SE: 50 Years Later, First K-State WBB Team Reflects on Program’s Start and Progress Since
Feb 27, 2018 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
As flames engulfed Nichols Hall on December 13, 1968, an infamous day in K-State history, very little of the building's contents inside survived. Women's basketball, housed in Nichols Hall (Nichols Gym, at the time), persevered, however.
Through nothing more a love for the game and each other, the 1968-69 K-State women's team — the university's first intercollegiate squad, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in Saturday's win against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum — helped pave a path toward greater gender equity in athletics.
"We started a path and it's gotten wider and better the whole way through," said Janet (Whitehill) McCauley, who remembers climbing a ladder into a window of Nichols Hall during the fire to save whatever she could. "We were just beginning the fight. The teams that came after us really helped mold what K-State's women's program became. They had to do a lot of fighting."
After the fire, the first K-State team had close to nothing. Along with the gym they played on, the Wildcats — called the Wildkittens, at the time — also lost what little equipment they had.
"We loved the game. We loved each other. We had fun. We didn't know how far behind the eight ball when we started, did we?" McCauley said, as her former teammate, Ginny (Roglin) Honomichl, walked up.
"There was no eight ball," Honomichl replied.
"We survived," Mary (McManis) Stamey added in. "When you're uprooted, you didn't have any playing space and you're dependent on others to get your chance to pick up that ball again to shoot hoops… it was a sport you love and still love."
Thanks to some generosity from the K-State men's basketball coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Mary (McManis) Stamey said the first women's team was able to practice at Ahearn Field House and received some equipment to use.
Still, things were far from equal between the two squads.
The women had no locker room, so they showed up to practice, usually at 6 a.m., ready to play. They carpooled to games, including a road trip to Amarillo, Texas, for the program's first postseason appearance, the NWIT. Scholarships were non-existent, and would be until LeAnn Wilcox earned one in 1976, four years after Title IX became law. Most of the women on the team originally found out about it through intramural advertisements in The Collegian.
"We had to dig for everything that we had, and we had three dollars a day to eat on," Jane Schroeder said. "It was brutal, so you were playing with kids who really liked to play basketball. Everybody would have done anything to play. I think that's what makes it such a special bond."
"That's how much we wanted to do what we were doing," Honomichl added. "We didn't have to have the best. We just had to have each other."
At the time, Stamey said they had no idea what they were doing was groundbreaking. She and her other teammates credit their naivety to their coach, Judy Akers, a central figure in the fight for gender equity in athletics.
"She shielded us from all of that," Honomichl said of Akers, who coached from 1968-79 and finished with a 206-94 record, including two Big Eight titles.
"It didn't bother us," McCauley stated. "We didn't know any different."
Added Stamey: "Judy Akers needs to be recognized for all the groundwork she did to get it established. It was hard, really hard, and she was out there stomping by herself while she was coaching. She just had a passion to get this team going."
Among her many fights, Akers advocated for women to play five-on-five like the men, a change from the six-on-six version that was essentially a pair of three-on-three games on each end of the court.
"I think she probably stuck her neck out more than anybody did because she believed in women's athletics," Schroeder said. "She truly believed in what sports could do for a person, and that could be men or women. She really believed that, fought for it and instilled that in all her players."
The majority of those players went on to either start or coach women's sports programs, carrying on their coach's impact.
Honomichl started the girls track and field and basketball programs at Russell High School, along with creating the softball team at Baldwin High School. Schroeder became an assistant at K-State and served as the head coach at Illinois for five seasons.
"Everything we got, which wasn't much, we really appreciated, and I think everybody felt the same way," Schroeder said. "There was a lot of people in that group that coached, and I think they really tried to pass that on to their players, that we've come a long ways but don't ever take anything for granted."
For what it's worth, the first team finished its season 11-3 that included a rivalry-opening, two-game sweep over Kansas. Five decades later, most of the players from the first team watched K-State's current team complete another season sweep of the Jayhawks for the program's ninth-straight win in the Sunflower Showdown in front of more than 6,000 fans.
The first team members back were even honored before the game, when they participated in a warm-up exchange with the current Wildcats. They were among more than 65 alumni who returned for the weekend.
"It's awesome to see people you lived with and played games with. We had a good time and just wanted to play," Stamey said. "It was, just like any other team, that fraternity of a common goal and trying to do something with the university and for the university. Nothing beats the true friendship that we have."
Between seeing the obvious increase in support, internally and externally, the vast improvement in equity for women's athletics and, of course, each other, the weekend was another unforgettable one for the Wildcat team that got the ball rolling.
"Who knew what we were doing 50-plus years ago would culminate in this?" Honomichl said. "It's just unbelievable. I don't know what to say. I'm proud. I'm very proud to be part of this. I'm proud that our pioneering efforts made a difference."
1968-69 Roster
Virginia 'Ginny' Roglin
Jane Akers
Jane Schroeder
Betty Ryan
Patricia Drake
Mary McManis
Susan Strom
Wanda Tilford
Janet Whitehill
Karen Sigel
Gunile Myers
Sheila Brown
Head coach: Judy Akers
As flames engulfed Nichols Hall on December 13, 1968, an infamous day in K-State history, very little of the building's contents inside survived. Women's basketball, housed in Nichols Hall (Nichols Gym, at the time), persevered, however.
