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The landscape of sports journalism is increasingly dotted with women these days. They are sideline reporters, columnists, locker room reporters, sports anchors, they even do play-by-play in both women's and men's events.
It would be inaccurate to say they have reached equality with men in the field, but their collective star continues to rise.
There are women like Robin Roberts, Leslie Visser and Pam Oliver that many look to as ground breakers who came along in the 1980s and 90s. Many people would recognize one if not all of those names.
I would guess, though, that most have never heard of another pioneer in sports journalism who predated them. Unless you were a staunch sports fan in Chicago in the 1960's and 70's you probably have not.
Her name is Jeannie Morris.
Jeannie was married for a while to Johnny Morris, a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears who retired from the National Football League in 1967. After stepping away from the field he was offered the chance to write one article per week in a now defunct Chicago newspaper for fifty bucks per. He demurred.
He suggested to the paper, though, that his wife write the column instead. They said ok, Jeannie jumped at the chance, and a twenty-four year journalism career began.
This was 1967. Of course, her byline read "Mrs. Johnny Morris" instead of Jeannie Morris. Amazing.
In a few weeks, at seventy-eight years old, Morris will be the first female recipient of the Ring Lardner Award for excellence in journalism. The award, given by the Chicago Athletic Association, honors broadcasters and writers who "exemplify the wit and warmth of Ring Lardner's writing."
(Lardner was a world famous sportswriter, humorist and satirist, who wrote for The Sporting News, the Saturday Evening Post and the Chicago Tribune.)
As good a writer as she was, Morris had to negotiate the perils of being a woman in what was almost exclusively a man's world.
Early in her career, she caught the brunt of Ted Williams' sexism when the baseball Hall of Famer was manager of the Texas Rangers. You see, she dared enter the Rangers' dugout at old Comiskey Park where the White Sox played.
"I was doing my job," she tells David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune, "when he turned and said, 'What's this shrimp female doing in here. Get the hell out!"
She didn't.
She once covered a Bears game in Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota in a blizzard outside the press box because the press passes said "no women and children."
A bit later she put former Bears coach Mike Ditka in full intimidation mode by asking a question he didn't like on his weekly show. "Mike took me to task, pointed to a sign and yelled, 'Do you see that up there says the MIKE DITKA show?!" she told Haugh.
How many more slights and arrows did she endure as one of the very first women to cover professional sports anywhere? How many more demeaning, sexist, condescending slings did she suffer? How many patronizingly disgusting compliments?
Nah, most people have not heard of Jeannie Morris. She's one of those obscure pioneers that the world too soon forgets.
Every pioneer, every inventor, every great leader stands on the shoulders of those that came before. It's smart that we don't forget them. It's smart that the soles of our shoes don't bedim the brightness of their achievements.
It's good when we honor them. It's even better when we learn from their tenacity and strength.
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