Jarrett pioneered gender equity in college athletics

More than 30 years ago, Jim Jarrett was not the most popular figure with his peers in Virginia.

Not long after taking over as athletic director at Old Dominion, Jarrett had this radical notion that women athletes deserved equal opportunity.

In those years, it was that sort of thinking that got an AD branded a rebel, if not a traitor to his gender.

It was a time, after all, when most college administrators - men, of course - would have been only too happy to have female students channel all their competitive spirit into bake-offs.

Jarrett had other ideas, which is why ODU was the first college in the commonwealth to provide athletic scholarships for women.

"I had a lot of colleagues who were not happy about that," he says today.

The times called for change, even if most colleges weren't as willing or prepared as ODU.

After 39 years as athletic director, the 70-year-old Jarrett announced Wednesday that he'll be stepping down next summer. He'll leave behind an athletic program that features a gleaming jewel of a basketball arena, a refurbished Foreman Field - home to the budding football program - and many more athletic facilities that were unimaginable at ODU only a few years ago.

But while many ADs have expanded their programs and been around long enough to see new facilities erected, not many can say they were on the ground floor of an athletic movement.

"I saw some value in women's athletics," Jarrett says.

A teaching pro as a young man in his home state of Illinois, his work with female tennis players gave him an understanding of the opportunities sports could provide girls - if they were placed on equal footing with boys.

"I had always thought that sports were good for everybody, not just a certain segment of the population," he said Wednesday in his office.

The revolution in sports didn't begin until Title IX was introduced in the mid-'70s. Even then, some schools lagged behind. ODU, though, was always in the forefront.

In August, senior associate AD Debbie White will have been at ODU for 30 years. Jarrett's influence on gender equity "was huge," she said. "We were clearly a pioneer at that time for women's collegiate athletics.

"Speaking strictly as a female administrator who worked for him, one of the things that always impressed me about Jim is that he never saw gender lines. If you were qualified to do the job, you did the job, whether you were male or female. In that way, he was ahead of his time."

The money initially ear-marked for women's scholarships in the mid-'70s was used to attract basketball players, a strategy that quickly broadened the identity of the school.

"We got a head start on a lot of people and had some success," Jarrett said.

You could say that. In 1979 and '80, ODU won back-to-back national titles. Two of the stars of that era - Nancy Lieberman and Anne Donovan - remain nationally recognized figures.

Lady Monarchs coach Wendy Larry was in the first small group of ODU women players to receive scholarships. On Wednesday, she praised Jarrett for having "vision that few ADs had."

His legacy will reflect that.

When Jarrett said that, along with Tennessee and a couple other schools, "ODU played a pivotal role in the development of women's basketball," he was only stating an obvious fact.

Long after most of those colleagues who winced at his ideas for women's athletics have been gone from the scene, the former pioneer is beginning the countdown to his own retirement.

If it seems as if he's been around almost forever, maybe that's because, more than 30 years ago, he got a head start on the future.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com