The Best Man For The Job Was A Woman
By Brian S. Yeldell
The Wanda Oates Story
Courtesy of Ebony Magazine
It’s 1985 and Title IX is already 13 years old. There have been close to 20
championships that have been won at Frank W. Ballou High School. The school has
a strong Science and Math program. However, the school sits on a hill and acts
as a beacon in what could be seen as a neighborhood in a Southeast Washington,
DC area that has seen its share of blight, neglect and in some circles being
written off. The championships that have been won have been won by the Girls
softball team, Girls track team, Girls basketball team and Boy’s soccer team and
coached by Coach Wanda Oates and trusted assistant, Brenda Speaks. Ms. Oates was
a pioneer on many levels and this is a story as much about breaking and tearing
down walls, winning games as it is about a pioneer and a pioneering spirit.
Wanda Oates did, was and is all of the immediate aforementioned.
Around this time, the boys football team wants to start winning. What do they
do? They do what is natural for kids who are looking for solutions. They look
around and see winning programs so they ask, “Can Ms. Oates coach us?” They are
told, “maybe” and the proper channels are explored and covered. Ms. Oates is
first given the position and subsequently Ms. Oates is denied the position,
because of some technicalities. However, a few years later, she becomes the Boys
basketball coach and wins the East Championship of the Interhigh (predecessor
organization to DCIAA ). It had not been done in over 20 years “up on the hill”
by some of the foregone teams and players who had come through Ballou, which
included the Campbell brothers, Delano Dunmore, and other Southeast legends.
Many of the good teams that were assembled in the late 70s and 80s were not able
to accomplish the feat. But it was done with Wanda Oates. In short, the best man
for the job was a woman.
Where The Fire Started
Wanda Anita Oates was born and raised in Washington, DC in 1942 in the Northwest
section of the city. This will be important later in this story. She graduated
from Theodore Roosevelt High School just 6 years after the Brown versus Board of
Education decision that opened the public schools of Washington, DC to students
of all colors. It should be noted also that, though she was a championship
coach, she didn’t participate in sports in her youth, because there were no
sports programs for girls when she was a student. This is yet another point that
will be both important and addressed later in this story. At Roosevelt High
School, she participated in few activities, due to the prevailing attitudes of
some teachers who followed the decree to teach Black students, in an unenthused
manner, at best. In one incident, Ms. Oates, an extremely intelligent person,
won a Latin contest, only to have her mastery of the subject questioned by her
white teacher. Yet another teacher, a phys ed teacher, told her she was “dumb”
which lit a fire in her to become a phys ed teacher so that she could eventually
take that teacher’s job. Her intellect would not be truly recognized until
later, when she started studying and picking apart more seasoned and heralded
coaches.
Upon graduation from a somewhat racist Roosevelt (one has to remember that
though B vs. B was decreed, many white teachers taught the Black kids
reluctantly), she entered Howard University, a more nurturing environment, some
20 city blocks from her high school. Howard, by most measures is one of the most
prestigious institution of higher learning in the African American community and
the world, at large. Though Howard is and was in her hometown, Howard attracts
students from around the world - the best and the brightest. Some of the people
who have matriculated from Howard include Vernon Jordan, P Diddy, Debbie Allen,
Phylicia Rashad , Atlanta’s current mayor Kasim Reed, Prince George’s County
Executive Rushern Baker, as well as many high ranking people in government,
politics, and industry . At Howard, she became a member of this college
community and set her sights on doing good, while doing well, and enjoying life
as a college student. After graduation, she decided to become a teacher to use
some of the skills learned in that great college environment. In addition to her
studies, she was the editor of the year book, is initiated into the Delta Sigma
Theta sorority, and participates in many other social activities of the 1960s.
Career, Pioneering Spirit & Eventual Controversy
Career
Ms. Oates career, for all practical purposes, started as a physical education
teacher at Ballou High School in Southeast Washington, DC. It should be known,
whether people want to admit it or not, that Ballou and many of the areas “east
of the [Anacostia] river” are looked upon as undesirable, unattractive and
unsalvageable. This author personally does not agree with that assessment,
having spent much of my life there. I truly found it to be a wonderful and
magical place to be raised. In addition, the area has been underserved and
overlooked for YEARS. Ms. Oates went into this environment and thrived, as
mentioned, at first, as a physical education teacher and later as a coach,
friend, mentor and for many, a mother figure. She did so with her side kick,
assistant coach, and friend for much of her adult life, Brenda Speaks. Ms.
Speaks is very much like Coach Oates, but sometimes a little more tender, but no
less intelligent, fiery or effective. They probably could have gone into other
areas or another school, especially over time, but decided to stay there, where
they KNEW they were needed.
Pioneer
As Ms Oates’ career was going along, she noticed something that had been
bothering her for years and she decided to do something about it. There were
plenty of boys’ teams and programs in DCPS, but none for girls. Sure, there were
home economics classes, pom pon (or pom pom) squads, cheerleaders, and even your
periodic puff puff games, but there were girls in the school who had athletic
ability and skills. It is easy to not understand the climate that existed during
this time, the early 1970s, with leagues like the WNBA and attention to and
stars in sports like soccer’s Mia Hamm and Hope Solo, swimming with Dana Torres
and even tennis with the explosion of women like the Williams sisters, Venus and
Serena. But in the early 70s, there were no organized teams and leagues for
girls in Washington, DC. This was about to change. Ms. Oates went to the
governing body of the schools and introduced programs for girls, like
basketball, volley-ball, track and field, along with softball.
