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| | Thursday, December 21 Outside the Lines: 10 Years Later | |||||
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Outside The Lines - 10 Years Later
Bob Ley, Host - Sports, the multi-billion-dollar hero
industry, a culture of wealth and personality where athletic deeds can
lift an individual to icon, and at the very least place him in the
familiar society of sport where life revolves around a game.
It starts as a game in its purest and simplest form. But the
premium on achievement and excellent, exalted as uniquely American, is
learned early. Win just like the big boys do, where the payoffs are big,
the moment exhilarating.
Ley - Those were the words and images that began our first show 10
years ago. And with this, our seventy-fifth program, they continue to
capture our mission and the stories we bring you.
Welcome to Outside The Lines - 10 Years Later.
Now, we've reported from places as diverse as Vietnam, Moscow, and
Medellin, Colombia, brought fresh perspective to people such as Michael
Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Jackie Robinson. And so often, the story simply
comes down to the dream of sports up against the reality of life.
No story captured that more poignantly than this one from that
very first program, updated now by Jeremy Schaap and first reported by our
late colleague Pete Axhelm.
Unidentified Male - Youngton over to Dobbs. Dobbs back
to Drummer. Drummer inside from 10 feet, puts it away.
Sam Drummer, former basketball player - I try to remember the good
memories. I try not to remember the bad memories because then that only
puts me down. And I don't need to be down. I have enough of that already
because mainly I'm not where I really want to be.
Jeremy Schaap, ESPN correspondent - The Muncie,
Indiana, police say that 38-year-old Sammy Drummer was shot to death in
the early morning of February 4, 1995, in a botched attempt to purchase
crack. But in many ways, the Sammy Drummer of local legend, the Sammy
Drummer who could pick change off the top of backboards, had already been
dead for years.
Morry Mannies, Muncie Radio Announcer - Basketball was Sam
Drummer's life. That's what people knew him for. That's where he got his
reputation, because he was a great basketball player. And when that's
taken away, what is there?
Schaap - For Sammy Drummer, there wasn't much except frustration,
disappointment, and the words that always hovered after his playing days
ended, "what might have been."
Dick Minniear, Drummer's friend - There would be kids out there
watching him shoot and then come and ask for his autograph. I never saw
so many kids from away schools come up to him or even when we played at
home and ask for his autograph after the game.
Ron Lemasters, retired Sportswriter, "Muncie Star" - People from
the other team, they would just kind of stand around on the floor and
watch Sam warm up and with the slam dunks and just the smooth, graceful
manner that he had on the floor and just to watch him jump.
Gawen Wells, Drummer's industrial league teammate and Bonzi Wells' father - He was the ultimate ball player as far as his body. You know, you look at a guy's body, and you say, "Oh, man, he can play basketball."
Schaap - After moving with his family from Mississippi to Muncie
as a 10-year-old, Drummer quickly became a star on the local playgrounds.
Myron W. Dickerson, Drummer's high school coach - He could jump
out of the gym. That was back before the dunk was alLowed. And there
would be times when the kids would beg me to let him dunk the basketball
if we were 20, 30 points ahead. Even though it called for a tech, he
would do that once in a while.
Mannies - He just seemed to continue to go up. And then you could
put a stopwatch on him, the amount of time he seemed to be suspended in
the air. And I knew at that time he was going to be a special basketball
player.
Schaap - Bonzi Wells of the Portland Trailblazers grew up in
Muncie, where even today Drummer's playground acrobatics are the stuff of
legend.
Bonzi Wells, Trail Blazers guard - I'm hearing stories about Sam
Drummer touching the top of the backboard and snatching money off of it.
I mean, you might think somebody's just saying that to ad lib a little
bit. But I saw him jump. And he's one of the best high risers I ever saw
in my life.
Schaap - In 1975, as a senior at Muncie Northside, the
six-foot-five forward led the Titans to the state semifinals. Voted the
fourth best prep player in the U.S. by the "Louisville Courier Journal,"
Drummer was sought after by dozens of major programs, including Bob
Knight's Hoosiers. Ball State in Muncie wanted him desperately.
Mannies - The local businessmen got together a campaign to get Sam
Drummer at Ball State. And I'm not sure where the money came from, but
had a poster published, "Wanted - Sam Drummer for Muncie and Ball State
University."
Schaap - The big schools all knocked at his door too. But Roger
Banks, the most aggressive suitor representing tiny Gardner-Webb, knocked
the loudest.
Minniear - And then there was, all of a sudden there was a Camaro
that came on the scene. And I asked him about it.
And, of course, he felt -- he was cornered. I know he was
cornered. And so he didn't really -- I don't think he really told me the
truth. But that was the beginning of the end for him I felt.
Warren Vander Hill, Muncie basketball historian - What he did was
leave this whole community kind of shaking their heads about why he didn't
take other more wise advise and try to either at that point go to a junior
college and maybe transfer into a Big 10 school or a larger Division One
program rather than going down south to a place like Gardner-Webb.
