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HALTOM DISCUSSES HISTORY OF TENNESSEE BASKETBALL IN ‘FULL COURT  PRESS’

HALTOM DISCUSSES HISTORY OF TENNESSEE BASKETBALL IN ‘FULL COURT PRESS’

HALTOM DISCUSSES HISTORY OF TENNESSEE BASKETBALL IN ‘FULL COURT

PRESS’

MARTIN, Tenn. – Bill Haltom, co-author of “Full Court Press,” discussed the history of

women’s basketball and several key figures who changed the game during a book signing event

Jan 24 at the University of Tennessee at Martin Paul Meek Library.

“This is a story of courageous women,” said Haltom. “It’s the story, first of all, of a courageous

young woman named Victoria Cape who was 15 years old from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and

wanted to play basketball. But she didn’t want to play half-court; she wanted to play full-court

basketball. Believe it or not, prior to the lawsuit of Cape v. TSSAA, girls playing high school

basketball in Tennessee were not allowed to play a full-court game. It was considered dangerous

for sweet little girls.”

After Cape’s father became upset that his high school daughter was only allowed to play half-

court basketball, he sought the legal counsel of Ann Mostoller and Dorothy Stulberg, both

graduates of the University of Tennessee School of Law. Mostoller and Stulberg filed a lawsuit

against the TSSAA on Cape’s behalf and went to trail in 1976, calling star witness Pat Head

(Summitt), a UT Martin alumna and newly-appointed head coach of the Tennessee Lady

Volunteers who would go on to become the winningest college basketball coach in the sport’s

history.

Summitt, only 26 years old at the time, had been coaching full-court college basketball for three

years when she participated in the Cape trial. According to Haltom, she was not called to testify

on the ability of female players to play a full-court basketball game. She was instead asked to

testify to damages that would be incurred by female high school athletes if the rules of the game

were not changed in their favor.

“She prophesied what was coming for women in this country. She said to the judge, ‘Because of

Title IX, in the years to come, women are going to get scholarships to college to play sports.

They’re going to be student-athletes. … Victoria (Cape) can’t be a part of this. I can’t recruit to

play college basketball a young lady who has never run a full-court game. … I’m going to have

to go out of state,’” said Haltom. “On the basis of her testimony, Judge Robert Taylor ruled in

-more-

HALTOM DISCUSSES HISTORY, Page 2

(Cape’s) favor and granted the injunction that would require the TSSAA to change their rules.

Change did not ultimately happen until years later following several rounds of legal appeals by

the TSSAA, but Cape’s lawsuit opened the door for full-court women’s basketball in high

schools across the state and the country.

“If Pat had not testified in that case, if it had not been for the courage of Victoria Cape and the

courage of her lawyers … that victory would not have changed the game for my daughter and for

generations of young women,” finished Haltom. He then took questions from audience members,

many of whom attended UT Martin with Summitt and remember her as a personal friend and

Pacer athlete.

Haltom’s book is available for purchase in the UT Martin Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

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