Category: Women’s History

No. 16 seed taking down No. 1 seeds, Harvard women’s basketball did it first

In 1998, Harvard took down No. 1 seed Stanford to become the first ever No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Before there was Fairleigh Dickinson University or the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, there was Harvard women’s basketball.

In 1998, Harvard took down No. 1 seed Stanford to become the first-ever No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard beat Stanford 71-67 on Mar. 14, 1998, and didn’t have another member of this club until 2018 when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County men’s basketball took down Virginia.

Oftentimes, women’s sports are forgotten when discussing history-making moments or worse, intentionally omitted.

When Fairleigh Dickinson University took down No. 1 seeded Purdue in the 2023 tournament, outlets incorrectly reported that there were only two No. 16 seeds in history to take down a No. 1 seed. They neglected to mention that is the men’s history, but not the full history of the tournament.

However, other outlets and aficionados of the game recognized that Harvard women’s basketball did it first.

When history-making moments happen in sports, remember to check the entire history of the sport, not just men’s history.

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HBCU March Madness Women’s NCAA Championship History

A look at how HBCU’s performed in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

The first Division 1 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship tournament took place in 1982. The matchup was between Louisiana Tech, who ended being crowned champion, and Cheyney State. This first-ever matchup set another record, that is still held today. Cheyney State was and remains, the only HBCU to make it to the championship game and to the Final Four. Cheyney State made it back to the tournament and won one game in 1983 and three games to advance to the Final Four in 1984.

Howard University and Jackson State also appeared in the 1982 tournament, but only Cheyney State made it to the last dance. Since then, there have been 19 HBCU women’s basketball programs that have played in the March Madness bracket. Hampton as the most appearances in the tournament for an HBCU with 9 appearances, but have yet to win a game.

Appearances HBCU
9 Hampton
6 Grambling State
6 Howard
6 Jackson State
6 Prairie View A&M
5 North Carolina A&T
5 Southern
3 Alabama State
3 Alcorn State
3 Cheyney
3 Coppin State
3 Tennessee State
2 Florida A&M
1 Bethune-Cookman
1 Delaware State
1 Norfolk State
1 Savannah State
1 South Carolina State
1 Texas Southern

Howard is the only HBCU to win a tournament game since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1994. The Bison won their game in the inaugural First Four game of the 2022 tournament, defeating Incarnate Word 55-51.

The first four games of the 2023 March Madness Women’s tournament start Wednesday and Thursday, Mar. 15-16. This will be the 42nd women’s tournament in NCAA history.

This year, there are a few HBCUs in the tournament with Southern University being in a First Four game.

In the second round Norfolk State, an HBCU, battles against South Carolina at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

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Women’s History Month Spotlight: basketball star, entrepreneur, and activist Sedona Prince

Alex Sinatra next highlights Oregon Ducks star Sedona Prince for Women’s History Month.

This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are Humans First and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.

Sedona Prince made headlines when she shared a TikTok video of the NCAA’s inequitable treatment of the women’s and men’s basketball tournaments. She helped usher in change and when rules allowed college athletes to monetize their NIL, Prince was well-poised to excel in the space. Since then she has inked deals with Crocs, Uninterrupted, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Champs to name a few. She is set to enter the 2023 WNBA draft which airs on ESPN on April 10.

@sedonerrr

it’s 2021 and we are still fighting for bits and pieces of equality. #ncaa #inequality #fightforchange

♬ original sound – Sedona Prince

Her athlete advocacy off the court is just as impressive as she continues to shed a spotlight on what it means to be More Than an Athlete. Prince enjoys merging her advocacy and entrepreneurship with brands that align with her core values.

“I’ve always been very passionate about activism and advocacy, so the fact that I’m able to do that now with such a large platform and actually make a difference is really, really cool,” Prince told Insider of her equity-driven partnership and role as Chief Community Officer for plat-powered energy drink company Riff . “It’s impactful. And, you know, I’m just happy that I have a space to do this and that people actually listen and respond to it because it’s how we’re making change.”

The way she navigates this NIL ecosystem shows that it is more than one-off deals. It is about building a future for yourself and your family.

In an interview with Boardroom, Prince shared her philosophy on what NIL did for her, “I guess I just became empowered. Like I have a voice to make change. I can partner with companies that I love. I’m making this money, to support my family, that I can have for the rest of my life to invest or to save.”