Schaap - Drummer signed with Gardner-Webb, then an NAIA school in
Boiling Springs, North Carolina. But before he ever played a game at
Gardner-Webb, Roger Banks was hired at Austin Peay. And Drummer followed
him there.
Then Banks moved to Georgia Tech. And so did Drummer.
Dickerson - And to this day, I still believe if he had stuck with
IU, he would have probably played professional basketball because there
wasn't anything promised under the table. I mean, here's what we're going
to give you. We're going to give you an education.
Schaap - Even after two seasons at Georgia Tech, Drummer was
barely literate. When the Houston Rockets drafted him in the fourth round
in 1979, he thought he'd have little need for books. But Houston released
him during training camp.
G. Wells - He fell short because maybe he couldn't dribble the
ball. He could jump, do all these other things. But you go to the next
level, you can be the same size, but you've got to be able to dribble that
ball. I think that was the only flaw Sam had.
Schaap - Drummer signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. But they
released him after one year when he was arrested and imprisoned on drug
charges in Brazil.
Drummer spent years trying to get back into the game. But no one
wanted him.
Minniear - People had seen where he'd been and who he'd been with
and think, "OK, do we really want to take the time to work through this
process? Or are there 50 more people out there?" And he didn't get the
chance.
Schaap - In May, 1984, Sammy Drummer came home to
Muncie. Ball State, the school whose scholarship offer he had once
rejected, hired him as a janitor.
Among the duties, sweeping the floor of this gym where the
Cardinals then played.
Vander Hill - I would often say to people as kind of a local
story, it's 4 -00 in the afternoon during the basketball season at Ball
State. And the men's basketball team is out on the floor practicing. And
so I'd say to people, "Who's the best player in the gym?"
And they would pause and reflect and say, "Well, it's player A or
player B or player C" on the Ball State men's varsity. And I'd look at
them with a smile and say, "No, the best player in the gym is Sam
Drummer."
B. Wells - For a guy to go from where he went to, I mean, his
status, in Muncie, he was a God. You know, Sam Drummer this, Sam Drummer
that.
Lemasters - He was part celebrity and part tragic figure from the
standpoint of the untapped potential. I think people would see him around
Ball State. They'd say, "Hi, Sam. How are you doing?" And they would
walk away kind of shaking their heads, saying, "Man, he ought to be
playing basketball somewhere." But...
Mannies - I really miss seeing Sam Drummer in the gym. I just
wish I could have seen him with a basketball in his hand rather than a
broom.
Schaap - At the time he was murdered, Sammy Drummer
had been working at Ball State for 11 years. He was shot in the shadows
of the projects where he grew up within shouting distance of the
playground where his legend was born.
Dickerson - I told him that, "If they can buy you, then they can
sell you too. If you sell your soul to them, why, they'll be able to sell
you right down the drain."
Mannies - I think the wrong crowd got involved. And they used Sam
Drummer. I think that was the thing that was such a tragic thing.
Schaap - The schools that had used him from high school through
college never gave him the education he needed.
Drummer - I think the only thing that they was saying at that
period in time was basketball. And me, knowing, thinking, feeling that,
hey, I don't need it. I'm going to play professional ball. Now I look
back on that. Man, it just hurts.
Ley - Next, splashed across headlines every week, the dark side of
sports as reported by Outside The Lines - 10 Years Later.
Kevin Karlander, former captain, University of Vermont hockey team - I feel as though I came out of it as much of a winner as you can in a situation where there are no winners.
Judith Ramaley, President, University of Vermont - It is with deep
regret that I inform you of our decision. We are terminating the
1999-2000 UVM ice hockey season effective immediately.
Ley - The impact of a hazing scandal at the University of Vermont
continues to echo far beyond that state. As Outside The Lines reported
back in April, hazing charges by freshman goalie Corey LaTulippe led to
the midseason cancellation of Vermont's hockey season and also sparked a
national examination of that age-old practice.
LaTulippe sued in federal court after a night of preseason
initiation rights for freshman players. You should know that what follows
is a graphic description of what he alleged occurred that night at the
rented home of then-team captain Kevin Karlander.
Linda Murtie, Vermont Anti-hazing activist - The players were
asked to shave their genitals and wear a thong that they had gotten from a
female freshman. After they got there, they were -- I guess they had to
eat things like some kind of a fish pie until they vomited.
They had to do pushups naked and have their genitals dipped in a
glass of beer. And if you didn't do enough of them, you had to drink the
guy next to you, his glass of beer.
There was an elephant walk involved, which in that the players,
the freshmen, had to stand up and kind of hold on to each other's genitals
as the way an elephant would walk along.
Ley - Ten days later, LaTulippe, one of four goalies,
was told he would not see any playing time. He left school and filed
suit, seeking $350,000 in damages.
The school investigated the matter and later said that several
players had lied about the incident. The administration canceled the
remainder of the hockey season. A separate state inquiry later criticized
the school's handling of the matter and called for new anti-hazing laws.
