Gabrielle Douglas

Today Tuesday August 7, 2012 the AWOD is Gabrielle Douglas, the first African American to win a gold medal in the Gymnastics individual all-around event. She also won a team gold medal for the U.S. at the 2012 Summer Olympics with teammates Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, McKayla Maroney and Jordyn Wieber.

American gymnast Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas, better known as Gabby Douglas or "Flying Squirrel," was born on December 31, 1995, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins. Her first experience with gymnastics came at the age of 3, when she perfected a straight cartwheel using a technique that she learned from her older sister, Arielle, a former gymnast. By age 4, Douglas had taught herself how to do a one-handed cartwheel.

Thanks to Arielle's persuasion tactics, Douglas's mother allowed her to begin taking formal gymnastics classes at the age of 6. Only two years later, in 2004, she was named a Virginia State Gymanstics Champion.

When Douglas turned 14, she left her hometown and family, and moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with renowned coach Liang Chow, known for molding American gymnast Shawn Johnson into a world champion and Olympic gold medalist. Travis and Missy Parton volunteered to be Douglas's host family in West Des Moines: According to Douglas's official website, she plays big sister to the Parton's four daughters, one of whom is also a student of Chow's.

Douglas was a member of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the team finals at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. She also won the 2012 Olympic Trials, which took place in San Jose, California, and was selected to the national team to represent the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

Her unique blend of power, flexibility, body alignment and form has led her to be compared with three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes. Douglas is the first African American to make the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team since Dawes in 2000. Douglas's high-flying skills and high difficulty score on bars enticed her to U.S. women's national team coordinator Martha Karoyli, who nicknamed her "Flying Squirrel."

Congratulations to Gabby for her groundbreaking achievement and for being an inspiration to all little girls out there who now believe their dreams can come true!

Dorothy Schroeder

Today Tuesday July 17, 2012 the AWOD is Dorothy Schroeder born in Champaign, Illinois April 11, 1928. I was inspired from our recent trip to the Louisville Slugger Museum/Factory. I have always been a baseball fan and I played softball my entire childhood and continued into adulthood. You may know Dottie from one of my favorite movies of all time “A League of their own”. Dottie was played by Gina Davis and I must say the casting was spot on, she looks just like her! There was a display at the factory of a uniform from the “All American Girls Professional Baseball League” and a photo of “Dottie”.

The youngest player in AAGPBL history, Dorothy “Dottie” Schroeder was 15 years old when she started her professional career with the South Bend Blue Sox. She holds the record for most games played (1,249) and was the only woman to play in all 12 seasons of the AAGPBL. She racked up the most career RBI’s in the league with 431, and was also a stellar shortstop described as a “vacuum”. Schroeder, who never married, is one of the few All-Americans pictured individually in the exhibit on Women in Baseball at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was created in 1988. She lived the rest of her life in her homeland of Champaign, working for Collegiate Cap & Gown Company for 36 years until retiring in 1993. She died three years later, at the age of 68, following complications of a brain aneurysm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Schroeder

Pat Summitt

I am by no means a basketball fan, I never played the sport, I never watch the sport, and it just simply does not interest me. However, there are some people that just transcend their chosen sport. There are some people who can make a difference in others lives through the sport they love, those people are worth learning about. I had heard of this woman in the past, she intrigued me then and I am even more impressed by her now, so I would like to introduce you to her.

Today Tuesday April 24, 2012 the WOD is Pat Summitt born on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division. You can not find another basketball coach who transformed and legitimized her sport more than Summitt. No other basketball coach whose legacy exceeds hers.

When Summitt was in high school, her family moved to nearby Henrietta, so she could play basketball in Cheatham County because Clarksville did not have a girls team. From there, Summitt went to University of Tennessee at Martin where she was a member of Chi Omegaand won All-American honors, playing for UT–Martin's first women's basketball coach, Nadine Gearin. In 1970, with the passage of Title IX still two years away, there were no athletic scholarships for women. Each of Summitt's brothers had gotten an athletic scholarship, but her parents had to pay her way to college. She later co-captained the first United States women's national basketball team as a player at the inaugural women's tournament at the 1976 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal. Eight years later in 1984, she coached the U.S. women's team to an Olympic gold medal, becoming the first U.S. Olympian to win a basketball medal and coach a medal-winning team.

The winningest coach in college basketball history was diagnosed with early-stage dementia last year, but remained on the Lady Vols' sideline for one more season, leading the team to the Elite Eight.

