Henrietta Hay's Column

Idly flipping TV Channels on a quiet afternoon can turn up some interesting things. Recently quite by accident I tuned into a pair of games in an N.C.A.A. basketball tourney. But these were not the Final Four stars playing, the ones we watch most often. These were the college women, and I marveled at the change in the game since I played it at Colorado University in the dark ages.

These women from Penn State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Iowa were superb athletes. The play was every bit as fast as that in the men's games and the athletes' skill was as great. Watching a young woman who looked as thought she might weigh about a hundred pounds dripping wet casually sink a three pointer was incredible.

Women's basketball at C. U. in the thirties was a bit different. I'm sure we were as enthusiastic and as physically competent as the women today, but the rules-makers didn't think so. It amuses me to see the expressions on the faces of my very young friends when I tell them that we did not have the run of the court. There were two big wide lines, which divided it into three completely isolated sections. The guards stayed in one section, the center in the middle one, and the forwards in the third. Woe unto the guard who got a rebound and stepped over the line in her efforts to get the ball to the forward. Since I could jump the highest, I was always the center. I did get lots of exercise being a forward when we had the ball and a guard when we didn't, but I had to stay in my little section of the floor.

I don't know why the rules were that way or exactly when they changed, but I have to assume that young women were being protected from excessive physical activity, which was thought to be somewhat harmful. I always suspected I was born thirty years too soon! We had a lot of fun, however, and got a lot of exercise in spite of the rules. The game we played had very little similarity to the game the women play today.

Women's sports have changed in many ways through the years. In my day they was no intercollegiate competition. I looked up an old C. U. annual for the year I graduated. The section labeled "Athletics" took up 22 pages. "Women's Sports" had three. It was a good program and we had a great time, but it wasn't a major activity. It's not that way now. Women's intercollegiate athletics today are very important, although they receive only a fraction of the financial support from the universities that the men's programs get. The progress has come hard and in many cases has required anti-discrimination suits. Anyway, women's games now rate bands and cheerleaders, a real switch when many of the cheerleaders are male. And the women athletes are highly trained and well coached.

This change has created a new working class - women coaches. In most televised athletic events, the only kind I ever watch, the male coaches project images, which are very individualistic - Dan Reeves in his suit and tie, Tom Landry's hat. But a woman coach has a different image problem. This is a fairly new world and she has to be careful. She is doing hard, physical work, but she has to look ladylike for the TV camera. She cannot appear masculine or she will be ridiculed. She cannot let her temper show or she will be called too aggressive. The women coaches of the games I watched had conquered the image problem. They were dressed in stylish; becoming dresses or suits, with skirts. They had very becoming hairdos. One was wearing pearls and one even had a pink bow at her neck. They were pure professionals, tough, intense and competent -- and attractive. After the games they were all shown with their children. These coaches, like their male counterparts, put on a great show.

There is one problem we didn't have in my youth. Nobody ever called us Lady Buffs. They didn't call us anything! I have been waging a campaign against using the expression "Lady Whatever's" to describe the women's teams, including Lady Mavs and Lady Buffs. I don't know for sure what a Lady Maverick would be, but a Lady Buffalo is a cow. While have nothing against cows, I don't think they play much basketball. I think the women athletes are entitled to more respect. I was proud of the Sentinel recently to see a headline, "Mav women look to keep the momentum."

Women's athletics have truly come a long way since my salad days, and I think the progress is long overdue.