Theresa M. Walker
Knoxville, Tennessee (AP) — Some women’s basketball giants say it’s not Title IX.The door to paving the way for a Hall of Fame career, both inside and outside the courtroom, would not have been opened, but a complacency warning sounds about the future of the law.
Director Masha Sharp goes one step further when talking about the importance of Title IX.
“I think it’s the title IX law., You can say that it is the most influential information in the 20th century, “said Sharp, who led Sheryl Swoopes and Texas Tech to the 1993 National Championships. “And I know that civil rights works were really huge, but you affected half of our population.
“Title IX gave women a full opportunity, and it was a really great time to see the growth of the sport.”
Sharp, a 2003 member, joined Debby Ryan, who was inducted into the 2008 Hall of Fame, and Debby Antonelli, a recent member pair. Carol Stiff — Talked to The Associated Press about the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking law. Stiff, a basketball player and coach, has become a television executive called Title IX.
“Without Title IX, we wouldn’t know where we were today,” Stiff said.
The game icon also agrees that more work remains after 50 years.
“There are many fights, but we aren’t fighting them,” said Ryan, who coached Virginia in three consecutive final fours. “And that’s one of the problems. I think it’s going to be harder for coaches to put themselves there because of the money coming into the game. And if you know who will win, you don’t do that much. think.”
At least one of Ryan’s ex-players is straightforward. Dawn Staley, currently the highest paid coach at the Southeastern Conference, Front and center Help fight for fairness Leading South Carolina to two national championships.
For Sharp and Ryan, they reached the pinnacle of women’s basketball through the early days of Title IX.
Sharp played at the University of Texas Wayland Baptist and offered scholarships as early as the 1950s when a local company jumped into the game. So while most women’s programs could only dream of flying to road games, there was nothing new to Sharp when she became a coach at Texas Tech in 1982. Sharp’s Red Raiders have fulfilled their national schedule on flights to Tennessee and Stanford.
In Virginia, Ryan had to wake up to drive the van home from the road game. Virginia started with one scholarship for basketball, and the first player left a year later to take care of his sick father. In 1978, Dori Gamble shared her scholarship with Hall of Famer Val Ackerman, now Big East Commissioner and WNBA’s first president.
Using Title IX meant choosing a fight to get more athlete gear, equipment and equipment for female athletes.
One of Ryan’s biggest battles was the athletic bra.
Virginia will not buy them for all women’s sports until Ryan submits a study on women’s health and a petition endorsed by all coaches, including football coach George Welsh. I quoted a price of $ 32 per piece. After she won, Pat Summitt, Kay You, Jody Conradt and Tara VanDerve all sought guidance to carry out their fight.
And perhaps surprisingly for many, the athletic bra battle continues.
“Even today, female athletes aren’t offered in regular gear athlete bras,” Ryan said. “They aren’t offering it at all, it’s ridiculous, and it’s crazy that they aren’t funded enough to buy them.”
Antonelli, who played basketball for Yow at North Carolina State University, began the first television broadcast of women’s games at Ohio State University in the 1990s as a marketing director, boosting his career as a broadcaster for more than 30 years. She believes there is ample room for women’s sports to grow as long as the funds for diversity, equity and inclusiveness are properly used.
“It should go to women’s sports,” Antonelli said. “There are more opportunities for girls than they have ever played. Not all of them are playing my sport, but they are playing. And that’s important because of the value that sport brings. Because we know what it teaches. “
Increasing TV viewership is one of the next steps in women’s sports, Stiff said, and timeframes are important for their growth.
“If you build it, they’ll come,” said Stiff, who spent more than 30 years at ESPN, building a rivalry between Tennessee and UConn and broadcasting the school’s first conference in 1995. Migrated from ESPN2 to ESPN. why? It overestimated the NBA in that window for two years. 2 years. I overestimated the Friday night game, the NBA’s regular season. So move it and check the rating. “
Inducted into the 2021 Hall of FameStiff is currently participating in a Demand IX campaign with the Women’s Sports Foundation to educate people and get help protecting and supporting Title IX.
Sharp said education remains essential to Title IX, as the law is almost a victim of its own success. The coach just went to college or high school and asked the students about Title IX, and many said they didn’t know what that meant.
“Is that good? Sharp said, in a sense, because they didn’t have to fight those fights, which probably meant they felt equal in their lives. But on the other hand, if you get too far away from it, there will be some opportunities for people to stay on the course to do the right thing. “
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For more information on the impact of Title IX, read the full AP report: https: //apnews.com/hub/title-ix Video Timeline: https: //www.youtube.com/watch? v = NdgNI6BZpw0
