Ball Girl: Sports Scribe in a Skirt

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© 2016 M.G. Potter. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    01/26/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5049-7349-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-7350-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-7348-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016900845

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Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Genesis

Chapter 3: Exodus

Chapter 4: First Peter

Chapter 5: Acts

Chapter 6: Luke

Chapter 7: Bartholomew

Chapter 8: Titus

Chapter 9: Jonah

Chapter 10: Daniel

Chapter 11: Lamentations

Chapter 12: Amos

Chapter 13: Song of Solomon

Chapter 14: Numbers

Chapter 15: Matthew

Chapter 16: Nehemiah

Chapter 17: Mark

Chapter 18: First Corinthians

Chapter 19: Second Corinthians

Chapter 20: Romans

Chapter 21: Esther

Chapter 22: James

Chapter 23: Leviticus

Chapter 24: Ruth

Chapter 25: Revelation

Appendix A: Mike Potter’s favorite columns

Appendix B: M. G.’s adult life in pictures

Appendix C: Marissa Kastanek’s life in pictures

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Dedication

To Lynn and Katie

Gone far too soon, but not soon forgotten.

And also to the girls of sports media everywhere.

Foreword

The glass ceiling so many people talk about for women was shattered by my parents the day I was born. My parents have worked so hard to make sure that everything I could dream of is possible as long as I work hard for it. As a kid I was involved in dance, soccer, baseball, flag football, track, and basketball. Not many girls in Crete, Nebraska desired to play like I did so my parents allowed me to play on all-boy teams. When we walked onto the field of competition the other team was ok with it because they saw a girl and thought weakness but once we started playing they realized that I was better than most of them. I was one of the boys!

At the age of thirteen if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up my answer was, a professional basketball player and I am currently living my dream but there were many smaller goals I needed to accomplish first. My parents were the driving force behind my goal setting. They encouraged me to write them down and take the proper steps in accomplishing each one. There were days where I wanted to be normal like the other kids and take a break from workouts but my parents continually painted the picture of my future for me so I would not get distracted. I sacrificed many things to get where I am today but what I have gained along this journey completely outweighs anything I have lost. For this, I thank my parents.

I dropped all sports but track and basketball in eighth grade in order to eventually become a professional basketball player. I decided to stay in track to stay in shape for basketball and I just happened to win the State Championship in the 800-meter run my sophomore year but I had no passion for running. Throughout middle school my goal was make the varsity team as a freshman. As soon as I was on the team I wanted to be a starter all four years. I was getting attention from college basketball programs by the middle of my freshman year and I set a goal of attending a high level Division I school on a full-ride scholarship. I committed to play for Coach Kay Yow at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2008. As a senior, I worked to improve my game so that I would be able to make an impact as a freshman. I was the Rookie of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2009. I desired to play for Team USA and worked hard until I was selected Team Captain of the 2011 Pan American Team that came in fifth in Guadalajara, Mexico. In my last year at NCSU I was named First Team All-ACC. Upon graduation I headed across the Atlantic Ocean to begin playing professionally in Sweden. Since then I have played in the Czech Republic and Puerto Rico and I plan to continue my career as long as my body holds up.

With all of this basketball going on I never got distracted from my schoolwork. My parents always made me do my studies emphasizing that basketball is just a game and what would happen to me if I was hurt and could never play again. I graduated from NCSU in 2013 with a major in Psychology and three minors in Spanish, Sports Science, and Coaching Education as the Valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA. I was honored with the Kay Yow Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013. This honor was by far the most meaningful to me because I was Coach Yow’s last recruit and I know she would have been proud of me for achieving excellence in the classroom and on the court. Finally, I was named to First Team Academic All-American which blew my mind because there are only five girls picked for this team throughout the nation. I am so much more than a basketball player and basketball is not my life, but basketball has been the thing that has taken me further in life than I could have ever imagined.

God has blessed me with the gift of faith. I am a cradle Catholic but beyond that God is my best friend. My whole life is not about what I can accomplish for myself but about using the talents God gave me to glorify Him. Through all of my goal setting, record breaking, late night shooting, and all day paper writing God has been there carrying me through it. His will is so much better than my plans and I thank Him so much for all the opportunities He has given me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

I have known the author of this book for many years, and when I was contacted to write the foreword for this one of a kind piece of work I could do nothing but say yes with enthusiasm. The level of dedication to sports writing is second to none and the knowledge that has been acquired over an extensive career in covering sports on all levels and genders is seamlessly put together in the life of Lisa. The author has discovered a way to portray what life is like for a woman in a sports world that was designed for men. This story will make you laugh, think, and cry, which is something the late Coach Jimmy Valvano said were keys to a special life. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did. Try to put yourself in Lisa’s shoes as she takes you on an incredible journey breaking through all the boundaries society attempts to put in her way.