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Former Aggie running back Trayveon Williams and former student Alex Sinatra teach NIL

Former Aggies Alex Sinatra and Trayveon Williams discuss their class at Texas A&M on NIL and athlete advocacy.

When sports attorney and sports business consultant Alex Sinatra reached out to former Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams via Twitter direct message, she didn’t know if he would respond. They weren’t even connected on Twitter. However, two days later he responded and agreed to co-teach a law school class with Sinatra about Name, Image, & Likeness and Athlete Advocacy at Texas A&M University School of Law. They ended up being connected through something stronger than Twitter, they were part of the Aggie Network.

The duo set out to create a class that kept athletes at the focus and pushed Sinatra’s mantra that Athletes are Humans First and Williams’ mantra that athlete are More Than Athletes. While Williams is not an attorney, Sinatra knew that his experience as a college and professional athlete was extremely valuable for future attorneys and athlete advocates to understand.

The class is open to current Texas A&M University School of Law students and the first cohort is currently going through the class.

“Participating in the NIL & Athlete Advocacy course has been one of the most enlightening experiences of my time in law school,” Texas A&M University School of Law student Kate Rosenberg said of the class. “Our professors teach us from two vastly different perspectives, and my fellow students continue to amaze me with their creativity and ingenuity when it comes to navigating the NIL educational space.”

Another student in the class, Hayden Campbell had this to say, “Athlete advocacy is easily my favorite class I’ve taken in law school! Professors Sinatra and Williams approach the class in a very unique way. They go beyond just teaching us rules and regulations. Instead, they encourage us to be responsible for our own learning and understanding while offering guidance and ideas as we need it. They also place an emphasis on developing soft skills and reinforcing the idea that we’re working with athletes, and that Athletes are Humans First. I love the course, and anyone who ever has the opportunity to take the course, or any course taught by professors Sinatra and Williams should jump at the opportunity!”

The Dean of the law school Robert Ahdieh, also wanted to allow others interested in this emerging field of law to benefit from the duo’s unique one-of-a-kind class. Therefore they set out to create workshops for law students and attorneys on the topic. These workshops are open to laws students and attorneys around the world.

“I attended the first of three CLE workshops presented by our professors as both a student and in my position as Director of NIL for the University of Texas at Arlington,” Rosenberg shared”. Although I hold a position specifically focused on this area, I find that I am constantly learning new perspectives, concerns, and ideas about NIL. Attending these workshops, and hearing not only how to succeed in navigating NIL, but how to do it while being the best advocate I can be for the student athletes I work with, are invaluable opportunities and I can’t wait to attend the next one.”

They are also creating workshops for the community at large and dates for those are forthcoming.

Bengals Running Back Trayveon Williams To Co-Teach NIL Course At Texas A&M School Of Law

“It was important for me to teach everyone who will be involved and is currently involved in the sports ecosystem that Athletes are Humans First,” Sinatra said.

“They are more than a number, record, or their statistics. They have families, friends, and lives outside of their sport. To often athletes are seen as commodities to be traded or sold or as the reason someone lost money in fantasy, but at the end of the day this is only the athlete’s job and there is so much more to them as humans. That’s why educating the future sports attorneys and athletes advocates is so important. We need everyone in the space to have more empathy toward the athletes and each other.”

“It was an opportunity of an lifetime that I absolutely couldn’t pass up,” Williams said. “When you look back on it I ended up choosing to play at Texas A&M because of the Aggie network and the benefit that it could bring me as a college athlete and as an alum. This class is an example of that in full effect. Obviously I was not able to monetize my NIL in college, however, I looked at my NIL as my reputation and made sure to leave a good impression when I declared for the NFL draft.

“Now, that paid off and I am able to capitalize on that reputation and this opportunity to teach wouldn’t have come up if my reputation was bad. But most importantly, a former Aggie, Alex Sinatra, used the Aggie network and reached out to me via Twitter direct message. I absolutely couldn’t say no when she offered for me to co-teach the course. Words can’t explain the amount of fun we’re having with our students exploring and navigating this new world of NIL as it meets law.”

“We are also getting the opportunity to engage through workshops with other law students and faculty. I’m the prime example of what the Aggie network can do for you. During my recruitment to play at A&M, the Aggie network was the biggest sell and the pitch is literally coming to life now.”

Professor Sinatra and Williams’ plans are to teach the class every spring and hopefully bring this class and others like it to other undergraduate and graduate programs.