You can make the argument -- without apology or hesitation -- that Pat Summitt is the greatest college basketball coach of our time. At the very least, she's in the starting five. And it's not because she won more games than any other Division I coach from A (Geno Auriemma) to K (Mike Krzyzewski) to W (John Wooden). Or that she has the same number of national championships as Krzyzewski and Adolph Rupp combined. Or that in the 31 years there's been an NCAA women's basketball tournament, her team has been in it every year -- and won eight times. Greatness isn't measured simply by victories. It is measured by the depth and width of a coach's impact on the sport itself, on the players, on the university they represent.

The winningest coach in college basketball history was diagnosed with early-stage dementia last year, but remained on the Lady Vols' sideline for one more season, leading the team to the Elite Eight. The legendary women's basketball coach stepped down Wednesday April 18th after 38 seasons at Tennessee. Summitt ends her brilliant career with a record of 1,098-208, winning eight national titles, and reaching 16 Final Fours. Her 1997-98 championship squad finished 39-0, and she led the 1984 US women's team to the Olympic gold medal.

Her son, Ross Tyler Summitt (b. 1990) has been hired as an assistant coach for the Marquette University women's team effective with the 2012–13 season. In what ESPN.com columnist Gene Wojciechowski called "a bittersweet irony", Tyler's hiring by Marquette was announced on the same day his mother announced her retirement.

"I've loved being the head coach at Tennessee for 38 years, but I recognize that the time has come to move into the future and to step into a new role," –Pat Summitt.

Kathrine Switzer

Today Tuesday April 3, 2012 The WOD is Kathrine Switzer the woman who challenged the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to officially enter and run the event. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official tried to forcibly remove her from the competition.

Switzer has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities and equal sport status for women.

That career has included creating programs in 27 countries for over 1 million women that led to the inclusion of the women's marathon as an official event in the Olympic Games, changing forever the face of sports, health and opportunities for women around the world.

The "Boston Incident" also inspired Kathrine to become a good athlete: She has run 35 marathons, won the 1974 New York City Marathon, and ran her personal best of 2:51.33 by finishing 2nd in the 1975 Boston Marathon. At the time, this was the 6th best women's marathon time in the world, and 3rd in the U.S.A.

Billie Jean King

Today’s WOD is Billie Jean King (born Billie Jean Moffit) November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California.

Her father was a Fireman and her mother a homemaker, her younger brother Randy became a major-league pitcher. Billie was an exceptional softball player. Her father and mother did not think playing shortstop was “ladylike” so they encouraged her to take up tennis because it also involved running and hitting a ball. She saved $8.29 in a Mason jar to buy her first tennis racquet, using nail polish to hold its fraying strings together. Billie said, "I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life," She told her parents that someday she would be the best tennis player in the world…and that she was…Tennis was the game that would change her life and the lives of other women.

History has recorded all King accomplished in furthering the cause of women's struggle for equality in the 1970s. She was instrumental in making it acceptable for American women to exert themselves in pursuits other than childbirth.

Being a child of the 1970’s Billie Jean was my first feminist role model. Having been an athlete as a child, she was a shining light leading the way for equality on and off the playing field. She has long been a champion for social justice and equality. She created new inroads for both genders in and out of sports during her legendary career and she continues to make her mark today. Billie Jean King is a breaker of boundaries; a "shero," to use her word.

In 1967 she was selected as "Outstanding Female Athlete of the World". In 1972 she was named Sports Illustrated "Sportsperson of the Year", the first woman to be so honored; and in 1973, she was dubbed "Female Athlete of the Year".

But, by far, her most memorable accomplishment was when she humiliated Bobby Riggs and single-handedly advanced women’s right by leaps and bounds by doing so. I was young but I clearly remember the rivalry, the challenge Bobby Riggs presented and Billie handing him his ass. The 1973 match was dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes” and it captivated and changed the world. Her victory forever altered the way mothers and fathers viewed their daughters and how daughters viewed themselves. I remember it being a pivital moment in my childhood, I remember how proud I was to be a girl. I was 6yrs old and I will never forget the impact that had on me.

When she retired from professional tennis in 1984, King had logged 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles, including a record 20 at Wimbledon. King was a courageous pioneer in elevating women's sports, successfully fighting for equal prize money for men and women tennis players and helping create a world of opportunity for all female athletes. She was the first woman athlete in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in a season. In 1974, she became the first woman to coach a professional team containing men. King was part of the first women's professional tennis tour and signed a $1 contract to play in it, clearing the way for the birth of women's professional tennis as we know it today.