-Marissa L. Kastanek

Introduction

Disembodied, booming voice from above: Ladies and Gentlemen will you please rise - and Gentlemen kindly remove your hats - as the combined choirs and bands present our beautiful national anthems, saluting those everywhere who honor and protect their ideals.

(O Canada!)

O Canada! Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

The True North strong and free!

From far and wide, O Canada,

We stand on guard for thee.

Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,

Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

(Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing)

Lift ev’ry voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

(The Star-Spangled Banner)

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there…

…And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Disembodied voice returns, with catch in throat: "Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated."

Chapter 1

Hey, y’all!

My name is Lisa Patterson, and I am a sports writer.

When you think about it, maybe we should all be in some kind of 12-step group. But I’ve never abused substances except for sweet red wine for about two months once, so I guess the best one for me might be Oversleepers Anonymous.

Anyway, I’m Lisa, and my driver’s license reads Lisa Michelle Patterson Parker. I changed it last summer to match my voter card so those idiots at the polling places don’t mess with me. In 2016 they’re still trying to suppress women’s votes, you know.

Well that’s actually just my legal name, but in my heart my fullest name is actually Lisa Michelle Patterson Bernstein Parker. I’ll tell you more about that later.

When I look at the really big picture I’ve been about the luckiest girl I know, although I have been through a lot of rough times. Since I’ve never met a Nobel Peace Prize winner I can easily list the four most wonderful men I have ever met, and I’ve been married to half of them. Literally.

First there was my dad, Tommy Patterson, who has been my hero as long as I can remember. Then there was my college sweetheart Josh Bernstein, a young man I still love with all my heart today. And there was Durham State basketball coach LaFonza Fire Bug Jefferson, who was almost like a grandfather to this blue-eyed white girl when he died three years ago in his sleep at age 91.

And of course my husband Billy Parker, who has a hard time believing me when I tell him he’s still my dreamboat - except on those nights when all the stars line up and I’m finally able to remind him.

All of them are gone now except of course Billy, who has somehow put up with me for 26 years. And he has been a great father to Betsy Lynn, who is now in law school at Wake Forest, and Tommy, who will finish his engineering degree at Georgia Tech this spring.

Now I guess I should tell you why Coach Jeff was so special to me. It’s going to be a long story.

I had been working at two small-town newspapers that came out between two and four times a week for three years when I finally got the job at the Courier.

Maybe I was lucky, because I had had a couple of classes at William & Mary with the publisher’s daughter Cissy. We were friendly, but our circles didn’t really intersect much. But it turned out that she and my freshman roommate were going through rush for the Alpha Kappas - they were kind of the soccer girls’ sorority - and I ran into him in the lounge at the end of the hall.

I was just going to pass though, but I gave him a little smile and a nod and said, Hey!

Everybody with any connection to North Carolina knew who R.B. Spellman was. He had run for Congress in the Sixth District when I was 16. He lost the Democratic primary by about 114 votes after that long recount and they eventually got two more years of that racist fool Louie Dickerson, Jr. Little Dickie, as we used to call him, was just like his stupid father Sheriff Big Lou Dickerson, who had stood in the schoolhouse door in Yadkin County to prevent the only three Black kids in town from attending the only local high school.

But getting back to the point, Mrs. Spellman had run away with her husband’s campaign manager two weeks before the primary and had somehow gotten the Dominican Consul in Charlotte to assist in getting her a quickie paper divorce.

She had been Miss Tennessee USA when she was young, and I think she had been in a Girls of the SEC thing in a 1962 Playhouse Magazine that had Jayne Russell on the cover.

What’s your name, young lady? Mr. Spellman asked.

Lisa. Lisa Patterson.

What are you studying?

I’ll probably end up in history or sociology… something like that, anyway.

So you want to be a teacher or a professor in a few years, huh?

No, I actually I want to work for a newspaper. We don’t have journalism classes here, but I have written one story for the Beacon already and the editor said he thought it was good.

What was it about?

I laughed, "About the co-ed intramural volleyball tournament during orientation. It turned out it was