precursor to the GISA , went 5-on-5 in 1974 ). Support was universal across the state , which came with another bit of equality : Eight-minute quarters . Rover ball featured seven-minute periods .
Scholarship opportunities rose with Title IX ’ s bigger emphasis on gender equality in high schools and colleges , but it took time for opportunities to catch up . Vickers attended the Norman Carter basketball camp , one very few operating in Georgia during the 1980s .
“ That was a huge camp ,” said Vickers . “ That where all the D-I coaches went ,” a list that included Summitt . By the time she attended , a few more opportunities were beginning to spring up . Conner had memories attending a camp at Valdosta State .
By a stroke of luck in location , South Georgia became a hub for the SEC women ’ s basketball tournaments . The SEC began a tournament in 1980 ( as the AIAW was losing ground ), but early days saw the colleges themselves host the championship . Wanting a neutral site , SEC
Tift County ’ s 1996 softball team continued the proud tradition of earlier teams , winning yet another state title for head coach Nancy Anderson Mark . This giant framed photo is on display in the high school gym . Photo submitted
coaches and boosters toured Albany in 1986 .
Everyone loved the Albany Civic Center and from 1987- 1992 , the SEC women named their basketball champions there .
“ We had it right here in our backyard ,” said Vickers , who got to wander around the hospitality room with then-head coach at Tift , Margie York . “ That was big time ,” said Lady Devils head basketball coach Julie Conner . York got her into the hospitality room as well .
Conner ’ s first memories are of basketball . Her father , Johnny Rutland , coached the hardwood Blue Devils and Conner remembers times in the gymnasium and using a Tift County Angels T-shirt as nightgown , given to her by head coach Rita Griffin ( women ’ s teams began going by Lady Devils in 1981 ).
Basketball was Conner ’ s youth . She college games when they aired on TV , featuring Cheryl Miller and Teresa Edwards , a Cairo native who starred at Georgia . Conner even went as far as to cover her schoolbooks in pictures of players .
There was briefly a professional women ’ s basketball league , the WBL , from 1978- 1981 ( Susan Taylor , the former Valdosta State star , played for the Nebraska Wranglers ), but for Conner her heroes were collegiate players and Berrien star Bridgett Moore , who was an All-American in high school .
Scholarships have risen the profile of women ’ s sports even further . Multiple players sign each year from both Tift County and Tiftarea Academy , something impossible in earlier eras .
Fields averaged more than 35 points per game as a high school player , but in the pre-Title IX days received no offers to play for ( non-existent ) college teams . She said she did get an offer from the All-American Red Heads , a team of talented women whose best means of showing their skills was in a barnstorming squad that frequently played local men ’ s teams for fundraisers .
Scholarship opportunities rose with Title IX ’ s bigger emphasis on gender equality in high schools and colleges , but it took time for opportunities to catch up .
16 TiftonScene | JULY 2022