(upbeat music) - Welcome to inspire!

We're glad you're joining us.

On this show, we're featuring women who have had impactful careers in sports.

We'll be speaking with a woman who has had a remarkable career coaching at the collegiate and professional level, and even higher than that.

And we'll speak to a professional volley ball player you may know, who has traveled the world playing that sport.

Coming up next on Inspire.

Inspire is sponsored by Kansas Furniture Mart, using furniture to inspire conversation, and by the Blanche Bryden Foundation.

(upbeat music) Hello, welcome to Inspire.

We are so glad to be back with you.

Betty Lou Pardue, Amy Kelly, and of course Danielle Norwood, and you, we wouldn't be here without you, so thank you so much.

You're gonna love today's show, it's all about sports and the women who have helped break barriers in the athletic field.

- This year is the 50th anniversary of title nine, the landmark law that opened the door to greater participation in women's sports.

- On today's show, we're talking to Linda Hargrove, a woman who's had a remarkable career in sports, coaching in several newly created women's athletics program at Cowley College following title nine passage, and serving on the coaching staff of the 92 Barcelona Olympics Women's Basketball Team.

Linda served as head coach of the women's basketball team at Wichita State University from 1989 to 1998, before going on to a career with the Women's National Basketball Association, serving as a scout, then assistant coach, and finally, as general manager with the Washington Mystics.

Linda, welcome to Inspire.

We're so glad to have you here with us today.

- And also joining us today is Kaylee Manns, a professional volleyball player who has spent most of her career overseas, playing for teams in Norway, Turkey, Brazil, Switzerland, Albania, and the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Germany.

She's now back stateside playing volleyball as part of a new innovative sports league.

And we love Kaylee Manns.

We love you too coach, but Kaylee Manns is a local girl, and this is so cool.

And Kaylee, I'm so glad to see you all grown up, cause I remember you as a young girl with a dog named bear, and your mom taught sports.

And everybody, her dad is the incredible Mike Manns- - Hooker and Manns.

- Yeah, Hooker and Manns from KMAJ, and also he calls all the high school sports, football, basketball, everything.

So it is so cool.

It's no wonder that you got into athletics, did you have any other choice?

- No, did not.

Nope.

(laughing) - So tell us what got you intrigued in volleyball, cause there's basketball, there's track, there's so much more for women now.

- Yeah, I would say when I was playing, volleyball wasn't as popular as it is now.

So I played soccer, you know, club soccer, club basketball, club volleyball, but the sport I played the least was actually volleyball.

- And look at you now.

(laughing) And coach, I wanna ask you about how you got into high school basketball, junior high basketball.

Was it something you had a passion for, or is it something you just kind of stumbled upon?

How did you get involved in girl sports?

- Well, I actually didn't even have opportunities.

I was in high school in the sixties before title nine and didn't know I even had an aptitude for sport until I went to a Cowley County play day and found out that I could outrun any boy in the county.

High school principal took an interest in me and I started a track team with my Baton teacher's coach, or her father, and kind of got started in track back then.

But there were really no opportunities for me to play basketball or volleyball or any of the team sports.

I was involved in track in a club level.

- But then at some point coach, you started to coach, I mean you became coach and you started your own program, your women's basketball team at Cowley County.

How did all that come about?

Can you talk about that?

- Yeah.

I went to Cowley.

When I graduated from high school, I actually had a national high school record that I didn't find out about until I was a sophomore in college, and very few opportunities for girls in sports at that particular time.

And my dad said, I think you'll go down to Cowley County Community College and my response was, but they don't have a track team.

And he said, your high school didn't have a track team either.

If you wanna do something down there and start it.

So that's what I did.

As a student, I went down there, talked to the football coach and he let me work out with the football team.

Our president took me and one other girl to some meets.

And then my sophomore year down there, I recruited the county and had eight people that were on our team.

And we ended up winning Oklahoma state relays and Wichita state relays with just these eight girls.

And later the president asked me to come back and start a basketball program there and start coaching there.

So that's how it kind of all got started in the real early days.

- Oh, that's incredible.

See, we didn't play high school basketball either back in my day.

So I'm telling Kaylee now, listening to those of us who were older, and when you went to high school you didn't have to worry about it cause you could play anything you wanted.

How do you feel about how far women's athletics have come?

And look, you've been all around the world.

- It's truly, I mean, just listening to that story to me, I'm just shocked that you know, I don't know what I would've of done with myself had sports not been an option.

And I think it's crazy that that wasn't an option for women just because we were women and that's not what we were supposed to do.

It's crazy.

- Well, talk about your time as a professional volleyball player, because I know back in the day, once people got outta a college, that was pretty much it and now you're playing pro volleyball.

Talk about that and your experiences.

- Yeah.

