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For every recalcitrant administrator, there are thousands of women like Connecticut Housewife Carolyn Bravakis—women discovering that, years after organized athletics have failed them, the world of sport can still be theirs. Until 1975, Bravakis' closest encounter with athletics was leading cheers for the high school football team. "All my life, I never did anything," she says. "The only time I went outside was to hang wash." Then her brother organized a local 10,000-meter road race, and she decided to enter. When she managed to complete only half of the course, recalls Bravakis, "I was so disgusted with myself that I started running seriously."
One year later, she had worked up to 50 miles a week and entered her first Boston Marathon, finishing 29th among women runners. This year, she was 12th, breaking the esteemed 3-hr, barrier with a time of 2 hr., 54 min. for the 26.2-mile marathon distance. (In all, some 200 women completed the course.) The loneliness—and the hardship—of the long-distance runner leave her unfazed: "I have more self-confidence, more energy than I had before. And when I run in the rain, I feel about six years old."
Sport is also fun for Yvette Lewis, 15, but it serves another purpose. She hopes that basketball will be her ticket out of the ghetto, a time-honored route for males. Yvette is already getting letters from college coaches congratulating her on a dazzling sophomore season at Los Angeles' all-black Fremont High School. Softly, she speaks of her dreams: "I feel I could get a better job by going to college than staying in the street. Plus it's the right thing for a young lady to do."
Yvette's athletic gifts are equal to her hopes. Her coach, Laura Holden, states unequivocally: "Yvette is the most talented player I've ever seen. When I first saw her shoot, I just about fainted." But Holden is leaving Fremont, and no coach has been hired to replace her. Uniforms are in such short supply that they must be shared by three teams; Yvette has to retrieve her uniform from a volleyball player to pose for photographs. Says Holden: "If she was a young man and had this kind of potential and ability, there would be no question. But she doesn't get a fair shake." Fair or not, it is Yvette Lewis' best chance: "I'm going to stay with basketball and go as far as I can go with it."
The future for exceptionally gifted women athletes grows brighter: athletics is a meritocracy that, once discrimination is eased, provides a sure upward track for the talented. Women tennis and golf professionals already enjoy lucrative careers; Chris Evert alone has won almost $1.5 million in prize money over the past five years, $453,000 of it just last year. The development of other pro leagues is just a matter of time and the promotion of audiences willing to pay to watch women play.