`GIRLS WERE JUST SO READY FOR SPORTS. THEY JUST NEEDED THE CHANCE'; BURBANK PRAISES FAIR-PLAY PIONEER.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The little girls playing in the Burbank Pony pony, small horse, officially any horse under 14.2 hands (58 in./145 cm) high. Most ponies are of Celtic origin. They are noted for their extreme hardiness and gentle natures. Some ponies are only 26 in. (65 cm) high. See Shetland pony; Welsh pony. Tail League put their gloves and bats aside for a few minutes to sit on the grass and listen to some adults say nice things about the grandmotherly grand·moth·er·ly adj. 1. Characteristic of or befitting a grandmother. 2. Having the qualities of a grandmother. woman standing there with them. They did not know her, never saw her before, but the adults said this woman was somebody they should meet and learn from. Forty years ago, she did something for little girls just like them in this town - little girls who wanted to play softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' games on teams in recreational leagues, just like the boys. But there were no teams or leagues back then for girls. Only boys. It wasn't fair. Everyone knew it. But nobody had stepped forward to make it right - make it fair for the grandmothers and mothers of the girls sitting here today. This woman stepped forward and made it fair, the adults said. This woman took it upon herself to level the playing field for all the little girls in her community 20 years before the government ordered it done for girls and women all over this country. In recognition of that, the softball diamond they were playing on that day was being named in her honor As a verb, to accept a bill of exchange, or to pay a note, check, or accepted bill, at maturity. To pay or to accept and pay, or, where a credit so engages, to purchase or discount a draft complying with the terms of the draft. . From now on, it wasn't Diamond No. 4 anymore. It was Barbara Rownd Field. The little girls listened and learned. And when the time finally came to introduce this woman who had founded their league and pioneered girls' sports programs in Burbank, they all rose to their feet and gave her a standing ovation. She wasn't a stranger anymore. She was a hero. Barbara Rownd, 77, looked out into a sea of young faces smiling back at her, applauding her, and soaked soak v. soaked, soak·ing, soaks v.tr. 1. a. To make thoroughly wet or saturated by or as if by placing in liquid. b. To immerse in liquid for a period of time. 2. the moment in, fighting back the tears. ``This is the greatest day of my life,'' she thought. ``These little girls are playing in a program I started.'' The year was 1954, and Rownd had been with the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department for four years teaching ballet, tap dance and crafts. Girls' stuff. It was time to branch out, she knew, taking a chance and knocking on Kenny Wattenberger's office door - asking the city's sports supervisor if he would be willing to open a position for her. She was thinking about starting a girls' softball league, just like the one the boys had, she told him. Wattenberger, a wise man, smiled and welcomed her aboard. ``He let me do my own thing, gave me complete free rein free rein n. Unlimited freedom to act or make decisions: gave me free rein to reorganize the department. Noun 1. ,'' Barbara said Friday, walking the few blocks from the home she's lived in since 1942 to the softball diamond with her name on it. ``I put an ad in the local newspaper saying we were starting a girls' softball program, and by 1956 we had enough girls, 50 or 60, to form a six-team league,'' she says. ``By 1957, there were 22 teams, and it's grown to more than 100 teams now.'' Jane Widdensheim, a teacher at San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Middle School, and Linda Murphy, a teacher at John Burroughs High School John Burroughs High School is a public high school located in Burbank, California. Emilio Urioste, Jr. is the current principal. The school was built in the 1920's, but wasn't established as a high school until 1948. The school was named after naturalist John Burroughs. , were two original players in the league. ``We all knew, even back then, that we should have been able to do the same things that the boys were doing in sports, but weren't being given the opportunity,'' Jane said. Barbara gave them the opportunity, pushed them later as young women to coach and teach other little girls, just as she had helped teach them, the women say. ``Every night after work, I'd go out on the field and show the girls how to use the glove glove, hand covering with a separate sheath for each finger. The earliest gloves, relics of the cave dwellers, closely resembled bags. Reaching to the elbow, they were most probably worn solely for protection and warmth. , how to catch and throw,'' Barbara remembers. ``They just ate it up. Girls were just so ready for sports. They just needed the chance.'' In 1969, Barbara was promoted to Burbank's sports supervisor, the first woman in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, to oversee all sports programs for her city. She retired from the department in 1983 - retired with girls' and women's sports programs in Burbank already on an even playing field with those of boys and men by the time Title IX became the law of the land, requiring that girls get an equitable equitable adj. 1) just, based on fairness and not legal technicalities. 2) refers to positive remedies (orders to do something, not money damages) employed by the courts to solve disputes or give relief. (See: equity) EQUITABLE. share of sports program money. ``Title IX just legitimized the thing that a lot of women sports pioneers had been doing all along, leveling the playing field,'' Barbara says, looking up at the softball backstop with her name on it. ``When I walk by and see my name up there, I get so excited,'' she says, smiling. ``I feel like the guys must feel when they get in the Hall of Fame.'' Like a hero. A hero to every little girl who wanted a chance to play the same game the boys were playing. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Barbara Rownd, who helped bring girls sports to Burbank 40 years ago, stands near a field named in her honor. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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