It's definitely something that, not as many people did it and it wasn't as known definitely.

You know, when I started, it was kinda like I was one of the first people, if not the first from Iowa State to go play professionally.

Quite a few others have gone after me, which is so cool.

But you know, there isn't really another option, or hasn't been in the states to play unless you play beach volley.

So it's very cool now that there is a league in the United States, but I would not take back a single minute of my overseas travels because that was just a life experience that I'll never get back.

- That's wonderful.

I do have a question for coach.

I'm very curious coach, because I wanna make sure we get into this, because you were the head coach at Wichita State.

You also have coached for the Washington Mystics, am I saying that correctly?

And the Olympics.

I mean you were an Olympic coach.

Can you talk to us about that?

What are the differences between that?

How are those things to compare?

And if you had to go back and do another one, which one would you do?

- Wow, there's a lot of questions.

(laughing) I think as far as the Olympics are concerned, as an athlete I went to the Olympic trials in 68 and that was kind of a goal of mine was to be an Olympian.

And then when I got involved with USA basketball, I worked with junior teams and then finally senior teams and was one of the assistants on the world championship team in 1990 that won in Malaysia.

And then that staff was selected to coach the 92 Olympic team.

And it was like a full circle event for me to be able to not go as a player or as a athlete, but now to be able to be involved in the Olympic games as a coach.

And for me personally, it was so rewarding because my family got to go to Barcelona and come to all of our games.

I had my husband and daughter and son, and it was such a great event for them to be able to do that.

And then talk about full circle, my son ends up working for USA basketball after he graduates from college, and I'm in the WNBA now and go to Australia to scout there.

And my son, Brian, is getting me tickets to go to different events as I helped him get tickets in 92 when we were in Barcelona.

But it was just one of those great experiences.

When you look at the difference between the men's and women's teams in 92, 92 was a year of the dream team.

So that was Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Carl Malone and, you know, just all of the big, big names, the first time we'd used professional basketball players to play in the Olympic games.

And so we traveled with them, but there wasn't a pull to try to get the women the same kind of just notoriety and marketing and all that kind of thing that the men had.

And there was no way that was gonna happen.

We lived in the village, the men lived in a hotel.

There was no way that the men could have lived in a hotel because they were so worldwide, just bigger than life people.

But it was a great experience to be able to be around them and work with them.

And now I look, you know, 30 years later, it's hard for me to look at the Olympics today and think, you know, it's been 30 years since 92, and if you look at the Olympics and the athletes today, and you know, they don't even say the women's hockey team, the USA women's hockey team, it's the USA team.

Kind of a real rewarding thing to see those kind of movements over the past 30 years.

- We have so much more to talk about with these women.

It is just time for a break though, but hang on, will you please?

Coach Hargrove and Kaylee Manns, and we're gonna continue, stay right there.

(upbeat music) - And we're back with our guests basketball Coach, Linda Hargrove and pro volleyball player, Kaylee Manns.

Kaylee, I've got a question for you, what kinds of things can we do, those of us that are not actually in the profession, to increase visibility for women athletics, particularly women professional athletics?

- I would say a lot of it goes into the viewership as well as kind of the social media following.

You know, you see players like LeBron James or literally Steph Curry, anyone, and you know, millions and millions of followers, people commenting on everything, people interacting on their social media platforms, that's huge.

And then, you know, don't just talk about how you want women to be more advanced and get more opportunities, be about it.

Watch sports, see who they're sponsored by, buy those items.

It's a lot more of doing than just saying and I think that we're still in a little bit of a place like, yeah, I want women to have those same opportunities, but then not much is done.

- Right.

Let's go a step further then, you have a new, exciting thing to tell us about, don't you?

- What's that?

(laughing) - What you're getting into with the pro sports and everything that you're doing.

- Athletics Unlimited.

- Yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, I played in the pro league in the states last year and then I'll play again this year.

So that's the exciting part with just being able to be home.

You know, the league itself, there's a basketball pro league right now, Coach, I didn't know if you knew that, that's going on right now and they're just growing women's sports.

There's softball, there's lacrosse, and they're really just focusing on women's only sports to help the games and all sports grow, just in the women's spectrum.

And I think it's really cool that they have specialized in that area.

- So how can we watch you?

How can we support you and, and watch what it is that your teams are doing?

- Yeah, I know that last year all of our games are on like Fox sports, FX a lot, you know, everything's YouTube streamed, but we do have some major network sponsorships, which has been a struggle.

I know for women's volleyball you can see the championships, but a lot of times you can't see much else.

And I know that's also grown in the last couple of years, but yeah, we have some major TV sponsorships.

I know right now basketball's going on in Vegas and I've seen it on TV, so, you know, make sure you actually stop and take a look at it, don't just flip on by.

- And what position do you play?

