Digital Extra

By SHERRY SKALKO
Journal-Bulletin Sports Writer

Kerry Giroux never really gave a thought to the candy and soda at the concession stand at the University of Rhode Island's Keaney Gym.

Why should she have? There were a trillion other things to think about this past season as she and her teammates on the URI women's basketball team were working toward the program's first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

But it was candy and soda that allowed Giroux, a 1992 graduate of West Warwick High School, and thousands of other high school girls in Rhode Island, to achieve their goals.

In 1970, two years before legislation was passed prohibiting schools that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of gender, the Rhode Island Interscholastic League granted a request to include girls' sports under its umbrella.

But there was one condition: They would have to support themselves.

Alice Sullivan, then a gym teacher at East Providence High, began selling candy and soda on folding tables at various events to provide the girls with the same basic provisions the boys had -- awards and uniforms.

"After we got permission to play, the uniforms were makeshift -- the same color shorts and T-shirts with numbers taped on or drawn on with chalk," Sullivan said, 25 years later.

Girls' competition in the Interscholastic League began in 1970-71 with two varsity sports and 24 teams. The skill level was little better than beginner.

Today, about 8,000 girls compete in 12 varsity sports of their own and 2 -- golf and ice hockey -- with boys. The top players are good enough to play for Division I colleges.

The progression of females in high school and college athletics was logical and inevitable, but not always easy.

"Administrators treated it like a field trip and just gave the girls a bus," Sullivan said. "A lot of coaches were phys ed teachers who didn't necessarily want to coach, but they did it because the girls wanted to play. The highest salary then was $300. The lowest was nothing, and there were many of them."

Lynn Sheedy, athletic director at Salve Regina University in Newport, graduated from Warwick Veterans in 1976 and rode the wave of change in girls' athletics, becoming one of the first female high school players from Rhode Island to reach the Division I college ranks when she suited up for Providence College in 1976.

When Sheedy began playing at Warwick Vets, the girls' basketball team practiced and played in the "girls" gym -- a regulation-size court and regulation height basket, but with dim lights, low ceilings and a wall only two feet out of bounds.

The situation didn't last long, Sheedy said. Thanks to her coach, Patti Downs, the girls practiced and played in the big gym, the "boys" gym, the one with the bleachers.

Besides people like Patti Downs, girls also had Title IX on their side, legislation that prohibited schools that received government funds from discriminating on the basis of gender.

Part of the improvement over the last 25 years has been an increase in teams and sports. Girls' coaches are now paid the same as their boys' counterparts.

Not everything is equal, however. Boys still get preferential treatment in basketball. Because Sunday is a non-practice day, teams elect not to play on Monday. Boys' teams play on Tuesday, have two days of practice, and play again on Friday. The girls' teams are left with a majority of their games back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Both sports can be accommodated," Sullivan said. "Right now, they are scheduled separately. But if one committee scheduled both, it could be worked out. We're heading in that direction."

"Fair and equal" takes on new meaning at the college level.

For the last four years, Brown University, as well as other colleges across the nation, has been wrestling with the issues raised by Title IX: Should coaches of women's sports be paid the same as coaches of men's sports, regardless of the revenue they generate? Should sports be available to women based on their proportion of the student body or on the number of women who want to compete?

As administrators, activists and athletes have found, there are no clear answers.

But while changes at the high school level occurred rapid-fire, it took several years before the voices of college women were heard.

When Sheedy first arrived at Providence College, the inequalities between the men's and women's basketball programs were evident, but female athletes didn't have a frame of reference to realize it.

"We were practicing in Alumni Hall and getting new sneakers. They would give us warmup suits and I'd say `What do I need this for, I have plenty in my closet,' " Sheedy said. "We didn't know enough to be ungrateful."

It wasn't until Sheedy became coach of the Lady Friars in 1983 that players vocalized their complaints.

Mary Burke, coach of Bryant College's women's basketball team, played for Sheedy after finishing an All-State career at Toll Gate High School. In the early 1980s, Toll Gate's girls' basketball team had the recognition and respect that comes with being one of the state's premier programs.

"At Toll Gate, we were all on the same level, so when I got [to PC] it was hard to understand why we didn't get the same amount of meal money. Why we only got 2 pairs of sneakers a year, but the men got 5 or 7 or 10, that was an adjustment," Burke said. "But what it was -- they brought in a million dollars a year and we were expected to be happy with what we got."

The basketball court is more even now. At Providence College, women's coach Bob Foley has the same number of full-time assistants as does men's coach Pete Gillen. If the men's team flies to a game at Villanova, so does the women's.

Giroux, who is graduating from URI in May with a degree in physical eduation, hasn't had to confront issues head-on the way Burke and Sheedy have. Instead, the differences she notices are more subtle and more difficult to change.

"Media and fan recognition," for instance, Giroux said. "Last year, the men won 7 games and we were one of the top teams in the Atlantic 10. [The men] still had three times as many fans in the stands, and even if they lost a meaningless game on the road they'd be on the front page the next day."

Even so, Giroux said, that is the reality. The main objective for her and her teammates was to achieve their goal, no matter who was watching.

Reality is harsher for women athletes at the end of their college careers.

"When it's over, it is in fact over," said Burke. "You give so much to something you love. It would be nice to be able to make a career out of it after, but there isn't anything there. You've got to take advantage and get a great education."

There is a professional basketball league for women in the works, but not much more of an effort has been made to create opportunities for women beyond their high school and college years.

"Have we come a long way? Absolutely," Sheedy said. "Do we have progress to make? Absolutely. It's going to take time, but we're headed in the right direction."

More Women in R.I. history