Women’s History Month Spotlight: NWSLPA President Tori Huster

Not only do they have the union advocating for their best interests, but they are being educated on how to advocate for themselves.

This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are Humans First and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.

Tori Huster is a professional athlete in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the president of the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA). Huster was first elected to the position in 2020 and was re-elected by the players in 2022. The NWSLPA is the official collective bargaining organization for the NWSL players.

On Jan. 31st, 2022 at approximately 8.30 pm ET, the National Women’s Soccer League’s Players Association announced they had ratified the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in women’s soccer history. As the president of the association, Huster helped oversee the collective bargaining process.

On April 29th, 2022, the Executive Director Meghann Burke of the NWSLPA and NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman signed the collective bargaining agreement on the field before Angel City’s regular season home opener.

“It’s a big focus of mine to make sure players know their rights and to make sure clubs are abiding by what is actually in the agreement. While the CBA is a historic moment for the league, there are plenty of areas up for interpretation within the agreement,” Huster said in a press release issued by her club, the Washington Spirit.

Huster started soccer at a young age and went on to play D1 soccer at Florida State University where she was a four-year starter, first-team Scholar All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 2011, a third-team All-American, and first-team All-ACC in her final season at FSU.

She also shined in the classroom where she was the recipient of the Golden Torch Award for achieving the highest GPA among soccer student-athletes during the 2009-10 semester, was a four-time FSU Dean’s List honoree, and FSU President’s List – 4.0 GPA in the Spring of 2009. Huster initially thought she might want to be a physician’s assistant and even shadowed a few after college.

The league for professional women’s soccer in the United States folded in 2012 just as Huster was making her way into the league. She played for a few semi-professional leagues and then went overseas to play in Australia for one season. However, her professional soccer career was just taking off and she found she was destined to make history for women athletes around the world.

In 2013, the NWSL emerged and professional soccer was once again an option for players domestically. Huster was drafted by the Spirit with the club’s second pick in the 2013 NWSL Supplemental Draft.

“While Huster played with the Spirit, she took odd jobs to supplement her league pay, which she said was less than $20,000 per season for her first few years. She wrote articles, took photography gigs, trained youth players, coached for club teams, walked dogs, and worked as the executive assistant for a natural turf grass consultant at Maryland Soccerplex, the latter which helped her develop small business and organization skills that would translate to her work with the players association,” according to her interview with Club Eleven Magazine.

Taking odd jobs and working to make a living wage is not new to the world of women’s sports, so Huster had a first-hand understanding of the trials and tribulations players were facing to play the sport they loved.

Huster and her teammates worked through harassment and advocated for a change of ownership all while working their additional jobs and playing professional soccer. Something had to give.

“In past years, there has not been a place for players to go, or that they feel comfortable going if they have experienced sexual abuse, verbal abuse, any type of harassment,” Huster noted in her interview with Club Eleven Magazine. “The league in the past has said that they had a policy which they were not able to provide us at the beginning of this year, when we demanded that they put it into place right now before the start of the season. We believe that they may have been operating with US Soccer’s anti-harassment policy. But again, they didn’t provide that… If they were using it, players didn’t know, and players didn’t know where to go if they had issues.”

While the league has gone through its ups and downs, the players are always at the forefront of positive changes. That’s what having a union can do for athletes. Not only do they have the union advocating for their best interests, but they are being educated on how to advocate for themselves.

Fast forward to the end of 2021. The NWSLPA entered into a group licensing agreement with OneTeam Partners, entered into its first sponsorship agreements with Ally Bank and MasterCard, hired a business agent to manage business affairs, and entered into a Commercial Rights Agreement.

“I think that if we [the players, the NWSLPA] are able to empower other people to speak up… if we can be very transparent and honest about that process, individually, and as a collective, I think that gives other people the courage to do the same in whatever walk of life that they are living,” Huster told Club Eleven Magazine.

While the league is still relatively young, the players have taken the lead in advocating for their rights and Huster, along with her predecessors has helped pave the way. These players understand they are working for the greater good and might not see all the changes implemented during their playing careers or even their lifetimes.

“We’re going to be able to get things done that we could never have imagined before… because we’re not worried about the league crumbling down because we know that we are the league,” Huster told Club Eleven Magazine.

 

Women’s History Month Spotlight: Former Stanford volleyball standout Cassidy Lichtman

In 2020, Lichtman agreed to come back from retirement and play in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited volleyball

This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are Humans First and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.

