An anonymous alum donated $350,000 to women’s varsity athletics at Washington University this past week. The news comes as a welcome surprise to the University which is known more for its recent contributions to the Mars Rovers and its hosting of a Presidential debate next fall than for anything relating to athletics, despite the fact that the women’s varsity volleyball and basketball teams have a combined twelve championships during the past fifteen years. The donation will be used to create the Nancy Fahey Women’s Athletic Endowment Fund.

“The wonderful gift received is an extraordinary tribute to Nancy Fahey, a gifted personality who can motivate, lead, coach and on occasion provoke,” said University Athletics Director John Schael. “Her ‘can do’ attitude coupled with her quest for excellence continues to be inspirational not only for the young women who play and played for her, but as well for her colleagues and friends within the athletic department and the broader Washington University community.”

Nancy Fahey began coaching the Bears women’s varsity basketball team in 1986 and since has led the team to renowned success. She helped established Washington University as one of the elite among Division III schools and as one of the greatest basketball programs in collegiate history.

“I just feel very honored that they would even want to put my name on anything,” said Fahey.

In her eighteen years as head coach of Washington University’s varsity basketball team, Fahey has compiled a 420-69 record for an astounding .859 winning percentage which is first among all active coaches. Her team’s 81 game winning streak from February of 1998 to January of 2001 is second all time in NCAA history, all divisions included, to John Wooden’s streak of 88, set by his UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team during the early 1970′s. The University’s streak included two undefeated seasons crowned by championships, making them the second team in NCAA history to achieve such a feat. From 1997 to 2001 the Bears won four consecutive championships, becoming the third team in NCAA history to do so. During the streak, the Bears won 116 games and lost only four. The team this year has a 17-3 record, and is tied for first in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference. The Bears are currently ranked 8th in the polls.

The Nancy Fahey Women’s Athletic Endowment Fund will be used “in terms of travel assistance, purchase of equipment, supplies, uniforms, and whatever it is they might need for their programs that they weren’t able to purchase in the past,” said Schael. The donation proves most helpful to the University which has received few donations from alumni in the past in support of athletics, and derives little to no money from the sports themselves. This differs greatly from Division I schools whose football and basketball teams are multimillion dollar revenue generators. With the sports generating little revenue on their own, the University is normally forced to allocate a minimum amount of money and resources to the program. Historically, alumni have typically had little interest. While the money itself should prove to be very valuable for the women’s athletic teams, the actual size of the donation and the significance of an alum showing such substantial interest in athletics may prove to provide greater influence in the future allocation of the University’s resources.

“This thoughtful and generous gift provides a source of funding and a way to pay tribute to the extraordinary career of Nancy Fahey at Washington University, for which we are extremely grateful,” said Chancellor Mark Wrighton in a recent press release.

Athletics, in particular women’s athletics, have endured a turbulent existence during its tenure at the University. From 1890 to 1906, when athletics first began to spread throughout the campus, the University claimed an “independent” status meaning it had no conference affiliation for its varsity teams. This, in turn, meant there was little organization or cohesion in terms of scheduling, league rivals, etc. In 1907 the Missouri Valley Conference was created, which lasted until 1946, when then Chancellor Arthur Holly Compton, to the dismay of both alumni and student body, abandoned it, citing a need for “participation in athletics without financial inducements or rewards” (Athletics at Wash U.). In 1955, the entire women’s intercollegiate athletic program was thrown out all together. The University joined the College Athletic Conference in 1962, but the University’s affiliation with the conference lasted only until 1971, when again the school ran independently.

The 1970′s was a time of substantial change for University athletics and for professional women’s athletics altogether. The Department of Sports and Recreation was created in 1977 which later became the Department of Athletics in 1983. Not until 1975 did swimming, tennis and volleyball become official varsity women’s events. Women’s track joined in 1977, and in 1979 women’s basketball followed. The tumultuous history of women’s athletics at the University can be summed up in the fact that women’s varsity athletic teams were not allowed to share the training room or the Field House with the men’s teams until 1979. During this time, however, the University continued its progress. All coaches were employed full time in 1980. In 1987 the University, along with Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, University of Rochester, and Brandeis University, joined together to form the UAA. Today, the UAA still contains the same members with the exception of Johns Hopkins University, which left in 2001.

“If you look 20 years back do you think anything would have happened?” said Fahey.

