God Bless America! Where else can..?
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:06 pmGod Bless America!
Where else can a 50 year old transsexual war veteran with a height of 6'6 full-fill their dream of competing agaisnt 18 to 20 year old girls in college basketball?
Progress at work:
Transgender player attains college basketball first
Gabrielle Ludwig, a 6-foot-6-inch transsexual player on Mission College's women's basketball squad, reflects on her return to college ball on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, in Santa Clara, Calif. Gabrielle Ludwig made sports history this month as a basketball player at a Northern California community college. The 50-year-old transsexual, Army veteran, father and Mission College freshman is believed to be the first hoopster to play college ball as both a man and a woman. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The women’s basketball team at Mission College expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut.
In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a man and a woman.
Coach Corey Cafferata worried the outside noise was getting to his players, particularly the 50-year-old Ludwig.
A pair of ESPN radio hosts had laughed at her looks, referring to her as “it.” And online threats and anonymous calls prompted the two-year college to assign the Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm a safer parking space next to the gym and two police guards.
Last week, Ludwig gathered her 10 teammates at practice and offered to quit. This was their time to shine, she told the group of 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. She didn’t want to be a distraction for the team. The other women said if Ludwig, whom they nicknamed “Big Sexy” and “Princess,” didn’t play, they wouldn’t either.
Didn’t she know she was the glue holding the team together?
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges ... first.html
Where else can a 50 year old transsexual war veteran with a height of 6'6 full-fill their dream of competing agaisnt 18 to 20 year old girls in college basketball?
Progress at work:
Transgender player attains college basketball first
Gabrielle Ludwig, a 6-foot-6-inch transsexual player on Mission College's women's basketball squad, reflects on her return to college ball on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, in Santa Clara, Calif. Gabrielle Ludwig made sports history this month as a basketball player at a Northern California community college. The 50-year-old transsexual, Army veteran, father and Mission College freshman is believed to be the first hoopster to play college ball as both a man and a woman. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The women’s basketball team at Mission College expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut.
In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a man and a woman.
Coach Corey Cafferata worried the outside noise was getting to his players, particularly the 50-year-old Ludwig.
A pair of ESPN radio hosts had laughed at her looks, referring to her as “it.” And online threats and anonymous calls prompted the two-year college to assign the Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm a safer parking space next to the gym and two police guards.
Last week, Ludwig gathered her 10 teammates at practice and offered to quit. This was their time to shine, she told the group of 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. She didn’t want to be a distraction for the team. The other women said if Ludwig, whom they nicknamed “Big Sexy” and “Princess,” didn’t play, they wouldn’t either.
Didn’t she know she was the glue holding the team together?
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges ... first.html
