I grew up in a time when women's sports were less than second rate.
Billie Jean King was fighting not only for equality, but also for the most basic recognition in a largely misogynistic society. When I was growing up, the now cartoonish tennis match against the elderly Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome had significant implications for the advancement of women's sports if King had abandoned the match.
Fortunately, he didn't.
When I started playing organized basketball in 1974, girls didn't have similar opportunities. By the time I got to seventh grade, the only woman I knew who played basketball was Ann Meyers at UCLA (partly because she was David Meyers' sister), and I remember the largely negative reaction when Meyers went to training camp with the Indiana Pacers.
The girl I actually played against was Cheryl Miller, circa 1977. She played for a boys team and it was unheard of for a girl to play basketball against boys at that time. Miller went on to be arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. However, when Miller finished her USC career as the best player in the world, there was nowhere in the United States to play. There was no WNBA and no place other than abroad to pursue a professional dream.
Thanks to Title IX and the valiant efforts of so many people, women's sports have not only grown, but have thrived. Whether it's Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Chamique Holdsclaw, Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum and many others, women's basketball is now mainstream and at its peak of popularity.
However, with all those great players of the past, we have never seen anything like the phenom that is Iowa's Caitlin Clark.
Clark is now the all-time scoring champion in NCAA women's basketball. She is the most exciting and recognizable college basketball player in the country. Period. Men or women. Her games are sold out, at home and away from home. Every sports fan knows her. Each. Single. One. However, the responsibility of carrying women's football forward does not seem to faze her in the least.
She's not the Pete Maravich or Steph Curry of women's basketball, she's a singular star in American culture, having blazed her own trail alongside figures like Ann Meyers, Nancy Lieberman, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and others.
Clark just made history by passing Plum, with a career-high 49 points, at home Thursday against Michigan as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I women's basketball. But this historic milestone is more important than simply scoring more points than anyone else. Clark has changed and elevated the game to heights unimaginable for women in the 1970s, 1980s, or even early 2000s. One day, her record could be broken by USC's JuJu Watkins or some young woman who now dribbles a ball with a dream inspired by Clark.
But Clark's record-breaking career will not be forgotten and we are all lucky to be able to see and appreciate it. Appreciate it. Enjoy Caitlin Clark. Another could score more points in the future, but we will never see people like her again. Ever. She is, and she has been, very important to basketball.
