Women’s basketball community comes together to support loss of Northwestern player
By Allie Burger Shock and sadness continue to radiate through the Chicago women’s basketball community following the suicide of Northwestern sophomore Jordan Hankins. As Northwestern continues to deal with the aftermath of Hankins’ Jan. 9 death, the effects of the tragedy have also extended to surrounding women’s programs.
Chasing Nojel
By Julia Cardi When the final afternoon bell rang in Evanston Township High School at 3:35, a rush of teenagers and their cacophony of end-of-day chatter flooded the hallways. The open space adjacent to the school’s various athletic facilities clogged with kids heading to practices; in the locker rooms, they traded Timberland boots and jeans […]
Gender wage gap: The pay disparity in athletics
By Nicole Sedivy A Medill Newsmakers Report This episode of Medill Newsmakers explores the gender wage gap in athletics present at the collegiate and professional level. [vimeo 169943305 w=474]
Turning an adaptive lifestyle into a rewarding lifestyle
By Hannah Gebresilassie A Medill Newsmakers Report When society thinks of people in wheelchairs, we often think of what they can’t do instead of what they can do. In this edition of Medill Newsmakers, wheelchair users in Chicago open up about living an adaptive lifestyle. The perspectives come from gunshot survivors, Skyhawks wheelchair basketball team […]
Reflections: Pioneers in women’s basketball look back at progress in the sport
By Hannah Gebresilassie “We’re girls and we just want to have fun,” said 90-year-old Mary Wersells, the first girls’ basketball coach at Simeon High School as she reflected on the history of the sport. Nearly four decades ago, Title IX was enforced which prohibited discrimination against female athletes. This opened the doors for pioneers in […]
Chicago Sky Tamera Young uses basketball to empower youth
By Hannah Gebresilassie WNBA’s eight-year veteran Tamera Young uses basketball as a platform to serve Chicago’s youth. The Wilmington-native graduated from James Madison University and became the first WNBA player from the school. After becoming CAA Player of the Year, Young was selected as the no. 8 draft pick by the Atlanta Dream in 2008. […]
KAOS youth club uses sports, mentoring as alternative to Chicago’s chaotic streets
By Hannah Gebresilassie Ty Young is giving back to the streets that put a bullet in his son. While Young, a pharmacy tech, couldn’t keep his son from being shot in 2013, he could do something about the South Side youth culture that created the perilous landscape in the first place.
Roosevelt basketball goes from nothing to hope for future
By Abbas Haleem Ira Berkow was 19 in 1958. The Pulitzer Prize-winner and former New York Times sports columnist didn’t know where he would attend school and what career path to follow. He had two scholarship offers to play basketball at small schools out of Chicago. However, he didn’t want to leave and didn’t take […]
Can’t stop, won’t stop: Illinois Tech athletes play multiple sports year round
By Grant Miller Illinois Tech recruited Ryan Barnes for his hoops skills. But the day before the final basketball game of the season, he played above the net, not the rim, and spiked a volleyball against Robert Morris University. “They’re done tomorrow,” head coach Katherine Zulandt said after the game. “So he’s mine for the […]
The do-it-all-guy: Illinois Tech’s young coach shoots, dunks and mentors
By Grant Miller Todd Kelly wore a red T-shirt and shorts with matching sneakers as he stepped onto the Keating Sports Center basketball court. He bent his knees, widened his arms and shuffled his feet to prevent the opposing point guard from dribbling around him. When his man passed to the corner, Kelly jumped and […]