Controversy
After successfully starting the girls’ sports programs at Ballou and for DCPS,
as mentioned above, Ms. Oates was asked, BY THE KIDS, to coach the football
team. She went to the principal and the athletic director and got clearance. It
got sticky then! When it got to the DCPS commissioner and the superintendent,
all of a sudden, the resistance began. As has been the case with many other
situations, with sitting at a lunch counter, drinking out of a water fountain,
and blacks playing in Southern colleges and universities in the 40s and 50s, all
she wanted to do was coach. Besides, the kids had asked her. She was denied the
position, something in which she filed suit. She lost her suit, but not her
spirit or determination. During the trying of the suit, numerous things were
uncovered. Some of them included who her allies were, as well as adversaries. In
addition, long time allies, fellow coaches and colleagues turned their backs and
went against her, which proved to strengthen her resolve. This also brought her
closer to Ms. Speaks, who had for years been there for each other. Over the
years, they have had plenty of articles written and recognition by city and
national leaders, including being Coach of the year after winning the Boys
championship in 1991, in addition to being named to the Scholastic Sports Hall
of Fame in 2009.
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Best Man For The Job, A Woman
Ms. Oates, as mentioned, had no problem being a winning girls coach. The
trophies, the celebrations and the players who matriculated from her programs
all act as testimony. Some that come to mind include Gwen “Ms. J” Jones (a 70s
stand out player), Millhouse, an All-met player, who won a scholarship to a
Big10 program, Wisconsin, as well as Sanya Tyler, who became a member of the
Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Hall of Fame. The aforementioned are
ones who were lauded in the press. There are also lesser known players, who went
on to get degrees at great universities and help the neighborhood that could
have kept them back. Some of those include a seemingly diminutive (5’9”) Michael
Robinson, who led the metropolitan area in scoring at an average of over 27
points, Mo Ware, the first Ballou coach to win a Turkey Bowl, and Noel Cyrus,
who took Ballou to several track and field championships. Many of these players
credit the lessons learned from Ms. Oates as major contributors to their
collective and individual ability to win. Winning is an important by-product to
being coached well, which leads to playing all games well, including the game of
life.
Speaking of life, sometimes, life is circular and things come back around. After
continuing to produce great teams and great players with her girls’ team, the
request came again. This time, it was the boy’s basketball team. Neither the
boys, nor Ms. Oates, would be denied this time. Upon getting approval from all
of the bodies that have approved her to coach the football team, as well as some
of the ones who did not want her to coach, in 1988, she began coaching the boys
basketball team. The first season saw the team win 17 games after winning only
10 the previous three seasons. As earlier mentioned, in 1991, she won the first
championship at Ballou in over 20 years. Some of the guys went on to have
productive college careers, as athletes and as students, and later working in
productive careers. As is the case with many coaches, Ms. Oates and Brenda
Speaks were and are teachers. They taught their boys players how to win on the
court and in life. The pair are constantly bombarded with all kinds of calls,
letters, and stops in the street, with people telling them both that they did a
great job, as coaches, teachers and mentors.
Where is she now. Where is Ballou now?
Never a “shrinking violet”, Ms. Oates is STILL just as fiery as a semi-retired
school teacher, educator and coach. You can currently find her working with her
mentees, friends and of course, the students. She has had articles and write-ups
ALL over the media since her historic run as the first woman to coach a boy’s
team, and NOT as a figure head for some other coaches and administrators. One
that she is particularly proud of was done by the late George Michael, who Ms.
Oates considered a good friend. She lives in Northwest Washington and can be
found and seen in her neighborhood or at a local barber shop, talking shop. She
also is a strong force and assistant to her former assistant, Brenda Speaks, who
is a strong voice for the people of her commission. When Brenda Speaks advocates
for her community, the community also gets Wanda Oates, who knows how to fight
and WIN for people who are long shots.
Wanda Oates definitely left Ballou a better place. She left it a proud place.
Many people want to look on that side of the world and say that there is nothing
to be salvaged “there”. Some will say, don’t send resources in that part of the
world. Neither this author nor this publication feels that way, but those
feelings and sentiments exist and persist. Well, after creating winners and
winning attitudes, Ballou has pride. The students know some new winning formulas
that may not have been prevalent in another time in that place. They walk to and
from school with a feeling that they know how to win. They do so because of a
woman, in fact, two women, who did not give up on them, as some others had and
have.
What does the future hold.? If you know or have met Wanda Oates, and Brenda
Speaks, who are together quite a bit, you know that there is no blue print to
what may happen. After all, once a pioneer, always a pioneer. Maybe Ms. Oates
will do it herself, or maybe it’ll be Ms. Speaks or maybe one will be behind the
scenes showing some future pioneer how to navigate the tricky world of being
first and the unfortunate, yet certain scrutiny and unfair and unnecessary
treatment that will be encountered. It may for one of the former students who
now runs the pioneering Ballou marching band. Maybe it will be her former
student and player, who was the first woman to be elected into the MEAC Hall of
Fame. Whatever it is, certainly, if there needs to be a job done, many won’t
wonder whether it can be done, but when it will be done. They knew and know game
plan, how to strategize, how to motivate, what players need to come in and go
out. They knew and know basketball, plain and simple. Maybe they will continue
to help shape misguided thinking about the ability of women to do different
things and jobs and just perform in previously uncharted waters. And, maybe next
time, it won’t be such a big deal when it comes to be that the best man for the
job, may just be a woman.
Penny Green, Wanda Oates, John Ershek, Brenda Speaks, Rahmeek Rasul
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