The despicable comments by radio shock jock Don Imus about the Rutgers women’s basketball team are a tragedy. And it’s an even greater heartbreak that all the media attention on Imus overlooks the remarkable group of women he dishonored.
This handful of brilliant players and one remarkable coach represent the best of up-from-the-bootstraps America. The Imus idiocy has cast them and their achievement into the shadows. What a pity.
It’s easy to dismiss Imus. He has built his career on saying outrageous, indecent, racist, even blasphemous things. He’s called Dr. Dobson a “nut” and even challenged him, on-air, to a fight. Nothing offensive that comes out of his mouth should surprise anyone. That’s who he is.
The players’ stories, on the other hand, are inspiring.
For example:
Sophomore standout Essence Carlson was a straight-A student in high school who, besides basketball, plays piano, bass guitar, drums, and saxophone. She is also a gifted writer. Hardly a person who merits Imus’ characterization.
Epiphanny Price’s tight-knit religious family helped her survive the mean streets of Brooklyn. Now she’s blossoming as a math student, pursuing a business degree and, after that, law school.
Matee Avajon was born in Liberia, came to America as a frightened 6-year-old in 1992 to join her mother, who had left the family behind in the care of a grandmother while she searched for a better life for her kids in this country. Her mother’s name is Patience. Her middle name should be Courage.
The most remarkable woman associated with this team is the coach, Vivian Stringer, who is about to take her place in the top ranks of women’s history, black history and sports history. Already Sports Illustrated has named her among the 101 most influential minority figures in sports.
She was raised in a close-knit family led by her father, a coal-miner. When he died, Vivian’s mother went to work to support five children on much less income. Vivian’s high school had no women’s basketball team, so she became the school’s first black cheerleader.
In a few years, she married, and her husband, Bill, took a job at Cheyney State, one of the nation’s oldest black colleges. At age 23 and barely older than the students, Vivian volunteered to become the women’s basketball coach. During her school’s first-ever trip to the NCAA finals in 1982, her infant daughter was stricken with near-fatal meningitis.
In 1992, Vivian’s husband died suddenly of a heart attack. She raised the three children by herself, and her daughter remains severely challenged from the effects of the meningitis. She left her coaching job (at Iowa) and moved to Rutgers so she could be closer to extended family.
Over the years, at Iowa and Rutgers, she recorded a 251-52 won-loss record, took 11 teams to NCAA tournaments, and is the only women’s basketball coach to lead two different schools to the final Four.
Her story and those of her players display uncommon courage and perseverance in the pursuit of sports goals and, more importantly, life goals.
What a pity that Don Imus has pushed them aside.
