High School Girls Find Dance Doesn’t Last in Sports : End of the Line

“Sports is a man’s domain. It’s one of the last places women will be leaders.”

--Billie Jean King

A group of teen-aged male fans, reclining in the stands of the Simi Valley High gym, were unanimous in their condemnation of the athletic endeavors of Lisa Leslie, a 6-4 center on Morningside High’s girls basketball team. Leslie had just rerouted another in a series of Simi Valley shots into the vicinity of the foyer, and Morningside easily was bringing Simi Valley’s most successful season to an inglorious end.

The running dialogue continued as Morningside buried Simi Valley, 68-37, in a Southern Section 4-A quarterfinal playoff game during the recently completed season. As Morningside piled up the points, the critics piled on the abuse.

From shoe size to steroids, the group dissected, disemboweled and declared dead and buried the visiting team from Morningside.

Then they started in on the home team.

These were the kind of guys who reason that girls basketball, in terms of the level of skill, is roughly akin to curling, the sport with the broom. And for that matter, they’d rather see these girls employing the broom for more domestic uses. After witnessing a fast-break turnover, these critics joked that the girls would be better off serving turnovers at breakfast, and dishing off plates rather than assists.

Yuk, yuk. Yawn. So who brought the No - Doz?

What the commentary underscores is the regard in which women’s sports are held throughout much of the nation. Although the proliferation of college and professional athletics has made the sports section heavier than your average unabridged dictionary, women’s sports still are relegated to the small print on the back page, sandwiched between the fish count and the Division III crew results.

It isn’t funny and it might not seem fair, but despite inroads in some areas of women’s athletics over the past decade, it’s a fact of life that in sports, it’s still a man’s, man’s, man’s, man’s world.

“I wish there were more opportunities,” Simi Valley forward Paula Cooper said. “I know there are a lot of girls out there who could do well, but a lot of them won’t get the chance. Sometimes it doesn’t seem very fair.”

The best of the male high school players go on to a Division I school, post some eye-popping statistics, pick up a nickname like “Air Sweetness,” get drafted by the NBA, sign a seven-figure contract or endorse products for a shoe company or clothing outlet, then retire to become a coach or a public-relations adviser at some Fortune 500 company.

The best of the girls--in most circumstances--land a scholarship, play four seasons in relative anonymity and earn a diploma and a pat on the back at graduation. There are no professional basketball leagues, and, consequently, few lucrative contracts or endorsements.

When the women graduate, instead of being asked how many points they scored per game, it’s more likely that they’ll be asked how many words they type per minute.

The ones who play know it’ll never be for pay. For many of the Valley’s best--their high school careers now complete--basketball simply has become the means to an end.

“You know, beyond college ball, there’s really not that much more in it,” Cooper said. “In the end, what I’m really playing for is a college education.”

Cooper, a Marmonte League co-MVP last year and a second-team Times All-Valley pick this season, is a 5-10 forward who averaged 14 points and nine rebounds for Simi Valley (23-4). Cooper has been contacted by several California schools, including Cal State Northridge, Pomona-Pitzer, Fresno Pacific and the University of San Diego. Whichever school she chooses will be the conduit to an education in physical education and, possibly, a crack at coaching.

But job opportunities for women are more scarce than for men. In basketball alone, a man’s options seem limitless, especially by comparison.

Currently, three professional men’s leagues are flourishing in the country--the Continental and National Basketball Assns., and the U.S. Basketball League. Abroad, countries including Greece and Italy have leagues that afford an opportunity to many collegiate expatriates who don’t make professional rosters stateside.

For players who wish to pursue coaching, men have most of the market cornered. A recent Brooklyn College study indicates that during the 1977-78 season the percentage of women among college coaches in women’s basketball was 79.4%. Eight seasons later, that percentage has fallen to 61%. In all intercollegiate women’s sports combined, women hold 50.6% of the head coaching positions, down from 58.2% in 1977-78. Of 24 women’s collegiate sports surveyed in the report, the number of women coaches grew in only six.

The ratio is more lopsided at the local high school level. Of the Valley’s 16 girls basketball teams in the City Section, 10 were coached by men this season. Of the three Valley teams that reached the City finals, two were coached by men. Kennedy High, arguably the area’s most successful team after winning two straight girls 4-A City titles, is coached by Craig Raub.

It’s no revelation that men also have a lock on the officiating. In the pool of eligible basketball referees used by the City, roughly 1% are female.

“Maybe 8, 9, 10 out of a group of 1,000,” said Bob Herrold, the City coordinator of athletic officials.