She founded the Women's Tennis Association and was its first president. She was also the first woman commissioner in the history of professional sports. Billie Jean founded the Women's Sports Foundation, Women's Sports Magazine and co-founded World TeamTennis, a groundbreaking co-ed professional tennis league, and World TeamTennis Recreational League, a nationwide, grassroots co-ed tennis program.

Beyond being one of the greatest female athletes in the world, King has always been a tireless fighter for women's rights. She was a champion of Title IX, legislation that equalized opportunities for women on and off the playing field. A champion for social change and equality, she has continued to help the underserved. She is a director of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (he wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" for her,) on the Board of Trustees of the Women's Sports Foundation and has launched an environmental initiative called GreenSlam to encourage more ecologically responsible practices in the sports industry.

As far as Billie’s personal life, she admits that she was not aware of her homosexuality as a teenager, like most kids. She tried the whole marriage thing but was not happy. There was a big scandal when she was discovered having a relationship with another woman. She was embarrassed and was forced to “come out” as a lesbian, but once she did, she became an advocate for lesbian and gay rights. Although King says coming out publicly as a lesbian was her "longest, hardest journey," she has become an international leader in seeking recognition and equal rights for gays and lesbians.

“Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.” --Billie Jean King

Margot Dydek

I could say I picked her this week because she’s a beautiful, talented and successful role model. However, in truth, the fairy tale like fascination with someone who is MORE THAN TWO FEET TALLER THAN ME is too tempting to resist. For that reason, today’s Awesome Woman of the Day is Margot Dydek.

Małgorzata Dydek (28 April 1974 – 27 May 2011), known as Margo Dydek in the United States, was a Polish international professional basketball player. Standing 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) tall, she was famous for being the tallest active professional female basketball player in the world. Dydek weighed 223 pounds and had a 7-foot wingspan, yet was distinguished by a grace and agility that belied her size. In 2001, she was the league leader in defensive rebounds, with 214.

Dydek was drafted 1st overall in the 1998 WNBA Draft by the Utah Starzz. She played 10 full seasons of U.S. professional basketball before resuming her career across Europe and was a member of the Polish Olympic team at the Sydney Games in 2000, Dydek currently holds the record for most blocks in a WNBA career, with 877 blocks in 323 games.

Margo Dydek was born in WarsaW to a 6'7" father and a 6'3 mother. She had two sisters, her elder sister, Kashka (6'7") used to play for the Colorado Xplosion of the now defunct ABL, and in Poland. Her younger sister (standing 6'6") graduated from the University of Texas-El Paso where she played basketball and played in Spain professionally in the 2000s. Her mom, Maria Dydek was a seamstress and made all of the family’s out-sized clothes. Popular with players and fans, Margo spoke five languages and was affectionately called Large Marge by teammates.

Dydek, incidentally, was also the leader in flagrant fouls and suspensions some seasons. But she calls herself a good girl. Is it her fault that she looms large in the low post, she wonders. Each of Dydek's flagrants (and suspensions) has come, she insists, as a result of her elbows being face-level with most players in the league. "It's not intentional," she says. "Most times, I don't even see the other player coming." Ouch!

On May 19, 2011, Dydek, at the time pregnant with her third child, suffered a severe heart attack and was placed in a medically induced coma at a Brisbane hospital. She had been working as a coach for the Northside Wizards in the Queensland Basketball League. Dydek collapsed at her home in Brisbane and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. She never regained consciousness and died eight days later on May 27, 2011.[5] As Dydek was early in her pregnancy, the fetus also died.Rest in peace, Large Marge.

OK, now that I’ve outwardly expressed my deep-seated childhood fantasies with giants, let’s get to the real issues. Why is women’s basketball commonly considered “boring”? As a Duke alumni, I know well that the Blue Devils get far more attention than the “Lady” Blue Devils. The ratings gap in viewership of college and pro games and subsequent gendered wage gap in star players’ salaries seem to support this. But have money and popularity ever ben any indication of quality? And many viewers felt the 2011 NCAA women’s basketball final was much more exciting & exhilarating than its counterpart. So, are women naturally inferior athletes to men who can dunk? Or is this society’s sexism at play? Certainly their defensive skills are superior. But are we using an androcentric yardstick? What are your thoughts?

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