I played volleyball back in junior high, but I didn't like to run obviously.

So needless to say that kinda stuff- - I don't either.

- But what position do you play?

- I play the position that runs the most actually, I'm a setter, but I hate running.

Like, long distances, I'm out, I'm out.

(laughing) - Coach, I've got another question for you, since you've had the experience of being in sports prior to title nine, and then after title nine when all that happened, what types of things have you seen over your career that you are most excited about for women in sports, and the things that just still frustrate you about women in sports?

- I think that things that excite me the most are just the opportunities that women have today.

Like I said, when I graduated from high school, very few college or university scholarships were available.

No opportunity to even play in high school, you had to kind of be involved in some clubs to be able to play anything.

And so the opportunities that women have now, and even from the time I coached at Wichita State at the beginning, like 89 to 98.

And then after I retired from the WNBA, I had been retired probably seven or eight years and they asked me to come back and finish a year.

And in the early times when I was coaching there, you know, we were busing to a lot of places and now we were on a private flight.

And so those kinds of things were definitely major improvements that I could see over a 20 to 30 year period.

But there are still so many ways, so we just have so much more to do.

And like Kaylee talked about with the, just the sponsorships.

When Lisa Leslie came out, this was many, many years ago, you know, she might have signed a million dollar contract with Nike, but her counterpart was signing a 30 million contract with Nike or Reebok or somebody like that.

And so those are big differences.

They've gotten better over the years, but we still have a long ways to go.

Last year in the women's NCAA tournament, we found out that the opportunities that the men had to train, weight training facilities and all of that, compared to what the women had were way, way apart.

And a lot of those things have been being addressed too, but the marketing has got to be better, the salaries have got to be better, the coaches salaries and benefits have got to be better, to be able to come in line with what the men's programs are doing.

And we've got a lot of work to do to get there.

I mean, we've gotta grow our game and get more people in the stands.

You know, there's always the argument that when we bring in that kind of revenue, then we'll be compensated for it.

But, you know, there's a fine line there.

We've gotta make it all work and come together, and hopefully before my lifetime is over, it'll be there.

- Well, I wanna thank you for being such a major trail blazer for women's sports.

And how good does it make you feel sitting there and knowing that zooming with you is Kaylee Manns, and she has gotten to kind of stand on everyone's shoulders and get out there and travel and be part of a professional sport that's actually known worldwide now.

And not just women's volleyball, it's volleyball USA.

- Absolutely.

I mean, it's just so rewarding to be able to see young people like Kaylee realize their dreams and have those opportunities.

And it's taken a lot of work on her part to get to the level that she's at, but the opportunities were there for her.

And I look at my grandkids and they have those opportunities now that I didn't have, and my kids had it and my grandkids have it and their grandkids will have it.

And it's just very, very rewarding and exciting to see you to growth over the last 30 to 40 years.

- And there's additional sports being added like girls wrestling, which to me is fascinating.

Talk about that.

- Well, I don't personally know a lot about girls wrestling, but I know there was a state tournament this year and we just keep expanding sports.

And, again, just to have opportunities so that young women can be involved in what they wanna be involved in and can reach their dreams.

It's just very exciting to see.

- And you are both from our viewing area.

So Kaylee, could we start with you and maybe say a shout out to your friends back here at home?

In Topeka and the viewing area.

- Hey guys.

(laughing) I'll be back in March.

So excited to see you all.

I wanna say hi to my family, my nieces, everybody.

I miss you all.

- [Betty] And Coach you too.

Come on, Coach, you're you're in the area, get those Shockers fans out there.

- There's a lot of Shocker fans out there.

Yeah, for sure.

And we're struggling a little bit right now on our basketball team, but we're, both the men's and women's team, are getting ready to have really good things happen here towards the end of the season.

- Well, we're excited for everything that both of you all are doing.

Thank you for what you've done for sports in general.

Not just women's sports, but sports in general.

And we are getting ready to take another break.

Coming up next, we're gonna take a look at some women who are staying active in their golden years, playing the sport they love.

We're gonna be right back so please stay with us.

(upbeat music) (intense music) - [Betty] Granny Basketball was created to be a milder version of the game of basketball, and provides fun, competitive exercise for women over the age of 50.

- The founder of Granny Basketball, is a woman by the name of Barb Tramel, and her father was a coach and coached teams back a hundred years ago.

And when she was helping him with his memoirs, and she heard about the prissy rules, she thought, well, I could play this and you know, she's in her sixties.

But it really is a safer form of the game.

Our costumes also are over the period with our bloomers and the collars with our numbers on the back.

- [Betty] Granny Basketball is played true to traditional 1920s six on six basketball rules, and maintains the history, uniforms, and culture of the games of that era, while ensuring the safety of older players.

- Well, in Granny Basketball, and back in the day, the rules were much more gentle.