William Sorrell, Vermont attorney general - So as of July 1 of
2000, Vermont has a law against it. It's a civil penalty. You can't go
to jail. But the fines range from hazing at the grade school level of a
few hundred dollars up to a couple of thousand dollars if it's at the
college level or above.
David Nestor, Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of Vermont - It's one thing for students to hear that there's a university policy that they may be in violation of. It's another thing to hear
there's both a university policy and a state law.
Ley - The story took a twist in May when LaTulippe in a deposition
retracted parts of the story, including his charge that he was cut from
the team because of the hazing allegations. LaTulippe also said he had
engaged in hazing type activities while in high school. LaTulippe and the
school settled the lawsuit for $80,000. And he settled suits against
former teammates, including Karlander, for far less. Karlander now plays
for the minor league Louisiana Ice Skaters.
Karlander - I guess it was blown way out of proportion. Every
hockey player knows the names of things that we did that night, like we
didn't come up with any of them. They came from other hockey teams. And
they were brought in from other players. And it's all part of the hockey
world.
I couldn't tell you how many people have come up to me and told
me, "Oh, that's nothing. You wouldn't believe what we did in our
fraternity."
Nestor - The reaction that Kevin voiced over the course of the
year was one where we were not successful in getting through to him the
seriousness of what had occurred.
Ley - LaTulippe told ESPN he intends to resume his hockey career
at a different college, but declined to speak on camera. Karlander says
he settled LaTulippe's lawsuit primarily for financial reasons.
Karlander - If I had an endless pocket, I would have kept
fighting. I feel as though I came out of it as much of a winner as you
can in a situation where there are no winners.
Sorrell - I think the winners are the young kids who aspire to
play college sports and won't go through what they otherwise would have
gone through to become members of their teams.
Ley - Vermont now works to prevent hazing with workshops and
requiring athletes to sign contracts, pledging they will not haze, nor
condone it. And hazing cases are handled differently now.
Eric Green, news anchor - Good evening. I'm Eric Green. The
big story at 6 -00 is hazing at UVM, this time with the men's soccer team.
Ley - This fall, the men's soccer team was involved in hazing
charges over an incident that occurred before the hockey hazing.
Nestor - I think the key thing in our response to the soccer
incident was immediately turning it over to the police for an
investigation and letting them do the work that they're best cut out to
do.
Ley - Vermont suspended five soccer players for one game and said
that all five cooperated with the investigation.
This fall, Vermont's hockey program resumed, restored to its usual
position as the biggest game in the state. But debate continues over the
legacy of Corey LaTulippe, who never played a single minute for Vermont.
Sorrell - I think he'll be known for a Long time in the eyes of
some as a hero, but in the eyes of a number of people as somebody who
wasn't good enough to make the team. And sour grapes, he took everybody
else down with him.
Nestor - What happened to Corey LaTulippe should never have
happened and shouldn't happen to anyone again.
Karlander - There were freshmen who decided not to do some things
that night. I mean, they all had their opportunity to say no. We had
meetings in the locker room that day saying if you didn't want to come,
you didn't have to be there.
Sorrell - I would agree with Karlander that there were no explicit
threats to -- forcing people to be there or to participate. But I would
disagree with him strongly on the implicit suggestions.
Karlander - We made fun of the word hazing like it was a joke.
Now it's something very serious apparently that now needs strict
definition.
Ley - Over the past decade, Outside The Lines has examined sports'
most volatile issues and personalities. And next, a teen athlete brought
out of his hometown because of who he is.
Greg Congdon, former high school athlete - If you don't believe
what the majority wants you to believe, you're going to pay the price.
And they're going to make sure you pay the price.
Unidentified Male - You paid a price?
Congdon - I paid a big price.
The Rock, professional wrestler - Do you smell what The Rock is
cooking?
Ley - Since Outside The Lines' last report on pro
wrestling in 1999, the World Wrestling Federation has lost several major
sponsors. Coca-Cola, Con Agra Foods (ph), and MCI Worldcom are among the
companies who pulled their ads from the program "Smackdown." But WWF
Chairman Vince McMahon continues to expand his entertainment empire.
Unidentified Male - The extreme training has begun. On February
3, Smash Mouth Football returns, the XFL, NBC, February.
Ley - Coming soon, the pro football league with WWF attitude, the
XFL. McMahon calls it the Extra Fun League. The XFL is a $100 million
startup owned jointly by McMahon and NBC. The football and the attitude
debuts in early February.
Congdon - I lost everything here.
Ley - So when you go to college, will that be it for this town for
you?
Congdon - Yeah. It's going to be that once I leave, I'm never
coming back.
Ley - In 1998, Greg Congdon, living in a small town,
had been exposed as a gay athlete, ridiculed, and eventually driven from
his high school football team.