Through nothing more a love for the game and each other, the 1968-69 K-State women's team — the university's first intercollegiate squad, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in Saturday's win against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum — helped pave a path toward greater gender equity in athletics.
"We started a path and it's gotten wider and better the whole way through," said Janet (Whitehill) McCauley, who remembers climbing a ladder into a window of Nichols Hall during the fire to save whatever she could. "We were just beginning the fight. The teams that came after us really helped mold what K-State's women's program became. They had to do a lot of fighting."
After the fire, the first K-State team had close to nothing. Along with the gym they played on, the Wildcats — called the Wildkittens, at the time — also lost what little equipment they had.
We take a final trip down memory lane as former Wildcats joined this year's senior class to share stories of how their lives have been shaped as members of #KStateWBB. #50thSeason pic.twitter.com/ityQeE1M0A
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 23, 2018
"We loved the game. We loved each other. We had fun. We didn't know how far behind the eight ball when we started, did we?" McCauley said, as her former teammate, Ginny (Roglin) Honomichl, walked up.
"There was no eight ball," Honomichl replied.
"We survived," Mary (McManis) Stamey added in. "When you're uprooted, you didn't have any playing space and you're dependent on others to get your chance to pick up that ball again to shoot hoops… it was a sport you love and still love."
Thanks to some generosity from the K-State men's basketball coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Mary (McManis) Stamey said the first women's team was able to practice at Ahearn Field House and received some equipment to use.
Still, things were far from equal between the two squads.
The women had no locker room, so they showed up to practice, usually at 6 a.m., ready to play. They carpooled to games, including a road trip to Amarillo, Texas, for the program's first postseason appearance, the NWIT. Scholarships were non-existent, and would be until LeAnn Wilcox earned one in 1976, four years after Title IX became law. Most of the women on the team originally found out about it through intramural advertisements in The Collegian.
"We had to dig for everything that we had, and we had three dollars a day to eat on," Jane Schroeder said. "It was brutal, so you were playing with kids who really liked to play basketball. Everybody would have done anything to play. I think that's what makes it such a special bond."
"That's how much we wanted to do what we were doing," Honomichl added. "We didn't have to have the best. We just had to have each other."
At the time, Stamey said they had no idea what they were doing was groundbreaking. She and her other teammates credit their naivety to their coach, Judy Akers, a central figure in the fight for gender equity in athletics.
"She shielded us from all of that," Honomichl said of Akers, who coached from 1968-79 and finished with a 206-94 record, including two Big Eight titles.
"It didn't bother us," McCauley stated. "We didn't know any different."
Added Stamey: "Judy Akers needs to be recognized for all the groundwork she did to get it established. It was hard, really hard, and she was out there stomping by herself while she was coaching. She just had a passion to get this team going."
Among her many fights, Akers advocated for women to play five-on-five like the men, a change from the six-on-six version that was essentially a pair of three-on-three games on each end of the court.
"I think she probably stuck her neck out more than anybody did because she believed in women's athletics," Schroeder said. "She truly believed in what sports could do for a person, and that could be men or women. She really believed that, fought for it and instilled that in all her players."
The majority of those players went on to either start or coach women's sports programs, carrying on their coach's impact.
Honomichl started the girls track and field and basketball programs at Russell High School, along with creating the softball team at Baldwin High School. Schroeder became an assistant at K-State and served as the head coach at Illinois for five seasons.
"Everything we got, which wasn't much, we really appreciated, and I think everybody felt the same way," Schroeder said. "There was a lot of people in that group that coached, and I think they really tried to pass that on to their players, that we've come a long ways but don't ever take anything for granted."
For what it's worth, the first team finished its season 11-3 that included a rivalry-opening, two-game sweep over Kansas. Five decades later, most of the players from the first team watched K-State's current team complete another season sweep of the Jayhawks for the program's ninth-straight win in the Sunflower Showdown in front of more than 6,000 fans.
It was a weekend full of laughter and memories capped by a celebration of our history, thank you to all our #KStateWBB alumni and supporters for a great #50thSeason celebration. pic.twitter.com/SLeIc2y8u7
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) February 25, 2018
The first team members back were even honored before the game, when they participated in a warm-up exchange with the current Wildcats. They were among more than 65 alumni who returned for the weekend.
"It's awesome to see people you lived with and played games with. We had a good time and just wanted to play," Stamey said. "It was, just like any other team, that fraternity of a common goal and trying to do something with the university and for the university. Nothing beats the true friendship that we have."
Between seeing the obvious increase in support, internally and externally, the vast improvement in equity for women's athletics and, of course, each other, the weekend was another unforgettable one for the Wildcat team that got the ball rolling.
"Who knew what we were doing 50-plus years ago would culminate in this?" Honomichl said. "It's just unbelievable. I don't know what to say. I'm proud. I'm very proud to be part of this. I'm proud that our pioneering efforts made a difference."
1968-69 Roster
Virginia 'Ginny' Roglin
Jane Akers
Jane Schroeder
Betty Ryan
Patricia Drake
Mary McManis
Susan Strom
Wanda Tilford
Janet Whitehill
Karen Sigel
Gunile Myers
Sheila Brown
Head coach: Judy Akers
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