Cassidy Lichtman is the Director of Volleyball for Athletes Unlimited where she was previously a professional volleyball player and Chairperson of the Player Executive Committee. Lichtman is a former member of the USA Volleyball Women’s National Team, a two-time All-American, and an Academic All-American at Stanford.

She played professionally in Europe and Asia for five years and was keenly aware of the power imbalances prevalent in sport between the owners and the players. The owners had full control and reign over the lives of the athletes on the court and a huge level of power off the court as well.

“Rule number 1, don’t argue with the owner, because they own you. The decide if you get paid, if you get fired, where you live, how much you play, whether or not you get Christmas off,” Lichtman said in her TEDxBoston presentation entitled The Power in My Voice. She played half of the year in Europe and Asia and half the year on the USA Volleyball Women’s National Team and retired in 2016. However in 2020, when a professional league was founded in the United States, Lichtman agreed to come back from retirement and play in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited volleyball. Up until that point, no professional indoor volleyball leagues existed in the United States.

There were no owners, no clubs, and no set teams. This was something entirely different than anything Lichtman had experienced previously in her volleyball career. The balance of power was shifted and players held power with the founders of the league. This was a novel concept that kept the players at the nexus of all decisions made within the league. Lichtman became the Chairperson of the Player Executive Committee (PEC) which is made up of five athletes from the volleyball league. The PEC meets with league staff, co-founders, and other leadership to work together on decision-making that affects the league.

One revolutionary decision the players were allowed to make is what uniforms they wanted to wear. Some players wanted shorts and others wanted long leggings, so each player was able to choose what bottoms they wore. This seemingly small choice, allowed all the players to feel comfortable when they were doing their job, playing volleyball professionally.

Other teams in other professional women’s leagues are starting to allow athletes to make choices about their own bodies. Recently, the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League announced, in a press release:

“Orlando Pride has announced an updated look to its Luna Kit, the Club’s secondary jersey. To make players more comfortable and confident when playing during their menstrual cycle, the team will now wear black shorts, replacing the white shorts previously worn throughout the 2022 season and with other secondary kits in prior years.”

Athletes having a voice in their workplace and being able to advocate for themselves is vital to a healthy sports ecosystem. People like Lichtman are making sure athletes are given that opportunity.

Athletes Unlimited volleyball is gearing up for another season. Ahead of their fall season, the league is embarking upon the Athletes Unlimited Volleyball Exhibition Tour. The tour features Athletes Unlimited professional volleyball athletes traveling across the United States playing exhibition matches against top college programs. This tour will promote the sport at a grassroots level and preview what’s to come in season 3 of Athletes Unlimited volleyball.

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Women’s History Month Spotlight: three-time Olympic medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield

President of the PWHPA, Olympic champion Kendall Coyne Schofield won the 2023 PWHPA Humanitarian Award.

This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are humans first and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.

There is no doubt Kendall Coyne Schofield, left wing for the United States Women’s Ice Hockey Team, is athletically talented. She has won two silvers and one gold at the Olympics and is a 6-time IIHF Women’s World Champion among numerous other on-ice accolades. In 2019, she became the first woman to compete in the NHL Skills Competition as a Fastest Skater competitor. She recorded a time of 14.346 and while she didn’t win, she didn’t come in last either.

The winner of the competition, Connor McDavid with a time of 13.378, said of Coyne Schofield, “When she took off I was like, ‘Wow!’ I thought she might have won, the way she was moving. She was a really good skater and it’s an amazing thing for the game when they can see her participate like that in an event like this.”

Her off-ice accomplishments stand-out as well. Coyne Schofield attended Northeastern University where she played ice hockey and graduated with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both summa cum laude.

In 2020, she parlayed her education and love of sport, and joined the ownership group of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). That is not the only elite women’s sports entity in which she is involved. Her background in hockey led her to be the President and a board member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) where she helps further the PWHPA’s work to create a sustainable and viable professional women’s hockey league. She also competes in the PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour on Team Adidas.

Recently, she penned a book, As Fast As Her, about her life and accomplishments which came out in 2022.

This month she announced on Instagram that she and her husband, Chicago Bears offensive guard Michael Schofield, are expecting their first child this summer.

And to cap it all off, she won the PWHPA’s Humanitarian Award for her work on and off the ice. Not only is she elite as an athlete, she continues to use her platform to change the game for other women in sport. We salute you Kendall and thank you for your tireless efforts both in and out of sport.