Congdon - The thing that hurt me the most was seeing all my
friends that used to be my friends sit there huddled up in a corner
talking about me, looking over at me, laughing and stuff. I took 33
Tylenol and went to bed, got up the next morning and took 10 more. I was
upset that I even woke up.
Ley - Two years after telling his story to Outside The Lines,
Congdon has done what he vowed never to do, return to his hometown of
Troy, Pennsylvania.
Congdon - I have nothing against Troy. I don't feel any hatred or
dislike towards anyone.
Ley - He attended college in Pennsylvania for one year and now
works in a supermarket in nearby Elmira, New York. Congdon's ordeal led
him on a journey of self discovery so that he is no Longer a victim, but
an activist.
Congdon - I do a lot of one-of-one with other gay teens that are
in trouble. I had this one kid from Texas who wrote in that he is gay.
But no one knows he's gay. But he'd been beaten up because they just
think he is. And no one is doing anything about it.
I just said, "Look, I survived. You've just got to stick it out
and fight."
Ley - Although he has distanced himself from high school friends
and teammates, Congdon still returns to his high school field to watch the
team play, not so much Longing for lost friendships, but accepting the
changes in his life.
Congdon - I always look back over all the things that have
happened. They say the past is what makes us who we are today. And I
totally believe that.
Ley - Congdon has a lawsuit pending against Troy Hospital for
breach of confidentiality, alleging that an employee released medical
information that revealed he was gay.
Congdon - No one had known, not even my parents, that I was gay.
I had never told anyone. If you don't believe what the majority wants you
to believe, you're going to pay the price. I paid a big price.
A lot of times I ask myself, "Why me?" I can never find an answer
to that question, though. And maybe someday I will find the answer to
that question. But today, I don't know it.
Ley - Next Outside The Lines, the difficult choices and value
judgments in sports, including the story of an NBA star who gave up his
career for his faith.
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Nuggets guard - They had a hands-off approach
to me. Nobody wanted to touch me. And I felt that it was unjustified.
And I was just tired of it. And I said, "Well, let me just leave."
M. Abdul-Rauf - The word Islam, it has the connotation of peace.
But it also means to surrender. We surrender our whole being to who we
consider the one God, Allah, wholeheartedly, with everything.
Kelly Neal, ESPN correspondent - In 1995, Outside the Lines looked at religion and sports, how athletes balance their personal faith with their professional careers. One of the players profiled was
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson, taken by the Nuggets as the
third pick in the 1990 NBA draft.
Since the show aired, Abdul-Rauf has been on a basketball odyssey,
which began when he refused to stand and face the American flag during the
National Anthem.
M. Abdul-Rauf - It's a symbol of oppression, of tyranny. So it
depends on how you look at it. I think this country has a Long history of
that.
If people I think would have only listened to all of what I said
and not just the tyranny and oppression side, they would have found that
the statement was logical because I did make the statement that as Muslim,
or as a human being, that wherever there is bad, we don't stand for it.
Neal - It was March of '96 when Abdul-Rauf was suspended for one
game by the NBA for his refusal to stand for the anthem. After consulting
with a leader in the Islamic community, he resolved his conflict by
praying to Allah while facing the flag. But the damage to his image was
already done.
M. Abdul-Rauf - Even driving through Denver, you had certain
people that would flip me off in the car passing by. I would ignore it.
Neal - After that season, Denver traded Abdul-Rauf, despite the
fact that he was its leading scorer the past four years. But after just
two seasons in Sacramento, he decided to quit the NBA.
M. Abdul-Rauf - I left the NBA because I started to lose the
desire and enthusiasm to play, but also of what was happening, especially
after the anthem. It seemed like my career was just going downhill.
I couldn't get any playing time. They had a hands-off approach to
me. Nobody wanted to touch me. And I felt that it was unjustified. And
I was just tired of it.
Neal - Abdul-Rauf decided to play basketball abroad. But after
just three months playing with a professional team in Turkey, he decided
to quit basketball altogether and return home to Gulfport, Mississippi, to
start an Islamic community.
He became an imam, the community's religious leader, and bought a
house for his flock of 40 to worship in. He also started construction on
a home in nearby Hancock County.
But last spring, some residents showed they weren't happy with the
prospect of Abdul-Rauf, his wife, and two children moving in.
April Abdul-Rauf, Mahmoud's wife - We pulled up to the house one
day to kind of see where the contractor was in terms of construction, and
it had KKK spray painted across it. OK, shortly after that, somebody took
their truck and knocked down the structure of the garage.
We're thinking they're stupid little kids, somebody just didn't
know any better. But we found out later on there was like some adults who
just didn't want us out there.
And after that, the contractor got death threats. They went to
his home and messed up his brand new Navigator. They spray painted on his
shed. They went to his office and spray painted KKK. Our contractor is
white.
Neal - Neither Abdul-Rauf or local police were able to
identify who the vandals were. When Abdul-Rauf got word when his home was
rumored to be vandalized again, members of his Islamic community gathered
and helped him defend his property.
