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SPORTS

FRIDAY, APRIL 1 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY LIZ CLARKE

I

t took more than the stroke of a pen to grant

women’s basketball players the chance to compete

on equal footing with men. Their struggle contin-

ues to this day, as video of glaring disparities in the

treatment of male and female athletes during last

year’s NCAA tournaments attests.

The NCAA didn’t stage its first women’s basketball

championship until 1982 and only then after trying for

nearly a decade to scuttle Title IX, the federal law signed

by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 barring discrimi-

nation based on sex at institutions receiving federal

funds. (The NCAA has staged its men’s basketball tour-

nament since 1939.)

After exhausting all legal avenues for invalidating

Title IX, the NCAA changed tack and announced in 1981

it would stage national championships for women in a

handful of Division I sports.

The move was a direct challenge to the female-led

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women,

which governed women’s college sports at the time. And

it forced schools to choose sides in a battle over the future

of women’s sports.

Until then, the fault lines were philosophical. Schools

had to decide what was the best path forward for

women’s basketball: either a quasi-commercial model

similar to the men’s setup or something else entirely,

rooted in the AIAW ideal of strict amateurism, with rules

developed by and for women.

The final showdown was the 1982 women’s basketball

postseason, when both the NCAA and AIAW staged

national championship games on the same day,

300 miles apart.

As Louisville, South Carolina, Connecticut and Stan-

ford head to Minneapolis for the 2022 Final Four, it’s

worth remembering those dueling title games and how

the decisions made then set the stage for what exists

today in women’s basketball.

And it’s best remembered, on the 40th anniversary of

those 1982 women’s basketball championships, through

the words of coaches and players who defined those

largely forgotten moments. SEE NCAA ON D6

Birth

of a

Final

four

Forty years ago, a pair of competing

factions staged w omen’s basketball

championships. Only one survived.

TOM COSTELLO/WHOO-RAH PRODUCTIONS

BRYANT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Top: Rutgers won its 1982 AIAW championship

by beating Texas at Philadelphia’s Palestra.

Left: Louisiana Tech’s Ann Pendergrass held

the NCAA trophy after the Lady Techsters beat

Cheyney State at Norfolk’s Scope Arena, 76-62.

BY AVA WALLACE

At their first dinner together,
Wes Unseld Jr. brought a note-
book to the steakhouse.
The Washington Wizards’ first-
year coach and his prize acquisi-
tion were meant to get to know
each other over meat and mashed
potatoes. But sitting in Indian-
apolis with Kristaps Porzingis,
Unseld was too excited to wait.
“He brought a notebook with
the mini courts so he could start
drawing up plays, like: ‘Oh, what
do you think about this? Can you
draw up your favorite play?’ ” Por-
zingis said through laughter. “I
didn’t do it right then because he
was kind of joking — but not
really joking. He actually wanted
to know.”
Porzingis was a bit flustered in
the moment. Back in mid-Febru-
ary, he was still settling in after
joining the Wizards in a deal at
the trade deadline that sent point
guard Spencer Dinwiddie and fel-
low Latvian Davis Bertans to the
Dallas Mavericks. Although Un-
seld caught him off guard, Porzin-
gis appreciated the coach’s enthu-
siasm. It signaled that Unseld
cared about his opinion, but it
also was an example of the type of
direct, free-flowing communica-
tion Porzingis has come to crave.
SEE WIZARDS ON D4

With Wizards,

Porzingis is

sure his best

is within reach

PRO FOOTBALL

LB Bobby Wagner, a six-

time all-pro, reaches five-

year deal with Rams. D2

HOCKEY

Alex Ovechkin sits out

Capitals practice, taking

a maintenance day. D3

SOCCER

Gregg Berhalter and the

U.S. men learn their World

Cup grouping today. D9

minneapolis —

As she told old

stories, Tara

VanDerveer

glanced at three

of her Stanford

players. Sitting on

the dais with

their coach, they

nodded and giggled and nodded

again, acknowledging the

seriousness of her message but

amused by how times have

changed.

To the young women, the tales

must have sounded like a parent

talking about walking five miles

to school, uphill both ways, in

the snow. VanDerveer was not

exaggerating, however. Her

coaching career began as an

unpaid assistant at Ohio State.

When Idaho offered her $13,000

to be a head coach in 1978, she

thought she had made it. When

Ohio State called two years later,

she declared, “I’m not going

unless they pay me $20,000.” A

friend told VanDerveer there

was no way the Buckeyes would

make such a commitment.

VanDerveer held firm and got

her deal.

At this women’s Final Four of

milestone anniversaries —

40 years since this event became

a thing, 50 years since Title IX

became a law — VanDerveer

utilized the sport’s evolution to

frame the ongoing fight for

gender equity.

“When I first went to Idaho,

we didn’t have practice gear, and

it was so different,” VanDerveer

said. “It was just so different.

When I played, I bought my own

shoes. We laundered our own

uniforms. Just getting all the

little things — fighting for

resources of being in the big

gym, having a weight room,

having a trainer. It’s night and

day, and our team can’t relate to

it at all. They would have no idea

what it was really like.”

The players laughed a little.

No, they can’t relate.

In answering media questions

about fairness in college

athletics, VanDerveer delivered a

message intended to be used for

both gratitude and fuel. The

coach, a veteran of 44 years in

this profession, is grateful to

have experienced progress, but it

doesn’t make her less

determined to fight for better.

The struggle continues. The

struggle may always exist. For

women’s athletics, constrained

by the systemic sexism of sports,

SEE BREWER ON D5

Progress is apparent, but it’s not enough

Jerry

Brewer

BY LIZ CLARKE,

PAUL KANE

AND MARK MASKE

The congressional committee
that is investigating the NFL’s
handling of widespread sexual ha-
rassment in the Washington Com-
manders’ workplace is now also
looking into allegations of finan-
cial improprieties under Daniel
Snyder’s ownership, multiple peo-
ple familiar with the proceedings
said.
The allegations came to light in
recent weeks as the House Com-
mittee on Oversight and Reform
reviewed more than 80,000 pages
of documents and interviewed
witnesses in its inquiry of the
team’s workplace and the NFL’s
handling of the matter, said those
people with knowledge of the mat-
ter, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because the proceed-
ings are at a sensitive stage.
The financial investigation re-
mains behind closed doors and
among the highest levels of the
45-person committee. Asked
about this new phase, several
members of the panel indicated
they have heard speculation about
it but said it remains at such a
sensitive point that they do not
know details. Other members
were unaware.
“The investigation is going for-
ward,” Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney
(D-N.Y.), chair of the committee,
said in a brief interview Thursday.
SEE COMMANDERS ON D2

Congress

is adding

financials

to probe

House committee

expands its investigation

of the Commanders

ERIC GAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer remembers what it was like to

have to fight for basic resources during a 44-year coaching career.

Men’s Final Four

Tomorrow in New Orleans

Villanova vs. Kansas, 6:09 p.m.

North Carolina vs. Duke, 8:49 p.m.

B oth games on TBS

Women’s Final Four

Today in Minneapolis

South Carolina vs. Louisville, 7 p.m.

Stanford vs. Connecticut, 9:30 p.m.

Both games on ESPN

Mavericks at Wizards
Today, 7 p.m., NBCSW