The RoundHouse | 3/4/2022 2:43:00 PM

 Listen to a podcast with Wichita State's Brad Pittman on preparations for the NCAA Tournament at Intrust Bank Arena
 
Linda Hargrove listened to the girls at her basketball camp list their role models and they responded with the athletes seen on TV – Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson.
 
Fine examples, all, but Hargrove hoped for a time when young girls watched women play sports and found inspiration in their talents. In a few years, the girls in the camp replied with names such as Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi.
 
"It was so rewarding for me to be able to be in the field long enough to see us go from not having any women role models to now having role models," Hargrove said.
 
Some of those type of role models will visit Wichita later this month for the women's NCAA Tournament Regional Rounds on March 26 and 28 at Intrust Bank Arena. On Thursday, Hargrove joined the "Beyond the Baseline" panel discussion on women's athletics to kick off March.
 
All the panelists own Shocker connections, fitting since Wichita State serves as host of the NCAA event. Moderator Bonnie Bing Honeyman, best known as a Wichita Eagle social and fashion columnist, worked as assistant athletic director for women's sports at Wichita State in the early 1970s.
 
Hargrove coached Wichita State from 1989-98 and also coached at Cowley College and in the WNBA. In 1992, she served as an assistant coach for U.S. Olympic team. Angela Buckner played basketball for the Shockers from 2000-04 and is a member of the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. She works as a recreation director for Wichita Parks & Recreation.
 
Bridgette Gordon, director of basketball recruiting operations at Kansas State, is a Women's Basketball Hall of Fame member and won an Olympic gold medal in 1988. She won two NCAA titles with Tennessee. Gordon worked as an assistant coach at Wichita State under Jody Adams from 2010-17.
 
Nikki Epley, who played softball at Wichita State, worked on two Super Bowl host committees, two men's Final Fours and for the College Football Playoff. She returned to Wichita in 2019 to work as vice president, culture and talent project manager at Fidelity Bank.
 
Title IX, enacted in 1972, was frequently referenced for its affect in providing more resources for women's sports. The federal law requires institutions to provide equal opportunities and funding to female athletes.
 
Hargrove saw the beginnings of Title IX and its help in the growth of women's athletics. She coached in the time when women's teams drove to games in cars and scrounged for meal money. She coached as conditions improved and attention grew, culminating in a brief tenure as temporary coach at Wichita State to finish the 2017 season.
 
 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Beyond the Baseline networking event at @INTRUSTarena! Wichita is in for some excitement with the Women's NCAA Tournament this year! @swohlfordict | Nikki Epley pic.twitter.com/uYtxhBAZ5M

— Dr. Elizabeth King (@PresidentWSUF) March 3, 2022

She graduated from Cowley in 1970 and coached there from 1972-89. Her first memory of competing was in a local play day when she ran against boys.
 
"Title IX has definitely set the bar and helped to grow the game," she said. "We still have a long ways to go to get where we need to be."
 
Serving as a role model and working in male-dominated fields became a theme of the discussion.
 
Buckner remembered attending a Shocker game as a youngster – when Hargrove coached – and telling her father she would play on that court one day. Gordon spoke fondly about playing for former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt and her influence on Gordon's life.
 
"You have to put in the hard work," Gordon said. "Set goals. I had short-term goals and I had long-term goals. You've got to sacrifice. When my friends were going to parties, I didn't go to parties."
 
Epley linked her time hitting second in the lineup, willing to bunt and move runners, to her work behind the scenes at big events such as the Super Bowl and Final Four. In both softball and event management, teamwork and organization are vital.
 
"I love people and I love working as a team," she said. "Everything I've done as a softball player and then all the teams I've worked for shaped that. I knew my strengths. I knew I was a No. 2 (hitter). I'm good behind the scenes."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.