M. Abdul-Rauf - So we were able to come there the day before or
that night and just hang out to see if they were going to show up. And it
subsided.
Neal - Three months after that incident, Abdul-Rauf
caught the attention of a Vancouver scout after playing in a charity
basketball game. After a two-year layoff from professional basketball, he
opted to try again and signed with the Grizzlies for one season.
But additional rumors that their house would be burned down when
it was finished caused Abdul-Rauf to put it up for sale. He says he'll
build another house in Mississippi closer to Gulfport and that he holds no
racial animosity towards those who prevented his family from ever feeling
safe in their new home.
M. Abdul-Rauf - Islam has given me a balance. There is a verse
that says, "He did not create different languages and different tribes or
nations of people so that you would despise one another. But he did it so
that you would know one another. And the noblest of you in the sight of
Allah is he that is most righteous or God-conscious."
So there is no -- racist beliefs in Islam is not tolerated because
we've all been created from the same entity, so to speak. And so we look
at each other as human beings, not as different colors.
Neal - Abdul-Rauf's return to the NBA was helped by having a
fellow Muslim, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, as a teammate.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Grizzlies forward - Now we pray together
after games. Or we ride together back and forth to practice. We sit with
each other on the plane.
But I think a lot of things for him is just his character. I
think the way he conducts himself is the best example.
M. Abdul-Rauf - We vibe off of each other and share our
experiences and our thoughts on different things.
Grant Long, Grizzlies forward - You want to look across the room,
and you want to see somebody like you or does what you do. And for
Shareef, that person is Mahmoud. So that helps you. It may not help you
right away. But it helps you as far as a confidence level. Hopefully,
that will translate on the basketball court for us with Shareef and
Mahmoud.
Neal - Do you think his religion has softened him as a
player?
Sidney Lowe, Grizzlies head coach - I don't know. I don't know.
He was much more aggressive before. And right now, he's a little passive.
I mean, that's a hard thing to do, to sit out for a couple of
years and then come back and play in this league. Players are quicker.
Players are stronger. Players are smarter. They're bigger. So that's a
huge adjustment for him to make.
Neal - He's also made adjustments off the court to
better accommodate basketball with Islam. Abdul-Rauf no Longer showers
apart from teammates to avoid being seen nude, a Muslim practice. He now
just faces the wall.
And he no Longer misses pre-game meetings in order to say the
day's fourth mandatory prayer. He now postpones that prayer until after
the game.
M. Abdul-Rauf - I'm not looking to be a star like I used to or
looking to play a lot of minutes. Whatever is going to be good for the
team, whether it's sacrificing my shots or coming off looking to score,
that's what I'm willing to do.
I will still be content with who I am. I will never lose my
confidence. I will still be a Muslim. I will still worship my creator
and try to grow.
My thing is everything I do, I try to do it to please the
Almighty. So whether I start, whether I play or don't, I'm successful.
Ley - As we continue Outside The Lines, the combustibility in
sports, both in relationships and in the games people play.
Donna Lopiano, executive director, Women's Sports Foundation -
Girls are still being shortchanged compared to boys. We've literally come
halfway to where we should be 28 years after the passage of the law.
Unidentified Male - Do you think these kids will make $1 million?
Richard Williams, Venus and Serena Williams' father - There's no
question about it. They'll make $1 million look small.
Ley - That seemed an extravagant prediction by
Richard Williams speaking with Outside The Lines eight years ago. But
Venus and Serena Williams have more than delivered on their father's
boast. They combined to win six singles titles in 2000, including the
U.S. Open and Wimbledon with career earnings totaling more than $7 million
and countless additional millions in endorsement income.
Ley - That sort of money shows the explosion in women's sports.
Since Outside The Lines examined women's sports three years ago, their
prominence has continued to mushroom, especially in the WNBA.
Though that league now confronts two straight years of declining
attendance, Kelly Neal reports it is succeeding at its other mission,
providing role models and opportunities to younger athletes.
Val Ackerman, WNBA President - I think "Love and Basketball" is
truly a sign of the times movie. Not only does it have as one of its
focal points a woman basketball player, but in the end she truly is the
heroine. It's an image of women, and frankly of African American women,
that I think is somewhat new.
Renee Taylor, sophomore, Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School -
Now I have somewhere to go when I get out of college, like to go to the
league.
Cori Chambers, sophomore, Ursuline High School - I'd love to play
in the WNBA. But it's not my first and number one goal. I want to go to
college, get a degree. And then if somebody offers me to play in the
WNBA, fine, that's cool. I'll be making money and having fun too.
Neal - Fifteen-year-old Cori Chambers was awarded
honorable mention in this year's "Street and Smith's" ranking of high
school basketball players and will no doubt attract the attention of
college recruiters.
For Rebecca Richman, a senior center at Brooklyn Tech, that time
has come and gone. Ranked as one of the country's top 30 female high
school players, Richman got a taste of what male athletes are accustomed
to. Nearly 20 colleges came calling.
