Byline: Patricia Babcock
There are two things Lynn Gaziano remembers clearly about 1997, her first year on the job as the boys and girls athletic director at St. Viator high school in Arlington Heights.
One is the first time she went to a league football meeting, the other is the first time she went to the same kind of meeting for boys basketball.
'St. Viator is in two different conferences for football and basketball,' said Gaziano, Viator's first female athletic director. 'I walked into the football meeting last year and of the 24 people there representing all the schools in the Catholic Metropolitan, I was the only woman. Same with the East Suburban Catholic Conference meeting for basketball. Out of 10 athletic directors there, I was the only woman.
'That was a tad intimidating. I didn't know what they all were thinking. You assume that they're probably thinking something negative, but I've actually found the exact opposite to be true. I've been very accepted.'
That's because it is no longer the exception to the rule for women to be in positions of power in high school athletic departments. And even though there are still far fewer women athletic directors in Illinois than there are men, the numbers are growing at a rapid pace.
Ten years ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find even one female athletic director in this state. Now, out of the 749 schools sanctioned by the IHSA, 138 feature women in top athletic department roles. Some split the department and have a man run boys sports and a woman run girls sports.
Others, like St. Viator, Glenbard East and Lake Forest, have a woman running both the boys and girls sides.
Of those 138 schools, 82 are schools where women do both. But at those 82 schools, only 13 come from the big Class AA schools in the Chicago suburbs. The rest come from small, downstate Class A schools or from within the Chicago public school system.
'We've got a ways to go still,' said Noree Mares, who has been both the boys and girls athletic director at Glenbard East since 1991. Before she became the school's first female athletic director, she was an assistant in the athletic department for 19 years. 'But we've made progress. What's been unique to see is that men have gone from just tolerating women (administrators) in athletics to really valuing them and listening to them.
'I would bet that 20 years ago people would have looked at Noree Mares very differently than they do now. They would be like, 'Is that place going to be able to make it with her?' Now, that's not the case anymore.
'I think because of that we'll see a lot more young women get involved in this profession. People just have to remember that sports for girls just started 25 to 30 years ago. We're just starting to see girls coming out of college who grew up with competitive sports their entire lives.
'Those are the kind of people who will want to get trained to do this kind of work. Then you could see those numbers go up.'
Then again, the numbers may never change much from where they are now.
The life of a high school athletic director is beyond demanding. Sometimes it borders on insane when one is trying to do everything from completing eligibility paperwork to planning the budget to ordering new equipment.
Mares says her typical day starts at 5 a.m. and ends at around 9: 30 p.m. when there are athletic contests after school. Weekend work also is part of the job description - all of which leaves little time for family obligations.
'I could never do this job if I had a family,' said Jill Bruder, who has been overseeing both boys and girls sports at Lake Forest for the last three years. She, too, was the school's first female athletic director. 'It's a huge time commitment - more zeros than you have on your calculator. I think the hours are a big reason you don't see more women in this field.
'It would be hard to do my job and settle down and have a family. I'm sure that's an issue for a lot of women.'
Like Bruder, Mares is single and doesn't have kids. That's the case with most female athletic directors. However, Gaziano and Hersey girls athletic director Pat Kennedy are exceptions to the rule. Gaziano has two daughters - Katie, a freshman in college and Pattie, a sophomore at Rolling Meadows.
Meanwhile, Kennedy has a 12-year-old daughter, Sara.
'You have to be really organized at both home and work,' Gaziano said. 'I'm just lucky my daughters are older now.'
'It's a real balancing act for me,' said Kennedy, who has been in her current position at Hersey for five years. Before that, she was the girls sports coordinator at Hoffman Estates. 'Sometimes it's tough because family sometimes gets the short end of the stick.
'But I like my job. With the way we have things set up, I feel that the girls here are better represented. I'm part of the decision-making on everything. Policy is not made without my input. I think that really benefits the females. Historically, girls have received less attention. But I think with more women entering the profession, we've really made some inroads in that area.'
Patricia Babcock's column appears on Saturdays. You may contact her at 847-427-4454 or via email at pbabwatch@aol.com