Meanwhile, the wallets of many top male players are growing much thicker. In terms of generating revenue outside basketball itself, men are making millions through advertising contracts. Michael Jordan of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls reportedly makes four times as much money through his advertising contracts each year as he does from his team salary, estimated at $1 million per season.

Even those male players without instant name recognition or professional contracts often make contacts. At schools with alumni associations or other support groups, male players often make the connections with the big-bucks boosters, contacts they’ll use to find employment after their careers have ended.

Men’s basketball programs typically receive more funding than do the women’s programs. At Pepperdine, a private institution in the NCAA Division I West Coast Athletic Conference, the women’s basketball team has nine full scholarships. The men’s team has the NCAA maximum of 15.

But progress is being made in some quarters. At Cal State Northridge, a publicly funded Division II school, men’s scholarships outnumbered women’s by a ratio of 4 to 3 in 1986. In basketball, however, there is fiscal equality in the recruiting budgets and scholastic aid accorded players. The men’s and women’s basketball teams at CSUN both have 4 1/2 scholarships to distribute among the players.

“Here it’s very, very equal,” said Leslie Milke, the CSUN women’s basketball coach. “But I don’t think it’s that way at many other schools.

“This is the way it should be. We shouldn’t have to ask permission if we want to take a recruiting trip. If we want to go somewhere, we go. There are others who aren’t very happy about it, and coaches at other schools in our conference that don’t think our advantage is very fair,” said Milke, who played at CSUN from 1975-79 and has been on both sides of the fence as player and coach.

Much of what is currently available to women is the result of a federal attempt to achieve equality in sports. Participation by females in high school and college sports has grown markedly since the passage of Title IX, a portion of the Congressional Education Amendments Act of 1972, in which the federal government guaranteed females greater access to sports by prohibiting sex discrimination at federally funded schools and universities.

In the 15 years since the guidelines were implemented, involvement at the high school level has increased from 300,000 female athletes to 1.8 million and from 16,000 to 92,000 in college. But the same gains made on the playing fields haven’t carried over to positions of authority: Whereas women comprised 90% of the coaching and administrative jobs in women’s collegiate sports in 1972, by 1986 the number has fallen to 50.6% in coaching and 15% in administration, according to NCAA statistics.

For the moment, the statistics most area players are concerned with are scoring and rebounding averages, and what those numbers will mean in terms of scholarships and financial aid. After all, with four years in the college ranks on the horizon, decisions of what to do after college graduation seem a long way off. For the short term, a jersey and a chance to play are enough.

Diane DeCree, a 6-0 center from two-time City champion Kennedy High, will attend Texas A & M in September. DeCree averaged 18.6 points and 16 rebounds this season and was named to the All-City team for the third straight year.

“I didn’t really start thinking about a scholarship until my junior year,” DeCree said. “But now it’s something I’m really pointing to. I’d like to play, graduate and then maybe get into coaching. I really like kids.”

Other area players will continue for the sheer enjoyment, with no expectations beyond the short-term gratification of the perfect bounce pass or participation in a no-strings-attached program.

“I’ve always wanted to play, mainly because I enjoy it,” said Jenny Beubis, a senior at Alemany. “It’s fun, and it keeps you in good shape.”

Recreation is a key for many. Beubis is one of the few who’ll play collegiate basketball for the sheer enjoyment. In the fall, Beubis, a 5-7 off-guard who averaged 16 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5 assists per game, will attend Columbia University where she’ll participate in a work-study program, receive a partial grant, and cover some of the remainder of the tuition with a student loan.

In her spare time she’ll play basketball for a school that doesn’t offer scholarships or require players to sign letters of intent. Beubis turned down scholarship offers from San Jose State, Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine to pursue a business degree at the Ivy League school. If all goes as planned, Beubis plans to semi-retire after receiving her diploma sometime around the year 1992.

Julie Arlotto, a two-time co-MVP of the Marmonte League, feels the sweat and the 6 a.m. workouts after night games are beginning to pay off, so there’s no quitting now.

“I’ve always planned on going on to college, it’s part of what I worked for,” Arlotto said. “Wherever it is I go, it’s most likely that I’ll play.”

The transition to college has forced a few to think twice about what the future holds. But the lure of the game supersedes any apprehension about what lies around the corner.

“For a while, I did consider not playing after high school,” Cooper said. “But I’ve always been involved in athletics, it’s in my background. I’m not sure what it’s going to be like at college, or how well I’ll do once I get wherever I’m going. But I enjoy it too much to stop. Shoot, I’m playing four nights a week during open gym right now.”

And four years from now, Cooper will know whether her decisions were well-advised.