Rebecca Richman, senior, Brooklyn Technical High School - It was
flattering. It was a lot of fun talking to different coaches from all
across the country and stuff like that. But you get 10 messages a night,
it was hard.
C. Vivian Stringer, Rutgers head basketball coach - She's a very
special young lady. And she's very sincere. She's extremely bright,
hardworking, has her mind really focused.
Richman - And Rutgers has had everything I was looking for in a
team, the coaches. It was like the best group of girls that I could see
myself being with for four years and learning a lot from.
Stringer - I just want to do everything in my power to see to it
that all of her dreams come true and that she can be fulfilled.
Neal - Richman played in the six-year-old SlamJam Women's
Basketball Classic, a New York City league that has become a top
recruiting ground for female high school players.
Richman and her peers represent something that was virtually
unobtainable for female athletes a generation ago.
Chambers - My mom told me that when she was growing up that there
wasn't that many opportunities for girls to play in high school, so she
thinks that I'm really lucky.
Stringer - I didn't even have a high school basketball team. I
actually tried out for the cheerleading squad and was selected. But my
only reason is because I just wanted to have an opportunity to be close to
the court.
Ackerman - When I attended the University of Virginia in the late
'70s, at that time there was one scholarship that was available to the
women's basketball team. And I had half of it. A teammate had the other
half.
I had tuition and fees. And she had room and board. So I went to
class, and she got to eat. And now every member of that team gets a full
scholarship.
Lopiano - At the college level, you're looking at female athletes
in 1972 getting less than $10,000 total in athletic scholarships. Today,
that figure is about $160 million each year.
Neal - The driving force behind women's progress in leveling the
playing field has been Title IX, the 1972 law that compelled schools and
universities to devote resources to women's athletics.
Lopiano - There were lots of dinosaur athletic directors in the
early '70s who grew up believing that girls weren't as interested in
sports, that nobody would come and watch. Fortunately, women athletes
have proved dinosaurs wrong.
Neal - As schools spend more money on women's athletics, advocates
for men's teams insist that Title IX is making their athletic programs
suffer. These opponents point to the more than 50 Division One college
wrestling programs that have been dropped in the past two decades to make
way for various women's teams.
Stringer - What's happening is as they cut into those same
dollars, they begin to eliminate some of the men's sports. Well, that
causes a heck of a mess.
Lopiano - The fault really lies with athletic administrators who,
when Title IX was passed, refused to hold the line on expenditures on
men's sports while women's sports was brought up to snuff. We've
literally come halfway to where we should be 28 years after the passage of
the law.
Neal - In fact, women's advocates insist that 80 percent of
America's colleges and universities are not yet in full compliance with
Title IX. The disparities also continue to exist on the professional
level.
Clyde Frazier, Jr., Commissioner, SlamJam Women's Basketball Classic - Women's basketball still has a Long way to go. The WNBA play in the same arenas that the men's teams play in. And the salary is nowhere near what men are making. So when women play for the WNBA, the average salary is probably something like, maybe, I don't know, $30,000, $40,000.
Neal - Although progress is not coming as fast as some would like,
Rebecca Richman and her generation can now step on the court with
confidence.
Richman - So I just want to focus on improving and getting the
best out of my game that I can. But there are other things that have
equal importance. College is going to be my main thing. That's like the
most important thing, to have a degree.
Ley - Outside The Lines - 10 Years Later, the people who proved that
victory in life is more than a final score.
Leann Montes, college basketball player - You should not only have
a goal, but you should have dreams also to help you find what you really
want. And once you have it, you're going to be extremely happy.
Unidentified Male - Here's Montes to the right side. She'll pull
up from 18, got it.
Ley - In 1999, Outside The Lines profiled Leann
Montes, a Chippewa Cree from the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana. Montes
had left the reservation for the University of Montana as a walk-on with
the Lady Grizzlies basketball team.
Since Montes was living in a dorm, she was forced to leave her
2-year-old daughter Dominique on the reservation to be raised by her
parents.
Montes - It's not that I wouldn't like staying on the res with
her. You just know you have to do something. That's how I felt about
going to college.
Ley - Now a sophomore, Montes says she's made a remarkably smooth
transition to college life.
Montes - I've grown so much the last past year just moving off the
reservation and just being open to new experiences and people and their
backgrounds. And showing them the maya (ph) has just been awesome.
Shannon Schweyen, assistant basketball coach, University of Montana - She's really come out of her shell this last year and just seems to be very comfortable with our team and the coaches and the atmosphere here at college.
Ley - Perhaps the most important factor for Montes was receiving a
full basketball scholarship this fall. The additional money helped her
rent an apartment for her and her daughter.
Simarron Schildt, University of Montana forward - She balances
everything so well. You know, she has a kid and school and a job. And it
amazes me at how well she does with everything.
