I must issue a heartfelt apology for this column, so let’s get that out of the way.
I’m genuinely sorry. I didn’t mean to exclude any local high school basketball players in the county or their coaches. But even after bestowing that important caveat, I will say that had I recognized a coach from any other team at a table that Sunday at Crackle Barrel, there’s a good chance that, at a minimum, I’d at least say hello.
Now with that behind me, let’s get to the gist of this column.
On my way to a favorite pastime, high school basketball games, my strategy these days is to get there as early to get a jump on the crowd and to locate a seat on the bleachers near the closest exit because, well, “just in case.” And when once upon a time I could scamper up and down the bleachers, these days I can only admire those young girls and boys who do that, often with hot dogs and French fries in hand. But these days the legs below me say no.
Now to girls’ basketball games thanks to Angel Reese, Caitlan Clark and others, I flipped my preconceived notion about what “real” basketball (as played by boys of course) is compared to how the game is played by girls. And guess what world? Girls can play the game and play it pretty damn well.
But the nagging truth is that bias against women remains a problem in sports today including a consistent undervaluation of the women’s basketball media by millions of dollars.
But first, before I tell you about my chance meeting with a local girls’ basketball coach recently at Cracker Barrel, let me ask you this.
Have you ever tried to sneak a look at someone in public wondering if you knew them or not without them noticing? Well, that be yours truly on a recent Sunday at Cracker Barrel while having breakfast with my dear wife and friends. The fellow I was trying to get a fix on was slim built, wore braids and had a skin complexion strikingly familiar with someone I’d seen recently. (No folks, I’m not talking about Kendrick Lamar).
Well finally my curiosity got the best of me. I got up and walked over to his table to either confirm my suspicion or make a fool of myself.
“Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt you,” I feebly began. “But are you the coach of the New Manchester girls’ team that played one heck of a game last night?” He smiled, extended his hand, introduced himself as Vincent Parks with my face saving “Yes, I am.”
Elated, I pulled up a seat, introduced myself, said hello to the lady with him and raved about his team, particularly his dynamic scoring tandem of Kyara Lawrence and Devin Furchess.
“Coach, I’ve been following Kyara for years, know her family well and have watched her developed into an outstanding player. I saw her once score 27 points in a game and corral 17 rebounds in another. I hear that she’s received a full basketball scholarship to Clark Atlanta University.” He smiled, started to say something, but I cut him off when he was about to respond.
“Excuse me coach, but I also want to tell you that that little point guard on your team, Devin Furchess, oohs and aahs us with her three-point shot making and playmaking ability. She shoots threes like Steph Curry. The college coaches have got to be salivating over her, huh?”
“Well, she’s only a sophomore,” said coach Parks. “But the reality is that because of her height, the college recruiters will probably shy away from her. But that may change.”
“C’mon coach, you got to be kidding. Never in my life have I seen a player like Devin shoot threes like she does,” I said. “Any college in their right mind would want her on their basketball team.”
Now if there’re any girl’s college basketball recruiters reading this piece, I remind you that a 5-foot two-inch Shannon Bobbitt, a five-foot three-inch Tomeka Johnson, had successful careers in the Women’s National Basketball Association. And not one of them could shoot threes like Devin. Shucks, for personal reasons I’d like nothing better than to see Devin reunite with Kyara at Clark Atlanta University.
BREAKING NEWS: With an outstanding team effort, including a combined 41 points put up by Lawrence and Furchess, New Manchester reached Sweet Sixteen with a 15-point road win against an excellent team from Coffee High School.
Now to pause and benchmark how far we’ve come (and how much we have to go) as a society with girls’ basketball, let’s rewind the clock to a brief history of girls’ basketball, one in gender bias that, thank the Lord, is behind us.
It wasn’t that long ago that the bleachers at boys’ games were always full while almost empty during the girls’ games. The preliminary girls’ games were mere hors d’oeuvres to be served up before the main course, the boys’ games of course.
On top of that the archaic rules for girls’ games (yes, invented by men ) were far more restrictive than for boys, a form of discrimination passed off as “ho hum, that’s the way it was back then” – an all too familiar passing the buck excuse for segregation back then. For years we favored boys’ basketball because we figured that there was no athleticism like that when girls played the “man’s game.” What’s more perplexing is that no one seemed to challenge the unfairness of those different rules. Granted, that’s not the way it is now, but boy were we wrong.
In the end, a bright future of gender equality in sports will come. And for girls’ teams that future will bring with it positive role models, equal funding, jam-packed bleachers, screaming fans, all fueled by the emergence of the next generation of talent like that of Devin Furgess and Kyara Lawrence.
Okay gotta run now, albeit “slowly,” as my legs caution!
Terry Howard is an award-winning writer, a contributing writer with the Chattanooga News Chronicle, The American Diversity Report, The Douglas County Sentinel, Blackmarket.com, the Augusta County Historical Society Bulletin and recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, and third place winner of the Georgia Press Award.
