Seven families discuss the multigenerational, maternal lineages they’ve built across the 50 years since the passage of Title IX.
When Katie Fudd was being recruited in the 1990s, she didn’t have
much information. There were very few women’s games on TV, highlight reels did not exist and players
couldn’t communicate with coaches often. The only time she could get a feel for a program was to
officially visit. She chose NC State, where she was ACC Rookie of the Year, but struggled to fit in with the team. She believes it was because she was so quiet then and didn’t know how to stand up for herself. She
transferred to Georgetown after one year. Georgetown was a better fit, but she was shocked by the
conditions the women played in. „Coming
from NC State where, honestly, everything was really good. you
go to Georgetown and it was [like] literally
no one existed except the men’s team“, she said. She said she was once told to leave the gym because a male athlete
was also there — even though she had
arrived first. By her senior year, Katie was no longer willing to put up with this treatment quietly. At a lecture
full of men and women’s athletes, she said, „I don’t care how many pairs of shoes you
get. I don’t care if you fly on a private
plane and we take a bus. I’m saying, can
we walk in our own gym without you
kicking us out? Do we have to feel like we don’t matter as much?“
„To this day, it still irritates me“, she said. When it came time for Azzi to choose a college, Katie paid close
attention to how women athletes were
treated compared to the men. She pushes Azzi to speak up for herself
and confront problems head-on. Azzi said she grew up in the gym, since both her mother and father, Tim Fudd, are coaches,
trainers and former college hoopsters. While they say she
had a choice over which sport she played, „I’m not sure how much I
buy it“, Azzi said with a laugh. She credited both of her parents with shaping her game. Katie said
their mantra was to always do a little
more than everyone else. After a practice, she’d tell Azzi to take
another 25 shots or do some more ball
handling. „It’s the people who are willing to put in the extra time
all the time“, Katie said. Azzi and her mom have the same jump shot, which Katie taught her over
one summer. „It was so boring, but
it’s worth it now“, Azzi said. She once saw a photo of Katie taking
a jump shot and then a photo of herself
in high school. „Our arms, our form — it all
looks the exact same.“
Azzi hasn’t seen Katie play much, but during a recruiting trip,
UConn showed her clips of her mom
playing against the Huskies. She said she thinks she’d beat Katie, who went
into the WNBA for a season but never
played because of injury. It would be „a good game“, Azzi said.
„Obviously I’m better. She’s old“, Azzi said. „But she always tells
me, ‚I was mean. I was so much more
mean than you. I would destroy you in my prime.'“
Katie helps Azzi with the mental side of the game, like how to cope with injury. When Azzi tore her ACL in 2019, Katie
knew exactly what had happened because she had done the same to both her knees
during her career. „I
tell her she gave me bad genes“, Azzi jokes. But knowing that her mother had been through the injury helped Azzi
get through it. „There were a lot of tears, a lot
of bad days, but knowing I had [my mom] on my side made it a lot better“,
she said. While things have improved for women, Katie pointed out that even this
year, the Georgetown women’s team, which plays on campus,
wasn’t allowed to have fans at home games, while the men’s team, which plays in downtown Washington,
D.C., could. Cheryl started running at 16. The North Central (Indianapolis) High School
track coach invited her to practice, but she was soon told
by the school board she couldn’t run with the boys. Eventually they let her run on school property, but only on the other
side of the school. She attracted local media, which she felt tried to normalize her running by
including her body measurements or posing her on the start line in her majorette uniform. Six years before the passage of Title IX, Indiana State University
offered Cheryl a scholarship, which she credits to the efforts of Dr. Eleanor Forsythe St. John, who ran the physical education department
at the time. Cheryl was the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship
from Indiana State, at a time when they didn’t exist for women. In 1971, Cheryl ran the Culver City Marathon, though women’s marathon was not yet recognized as an
event. In the final stretch, a man tried to run her off the track. But she
set a new world record of 2:49:40 and became the first woman to
break 2:50:00. Cheryl stayed involved in sports long after her own running career. She taught P.E. and worked as an athletic director at Oklahoma State and assistant athletic director
and running coach at Michigan State. She began producing athletic clothes for women, because they didn’t exist. She designed sports bras
and holds two sports bra patents. Like many women, Cheryl changed her name upon marriage. She asked
that all of her last names — Pedlow, Bridges, Flanagan and Treworgy
— be included. „Without using all of my names, I lose my identity
and place in the world in the different phases of my life“, she said. After Cheryl gave birth to Shalane, she took her to work with her. „When
you read articles that say [Shalane] grew up in the back of a running
store, it’s totally true“, Cheryl said. In her 50s, Cheryl became a sports photographer and regularly covered
her daughter’s meets. „My collegiate career is well documented
because of her“, Shalane said.
„That was one of the reasons I started shooting“, Cheryl said. „I didn’t have any
photos of me competing, and I wanted to make sure my kids and other
people’s kids had those moments.“
Shalane went on to be UNC’s first-ever cross-country national
champion. She competed in four Olympics and won silver in the
10,000-meter in 2008. In 2017, she became the first American woman
to win the New York City Marathon in 40 years. Shalane still runs marathons — including six in six weeks last
year — and is now coaching and raising her son, Jack, who just turned 2. She hopes to
encourage more women to train together, partly because her mom never
had anyone to run with. Maureen grew up in a family of athletes, including her brother Tom
(yes, that one). She started playing softball when she was about
5 and pitched at Fresno State for longtime coach Margie Wright. Maureen credits Wright with fighting for equity for the team. Maureen, an All-American in 1994, led NCAA Division I that year with 36
wins. Maya played many sports growing up, but her favorites were soccer and
softball. When she was around 12, she had to choose between them. „I
don’t know what drew me to softball“, Maya said, „but maybe since my mom played,
I was inspired to be like her.“
Maya’s „Uncle Tommy“ once called her „the most dominant athlete in
the family.“
Would she agree with that? „1,000 percent“, Maya said with a
laugh. Her mom is a little more circumspect. „She’s probably the most
athletic at this point“, Maureen said. „There’s a lot of younger kids
coming up, though.“
Maureen
helps Maya understand what a pitcher might be thinking, though Maya didn’t want to share any
secrets.