Schweyen - I have a child of my own right now. And Leann's story
is absolutely amazing to me to have a child and raise a child at that age
and have all the responsibilities as a parent, a college athlete, a
college student.
Montes - I have a lot of family members down here and friends that
support me and help me with Dominique and my schoolwork.
Ley - Montes is coming off the bench, getting more playing time
than her freshman season.
Robin Selvig, head basketball coach, University of Montana - She
picked them up quickly in terms of learning what we expected and what to
do. And she's competing for a lot of playing time and is going to be a
very important part of our team this year.
Ley - Most Native Americans cannot adjust to life off the
reservation. They return home without a degree. Montes has found her
place in a school where Native Americans comprise just over three percent
of the student body.
Montes - When I first got here, I went to a Native American
meeting for an EOP program. And there was only about 10 Native Americans.
And I was like, "What?" And the director that worked there was like, "Oh,
last year we had about five. It's just exciting to see a lot more Native
Americans coming to college here."
Schildt - She has a real inner strength about her. And it's very
quiet. But she's a very powerful person. And I think anything she tries
to accomplish, she will.
Schweyen - I can't imagine any young Native American kid growing
up not thinking that Leann is something to aspire to. Any kid that
folLowed our basketball team would look at Leann and just be amazed at
what she's done.
Montes - I've pretty much got my dream living with my daughter, my
own apartment, playing college ball. Right here is my dream.
Ley - When we first met triathlete David Lindsey in
1994, he was attempting to come back from a boating accident that cost him
both legs. Prosthetic legs became too painful for Lindsey to use. And so
he gave them up. It was a hard decision. And it proved to be fateful.
David Lindsey, Triathlete - I found a whole new world waiting for
me in that racing chair that really opened up more fun and more
competitiveness in many ways for me.
Ley - Since our original story, Lindsey won the 1996 Iron Man and
the International Distance World Championship. Now he's making another
transition.
Lindsey - I have to go to a hand crank. And that brings a whole
new freedom to my life. And I can actually bike faster in it than I could
in my regular bike.
When it comes to racing chairs and hand cranks, as far as I'm
concerned, put Michael Jordan in one. I don't care. I'll compete against
anybody that wants to compete.
Ley - Lindsey feels his athletic career and spirit has redefined
his life.
Lindsey - I don't look at myself as being handicapped. I have
more freedom than most people ever thought of having. And I compete
harder and at higher level than most professional athletes do around the
world.
Ley - The games are global now. And when we continue Outside The Lines, a new nation adopts our national pastime.
Pavel Gladikov, Spartak manager - We're able to pitch very good.
He can throw maybe 86, 88 speed.
Ley - Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a city that most
Americans and many Vietnamese still know as Saigon.
Ley - In February of 1998, Outside The Lines visited
Vietnam for several weeks investigating labor practices and working
conditions in factories where American sneakers were manufactured.
Working under the press restrictions of a communist government, we
nonetheless encountered a warm people eager to embrace Americans and most
anxious for foreign investment.
In the factory that produced Nike and Reebok shoes, we found
questions of environmental dangers and salaries for workers, whose pay was
reduced by their employers using outdated currency exchange rates.
In the nearly three years since our visit, much has happened.
Nguyen Thi Lieu was a 22-year-old worker in Reebok's Powyen factory.
She lived in an eight-by-twelve-foot room with a tin roof and dirt floor,
commuting six days a week by bicycle to her job, where she applied glue.
Nguyen Thi Lieu, former Reebok factory worker (through
translator) - We are sick all the time from inhaling the poison from the
glue. There are many other workers that suffer from pain in their noses
just like me.
Ley - After our report aired, Lieu's contract was terminated by
Reebok. ESPN brought the matter to the attention of Reebok's
Massachusetts headquarters, and Lieu was rehired and assigned a better
job, one that she liked.
Last spring, Lieu was let go again with 3,000 other workers when
their contracts expired so they could be replaced by minimum wage workers,
a common practice. In August, we found Lieu had moved to an even smaller
rented room and now makes her living selling lottery tickets in a Ho Chi
Minh City marketplace.
When Outside The Lines met Nguyen Thi Lap, she was a senior worker
with an exemplary history at Nike's Samyang plant in Ku Chi. Once we
left the country, Lap's life spiraled downhill.
Nike said Lap's poor job performance was to blame. Lap disagreed.
Unidentified Female - You said that you were forced to do this
after you came back from the interview?
Nguyen Thi Lap, former Nike factory worker (through translator) -
When I found the team, I went to the interview. When I went to the
interview, the Korean manager kept suggesting to me that as an employee of
the company I always had to speak well for the company and say that the
company was having difficulty.
Ley - Those so-called problems included the media scrutiny of
overseas labor practices of American shoe companies. Nike Chairman Phil
Knight alluded to the negative reports at an address at the National Press
Club in Washington, DC.
Knight spoke in May of 1998, one month after our program aired.