But there's no running, no jumping, no touching.

You only get three fouls.

The court is divide into three sections, so there's two forwards, two centers, and two guards for each team.

And you have to stay in your section so it helps with all the running.

I mean, you can't run, you can hurry.

But it makes it a lot of fun.

It's still a really a challenging game to play.

- [Betty] A throwback to a bygone era, the Granny Basketball league plays six on six games, utilizing 1920 style play and uniforms.

The Granny Basketball league welcomes players of various ages, experience, and ability.

- My name is Pat Connor, I'm 90 years old, and I play on the Kansas Gray Tornado team.

I was actually recovering from some physical ailments and I said, I am gonna get well, and I'm gonna play basketball.

It's a team for ladies that are 50 years old and older, and we can't run, we can't jump and we can only dribble twice.

And we play very safely so everybody of all ages can play.

I love that Granny Basketball because it keeps me active, and if I was sitting at home doing nothing, then that would not be good.

And I think everybody that's playing just loves the fact that it keeps you active.

- The Granny Basketball league plays numerous scrimmages, games, and tournaments throughout the year, and occasionally play the half times of collegiate basketball games.

- So we play league in the early year, like from January to May, and then we have our postseason.

Nationals will be in Kansas City on July 29th through the 31st.

And then there are other tournaments that we have in Kansas and in Iowa.

- Be on the lookout for Granny Basketball, coming to a court near you.

(upbeat music) Those ladies are really into it.

I just loved every single one of 'em.

And, you know what, I could see ourselves doing that, learning it.

They they're excited about it, and it's a way to stay physically active and to get in there and learn about one another and just fun.

And their uniforms are a crack.

And you don't have to move super fast, you know?

So I loved all that.

But what about our, oh my gosh, Coach Hargrove and Kaylee Manns.

Okay, what do you think?

- Okay, I remember back in 92, when the dream team just took off and I mean, it was just so spectacular.

And the fact that she was a part of that at that time, and you know, women's sports, sports in general does so much for us.

- [Betty] Right.

- And I'm so happy that we've gotten so much further, but like she said, so much further to go.

Like, you know, last year with the Olympics about the women not having the training facilities that they needed, totally ticked me off.

Cause it's like, look, you've got the WMBA, you've got professionals who are giving their time to actually be a part of the Olympics, and this is how we treat people?

So there's so much more to go, but I'm glad that at least we're in the game now, as it is.

- I'm glad they showed that off too, because we might not have known it had not the players show us- - Exactly.

- The differences between the two - But this was not cool.

- Exactly.

The sad looking Turkey sandwiches that they gave those players.

That was horrible!

- Everybody's probably going, yeah.

(laughing) Okay, so remember, I thought was so cool, Kaylee Manns didn't even have the concept of what going to school without sports would've been.

- Yes.

- And I thought, boy, look at how much has changed over the years.

- And how and how many athletes have we lost?

- Yes.

- How many professional, fantastic, incredible, inspiring women athletes, have we not nurtured and encouraged, you know, up to 1972?

- Absolutely.

And when I was born, hello, if that gives you some idea, I'm getting ready to be 50 this year.

So think about the fact that it's 50 years.

- It should not take that long.

- It should not take that long.

And any improvements of that we make definitely should not take that long to be implemented.

And I need to do a shout out.

- Okay.

- Okay.

So my own shout out is to Chanel Styers.

She and I went through grade school, junior high, high school.

She was a major college athlete for Kansas State in the women's basketball program, and she went on to the WMBA, to the Minnesota Lynx, and now she's coaching in California.

And again, just think at the time that title nine was coming into play, we were being born.

And now look at all of the things that she's able to do in her professional life.

And so, you know, shout out to title nine, and you even said that title nine was not supposed to be about sports.

- No, it wasn't intended to be about sports.

It was a way to address the sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus.

A way for students, female students, to have access to the federal courts.

And there was an early amendment that didn't pass, which was to exempt athletics from title nine.

- Wow.

- And now we think of title nine and you think of athletics.

- Absolutely.

- Oh my gosh, there is so much to cover.

You guys get out there and watch the women's sports.

- Please!

- Support 'em!

That is all the time we have for today, but you can continue it.

And we hope you've loved it and been inspired by today's conversations featuring women making moves, and there's a pun in there, for the world of sports.

Reminder, you can watch this program again at watch.ktwu.org.

- And if you are so inspired to learn more about our guests, find out what is coming up on future shows, and get access to additional content, be sure to visit our website at ktwu.org/inspire.

- Inspiring women, inspiring you, and inspiring athletes on KTWU, Thank you for watching.

(upbeat music) - Inspire is sponsored by Kansas Furniture Mart, using furniture to inspire conversation, and by the Blanche Bryden foundation.