In recognition and celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX this year, GoUSFBulls.com will feature stories throughout the 2022-23 season of USF women's student-athletes, coaches, administrators and teams whose success in Green and Gold and in their careers beyond was made possible in part through the 1972 federal law, which was the catalyst for the growth of opportunities and support for women in sports.
Title IX means opportunity.
For ChiChi Okpaleke, a USF women's basketball player from 2004-07, that meant the opportunity to play college basketball. It also meant the opportunity to receive an outstanding education.
"From where it used to be for women to where it is now, it's life-changing,'' Okpaleke said.
Title IX, a federal law enacted in 1972, prohibits sex-based discrimination for any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government. In 1970, only 11.2 percent of the female civilian work force had a college degree, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Today, that figure is 47.2 percent.
What does that have to do with USF women's athletics? Everything.
More scholarships — putting the student in the student-athlete — means more opportunities to earn college degrees. For Okpaleke, the Tampa Tribune's Hillsborough County Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a Tampa Bay Tech senior, she was allowed to prolong her hoop dreams while setting herself up for a successful career and life.
"College basketball taught me the basics of time management, figuring out how to study, going to class, when to study, when to sleep, finding the energy and grit to pull determination out of yourself and accomplish your goals,'' Okpaleke said.
Okpaleke is now a doctor in Houston, working as a Family Medicine Hospitalist at Houston's Memorial Hermann Health System. She sees her job as a calling and considers herself an entrepreneur, working as a media consultant who's dedicated to articulating facts about medicine, especially for under-served populations.
She also founded a nonprofit agency called "Reality Speaks,'' which works to set up student-athletes for success after sports through mentoring, volunteering and workshops.
"I really enjoyed basketball and wanted to play as long as I could, but medicine was also something I wanted to do,'' said Okpaleke, a first-generation Nigerian-American. "I wasn't sure if I could do it because I loved basketball so much.
"I tore my ACL in the last game of my senior year, so I was shown that basketball wasn't a forever thing. It was an eye-opener and a chance for me to get serious about my future. Basketball isn't anybody's ultimate journey. There will be an end to it. The question is: Will you make the most of your opportunity and be ready for life after basketball?''
Okpaleke majored in Biomedical Science at USF, when most of her teammates entered Communications majors.
"It was hard,'' Okpaleke said. "Really, really hard. There was nobody else majoring in Biomedical Science and playing basketball. Nobody. It didn't seem to be possible. Even the counselors told me, 'I don't think you can do this.' There were times when I wondered what I was doing.
"But I had an overall goal. I was able to achieve that. So, my advice for anyone is to always strive and never settle. If you determine what you want to do in life, go do it. Don't let anyone say you can't.''
Okpaleke will tell anyone — with pride — that she was a member of USF's first women's basketball team to earn an NCAA Tournament bid (2006). She remembers watching the selection show and jumping up and down when "USF'' was flashed on the screen.
Those days seem long ago now, but the lessons still apply to her daily life in the hospital.
"It was a bunch of people dedicated to one goal,'' Okpaleke said. "We worked like crazy. We were just playing and having fun, but we accomplished some things that will always last.
"For me, sports spilled over into school. It drove me to get to medical school. I was motivated to get good grades and be the best. I learned that the people who worked the hardest are usually the ones who achieve their potential and make a mark in the world. I wanted that to be me. You can trace that back to the basketball court and all the opportunities I received because of sports.''
–Go Bulls–