Phil Knight, CEO, Nike - One columnist said, "Nike represents not
only everything that's wrong with sports, but everything that's wrong with
the world." So I figured that I'd just come out and let you journalists
have a look at the great Satan up close and personal.
Lap - Let me tell you, I was a section leader overseeing 50 workers. They forced me to quit if I didn't agree to be switched around between menial jobs.
My hands were often swollen up so painful. Because they abused me
too much, I brought this to the union to be solved for me.
Ley - Following our visit, Lap was demoted several times. When
she fell ill, she says she was denied medical leave, eventually forced to
quit her job, and then diagnosed with tuberculosis. Lap is currently
unemployed.
As for Nike's view of those who criticize its labor policies,
early in 1999, a senior Nike figure in a letter to Vietnam's top labor
official said that Nike believed human rights activists were trying to
indirectly overthrow the communist government of Vietnam.
When we visited Russia five years after communism fell there, we
found a dominant sporting nation coping with democracy, capitalism, and
baseball. At one of Moscow's two diamonds, located incredibly on a Red
Army missile base, the right field fence was a camouflage tarp. But we
also found dreams of the major leagues, dreams that endure even today.
Oleg Korneev, Spartak pitcher (through translator) - One's goal is
to play here. I mean, this is the ultimate place to play baseball and to
succeed.
Greg Pines, assistant coach, Mariners scout team - I was really
surprised. I didn't know that they had baseball in Russia. But it looks
like they've been playing for a while at least.
Ley - And they even know about barnstorming.
Spartak, one of only a handful of teams in Moscow, played their way
through the U.S. southwest recently in a series of games against American
minor league prospects. The Russians' goal, to catch the eyes of Major
League scouts.
John Lehr, consultant, Russian Baseball Federation - There already
is a generation of second pedigree arising. The pitcher behind us is the
son of Lunya Korneev, who was a gold medal winner in the Olympics in
team handball. And it's his son Oleg who now seems to bring a few scouts
out to the games here when they travel in America.
Gladikov - He's a very good pitcher, very good. He can throw
maybe 86, 88 speed. I think he got very, very big future.
Derek Valenzuela, Mariners scout - There might be a D-and-F,
a draft-and-fall type player where we would draft him, have him under
control, have him go to a junior college where they could team him how to
pitch.
Korneev (through translator) - We're used to having scouts. We've
sort of this whole season -- we've had a lot of scouts come by and look at
us.
Bob Protexter, scouted Soviet Union for Angels - Oleg Korneev is
Russia's frontline baseball product because he's six-seven. He's 215
pounds. And by spring, more than likely he'll be throwing 90. If that
happens, he'll sign a professional baseball contract.
Ley - When we visited Moscow, three Russians had already signed
U.S. minor league contracts. In the four years since, that number tripled
though all the Russian prospects have been released.
Alex Tarapov was a class A rookie league pitcher for the
Dodgers until he suffered an elbow injury. He wants to come back as a
pitcher, but he's currently playing center field.
Valenzuela - I see some raw power, big hit, and then the center
fielder, he's got some juice in his bat. Maybe a chance to maybe hit for
some power at the minor league level.
Ley - Once baseball became an Olympic sport, the Soviet Union
Sports Federation formed a national team. That was in the late 1980s.
But shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union dissolved, and with it government
funding for baseball.
Protexter - It's just killing the kids' programs. Quality
coaching is tough. The best coaches don't always coach baseball because
there's no money in it.
Pines - They look real stiff with their swings and as far as
fundamentals going for fly balls. And their throwing technique is a
little bit off.
Ley - Spartak capped their U.S. adventure with a tour of Edison
Field, home of the Anaheim Angels.
Korneev (through translator) - You have all of this. And we only
have two fields in Moscow. And that's all we have. So we just don't have
the opportunities of the vastness of the experience. If we did that, then
we would be one hell of a team.
Gladikov (through translator) - All of the boys' dreams here are
to go higher with baseball. They'd be able to earn more money. And also
with the publicity, from their experience, it goes full circle. And they
would be able to bring it back to Russia and help to train others and
share their experience.
Protexter - Scouts need to project these Russian kids a little bit
further out than they do with American kids. They love their body type.
They love the way they go at it hard nose. They just always cite
experience.
You know, you're looking at Russia. Baseball started in 1987.
There's not the experience level there. So they need to push them ahead a
few steps further than they will the American kids.
Korneev - I want to pitch for New York Yankees' team.
Korneev (through translator) - If I just play out of love and
passion, then of course money will eventually fall from the sky.
Unidentified Males - Spartak Major League Baseball.
Ley - Four years ago, Russian baseball players were eagerly
trading their precious months-old videotapes of distant Major League
games. Now they're talking like free agents.
But they started with a love of this game. And they must balance
that now with the real world challenges in their sport.
And that as much as anything is what we've been examining in the
last decade. For all the men and women who have worked to bring you those
stories and issues Outside The Lines, I'm Bob Ley.
Thanks for being here these 10 years. We're just getting started.
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