlines. While there was an age controversy about how old the Chinese girls were, the level of performance of women’s team competition gold medalists Fei Cheng, Kexin He, Yuyuan Jiang, Shanshan Li, Yilin Yang, and Linlin Deng cannot be challenged. Gymnastics has a rich history that has often transcended nation- alism. The three women profiled in the gymnastics section became beloved across borders; , Nadia Comaneci, and were the sport’s antifreeze to the Cold War. Tennis, golf, figure skating, and gymnastics all have a rich his- tory and are sports where it generally was expensive to compete, which therefore made them largely the sports of the economically elite. The emergence of the more recent popularity of track and field, soccer, , basketball, and volleyball yield a slightly more mod- ern history and more inclusive list of competitors. Motor sports is in a unique category, as it is both expensive and perhaps the most white- male-dominated sport. There are more African-American women in our track and field section than any other. We included athletes Babe Didrikson Zaha- rias, , , Starr, , Mims, , Florence Grif- fith-Joyner, , Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Jackie Joyner- Kersee, , and Willye White and coaches , , and Beverly Kearney. Women’s soccer, propelled by Title IX, is now so popular in the that it is easy to forget this popularity is quite new and thus our trailblazers are more contemporary. They are Michelle Akers, , and Julie Foudy. The year 1996 is often talked about as the year of women in the Olympics. Women’s soccer and basketball were expected to be huge and they were. It was also time for softball to join the stage. Lisa Fer- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 9

Introduction 9 nandez, , Margie Wright, Sharon Backus, and Dr. Dot Richardson are among the historical stars of the game of softball. Donna Lopiano could have been included in this section, but her ad- vocacy efforts for Title IX and leadership at the WSF have her else- where in the book. Joyce, Wright, and Backus became legendary coaches. We have included the story of Effa Manley because she played such a unique role in . There are only a few women in 2008 with responsibilities of the magnitude that Manley had 60 years ago with her sport franchise. We also included Toni Stone be- cause she became the first woman to play professional baseball when she broke the gender barrier in a 1953 Negro League baseball game in Omaha. Choosing those to include in our basketball section was diffi- cult. In the end we picked coaches , Vivian Stringer, Tara VanDerveer, and Margaret Wade. The players are , Drysdale, , , and . Betty Jaynes is like the thread that runs through the modern story of women’s basketball. She was the long-time director and CEO of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). When I think about women and volleyball, I see two shining stars: and Misty May-Treanor. While we lost Flo Hyman when she was too young and May-Treanor may have successors in the wings, they both remain as inspirations. Finally, the motor sports industry historically has seemed to be the most exclusive white male club in sports. Tennis, golf, and swim- ming, the so-called country club sports, had the same label but slowly—very slowly—barriers began to fall. Then, on April 19, 2008, Danica Patrick won the race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and became the first woman ever to win an IndyCar race. It was a whole new world for women in motor sports. But she stood on the shoul- ders of the other two women in the section on motor sports: Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie. These three women are featured in 100 Trailblazers. The final part is the conclusion, with a look at the future of women in sport that has been created by these amazing historical trailblazers featured in this book. As I wrote in 100 Heroes, I recognized that sport reaches all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. Sport can be played compet- 100Tblzrs_Text.qxp 3/11/09 3:50 PM Page 10

10 Introduction itively or recreationally or sport can be watched and enjoyed as en- tertainment. We watch sports we never play and we play sports we never watch. Sport can help build friendships, families, respect, con- fidence, and character. Sport provides health benefits some medical professionals can only begin to understand. Most important, sport is unique in the boundaries it crosses with both its participants and its audience. Differences in gender, race, physical and mental abilities, age, religion, and cultures are ir- relevant in the huddle, on the field, in the gym, or in the water. Sport smashes these barriers like nothing else can. The athletes in 100 He- roes, 100 Pioneers, and 100 Trailblazers represent that better than anyone because of their own life experiences. Yet many of today’s young women as well as athletes of color do not realize how different their field looked 100, 50, or even 25 years ago. The history of race and gender in the United States may be studied by young Americans but too many cannot relate. But young people do relate to sport. By illustrating the history of Amer- ica’s racial and gender barriers through the vehicle of sport, the pic- ture may become clearer. It can be the role of those who lived it to educate the next generation and there will be no better time to do so than now. Young athletes who look up to Danica Patrick, Venus and Ser- ena Williams, Natalie Coughlin, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Lorena Ochoa, , LeBron James, and should know of those who came before them to pave the way. For without these pioneers and trailblazers, today’s heroes might still just be knocking at the doors.