Heather, football Kicker – Duke University
Heather had a happy childhood. She grew up in a loving family, had lots of friends, studied hard, earned good grades, participated in school activities and loved sports. In her junior year of high school, she discovered placekicking She went out for the team her senior year, and earned an outstanding record of 28 of 31 extra points, and 4 of 7 field goals; the longest was 33 yards. She made third-team all-state kicker.
Heather went to Duke University in 1994 and tried out for the football team as a walk-on kicker. All the males were permitted to join the team without a try-out . Initially, she didn’t make the team, but served as its manager during the 1994 season, and participated in winter conditioning drills and spring practice in 1995. Duke has a long-standing tradition each spring of holding an intra-squad scrimmage, in which teams are chosen by the rising seniors. Heather was the first placekicker chosen and kicked the game winning field goal. After the game, the head coach, Fred Goldsmith, stood on the field and told reporters, “Heather is on the Duke football team,” making her the first female to be on a Division I football team.
The media frenzy that followed was the most intense that the Duke football program had ever experienced. Despite the attention, or perhaps because of it, Heather wasn’t treated like she was a team member. Although listed on the NCAA roster and in the Duke football yearbook, she wasn’t allowed to wear a uniform or sit on the sidelines during games. She was not permitted to attend summer training camp even though she had performed better than two male walk-on kickers who were invited. She was not even issued pads or allowed to wear a jersey during practice. When she asked why she wasn’t being treated like other team members, the coach asked her why she didn’t participate in “beauty pageants instead of football.” “You belong in the stands with your boyfriend, not on this football field,” he told her.
At the beginning of the 1996 season, she was dropped from the team. She returned for winter conditioning drills in 1997 to try out again. After several weeks, she was told she “had no right to be there” and that she had to leave the field.
Heather had worked hard for three seasons, going through training and attending practice every day, watching less talented walk-on kickers receive preferential treatment. For three seasons, despite the coaches’ shabby and degrading treatment, she had continued to be a good team player. Her teammates supported her, admired her work ethic and knew she was better than other walk-on kickers on the team. Now Heather realized she was spinning her wheels. It was clear that she would never be given a fair chance to play. She met with a Duke law professor, who told her that she was being discriminated against and that she needed to get a lawyer.
Heather filed suit against Duke under Title IX. Duke claimed that Title IX did not apply to football, a contact sport. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling that, once Duke allowed Heather to try out for the team, it could not discriminate against her on the basis of sex. A federal jury in North Carolina determined that Duke had discriminated against Heather, and that senior Duke officials knew about the discrimination and responded with deliberate indifference. The jury awarded Heather $2 million in punitive damages. Duke appealed. Based on a recent Supreme Court decision in another case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that punitive damages are not available under Title IX. Although Heather’s award of punitive damages was overturned, the Fourth Circuit declared that she had achieved a significant victory, and was therefore entitled to recover attorneys’ fees. Duke was forced to pay Heather’s attorneys’ fees for the eight years of litigation.
Looking back, Heather says, “It was a tough period in my life, but my lawyers, Burton Craige and Melinda Lawrence and my incredible family, helped me every step of the way. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look at my college experience in a positive way. What I do know, is that if my case helps other female athletes get better treatment, I can look back without regret. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I endured.”
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