Woman golfer tees off on college sports scene

Friday, April 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Hall of Fame golfer Patty Sheehan drove for the green in an appearance before the Legislature.

She asked the Assembly Ways and Means Committee Thursday to provide more money for women's sports at UNLV and the University of Nevada, Reno. She endorsed a request for $1 million over the next two years.

Sheehan said the 1972 Title IX federal law came into effect when she was in high school in Reno and a women's golf team was started. She went on to the University of Nevada, Reno, where she played three years until women's golf was discontinued.

She said she had to scramble and ended up at San Jose State, where she won the NCAA title.

"We can't be shipping our local students to other colleges," Sheehan said.

But after the Sheehan testimony, Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, accused the university system of not "spending its dollars wisely" to achieve gender equity. "That's offensive to me," she said.

Each campus gets about $1.3 million a year for athletics from the state to augment the revenues it collects from attendance, student fees and other sources.

The usually mild UNR President Joe Crowley shot back, "I reject that. You (Giunchigliani) haven't seen how we used (the money)." He said both campuses now comply with the NCAA but need to expand women's programs if they are to meet the standards in 2000-2001.

Giunchigliani sought and received assurances from Crowley that the money allocated by the Legislature would go toward women's sports and not be put into a general pool to be used by coaches at will.

The university system asked for $250,000 a year each for UNLV and UNR. Gov. Bob Miller cut that to $50,000 each. Deputy Budget Director Don Hataway said this was in the mid-range of priorities by the Board of Regents.

"We felt the $50,000 contribution was reasonable," he said.

At UNLV, enrollment is 48 percent male and 52 percent female. For 1996-97, 236 males (61 percent) and 148 females (39 percent) are participating in athletics. The goal is 50-50 participation.

Giunchigliani also leveled criticism that UNLV spends 80 percent of its sports-recruiting dollars on male athletes and 20 percent on women. That is "an extreme disparity," she said.

Rick Bennett, director of government relations for UNLV, presented a compliance plan with a goal of increasing female athletic participation by more than 100 women and increase female scholarships by 24 over the next five years. It will add women's soccer in 1998 and possibly another women's sport in 2001.

UNLV plans to increase event scheduling opportunities for women's basketball and volleyball at the Thomas & Mack Center. It will cap male participation in sports at 230 for the year 1999-2000. The goal is to have a minimum 210 females involved in sports.

The Assembly committee was told that UNLV has an athletic budget of $10 million a year and Reno's spending is about $7 million. Only about $1.3 million comes to the schools each year from the state.

Assemblywoman Kathy Von Tobel, R-Las Vegas, a member of the women's sports foundation for UNLV, said it's tough to raise donations. She said people don't watch women's competition and the teams don't raise much revenue. To rely on private donations is a dangerous policy, she said.

Von Tobel said the foundation has been trying to raise $2 million for a softball facility and would appreciate any help.