Twenty to thirty years ago, such a donation was inconceivable. Yet after eight championships by the varsity volleyball team-including six straight from 1991 to 1996 and one this year-and four straight championships by the basketball team, one might ask, “What took so long?” The largest single donation in athletics history, this gift joins Stanley and Lucy Lopata’s as well as Art and Marge MacWilliams’ donations, which were used to create the Lopata Basketball Classic for the men and the McWilliams Basketball Classic for the women, as the greatest contributions to athletics at the University.

“I think that’s a wonderful tribute to the success that women’s athletics has had in the past and it’s going to help benefit the programs as they move into the future,” said Schael.

From a varsity basketball player Lesley Hawley’s perspective, however, $350,000 conjures up only one thought:

“That’s a lot of money.”

He doesn’t have the popularity of Steven Spielberg, the coolness of Quentin Tarantino, or even the creepiness of M. Night Shyamalan, but for those who enjoy movies, Curtis Hanson is synonymous with film making at its finest. If good storytelling, characters as complex as the BSC college football poll, and movies that don’t stuff their messages down your throat like baby food is your cup-o-tea, you could do much worse than checking out Curtis Hanson’s last three films.

8 Mile (2002)
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Marshall Mathers, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer

One thing Hanson has a knack for is getting stellar performances from his lead actors. In no other movie was he more challenged than in “8 Mile.” Eminem’s onscreen presence in his first premiere role is reminiscent of James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause.” More popular, perhaps, because of the star and the content, “8 Mile” is a familiar tale of youth trying to break out from the shackles of his environment. As Hanson’s most popular movie to date-it grossed more than $116 million domestically-”8 Mile” gave the director a chance to showcase, to a wider audience, some of his greatest skills: location shooting and character development. Filmed on location in Detroit, the film beautifully captures the horrid state of a city still in ruins from the aftermath of decades earlier race-riots. The ruins of the city prove to be the scars of those riots, each wrecked structure a contemporary mural representing the strict boundaries of the city’s race divisions, out of which arises the burgeoning art-form of hip-hop. The film’s core characters aren’t cool, or funny, and most don’t have any prospects beyond the city in which they live, but each is treated with respect-even the one who accidentally shoots himself in the groin. The film’s protagonist, Rabbit, finishes the movie a different man than he began it.

Wonder Boys (2000)
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand

Michael Douglas gives the best performance of his career in this odyssey of self-discovery through an abominable Pittsburgh, PA. Funny, tragic, and heartbreakingly true, “Wonder Boys” follows the trials and tribulations of Grady Tripp, a pot smoking college professor who, among other things, must deal with his wife leaving him, his pregnant girlfriend, one dead dog shot by his troubled student, one missing jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe, and one unfinished manuscript, which, at last check, is running at 2,611 pages. Near the beginning of the movie, a passing partygoer utters, “I thought it was more literary than cinematic.” This is Curtis Hanson’s take on his own film. A movie to be enjoyed on its own terms, but also a film about choices, this movie can satisfy both the casual movie-goer and even those eggheads among us who feel everything composed was meant to be analyzed. This is an amazing and immensely underappreciated film.

L.A. Confidential (1997)
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pierce

The best movie of its kind since “The Godfather,” this highly complex film made stars out of Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce. “L.A. Confidential” centers around three 1950s Los Angeles police officers (Pierce, Crowe, and Spacey), none of them morally absolute in their motives. The dichotomy between the brutal force of Crowe’s Officer Bud White, which typified the 1950s L.A.P.D., and the political ruthlessness of Pierce’s Sgt. Ed Exley (Exley, from Latin, translates into “above the law”), which would typify the force in the coming years, is, simply put, astounding. Both characters are driven by their will to help people, but the means by which they reach their respective ends affirms these characters’ place among the pinnacle of greatly flawed leading men. This is, indeed, film noir at its most literary. None can grasp the full weight of the picture through one sitting. “L.A. Confidential” poses the question: What is just? Is it shooting an unarmed rapist? Or is it bearing witness to your fellow officers’ brutal beating of retained suspects, which will ruin their careers while in turn advancing yours? During the first act, Captain Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell, asks Sgt Exley, “Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back in order to offset the chance of some lawyer getting him off?” Exley’s answer to this question, during the film’s climax, creates one of the most ironic and visually striking metaphors in all of film. For this film-in which, out of police officers, district attorneys, and Hollywood moguls, the most moral character is the call girl-the headline of its poster truly reads correctly in its warrant that “Nothing Is What It Seems.”

A slide in the polls was expected after Washington University’s snag against 22nd ranked New York University (NYU). Thanks to the team’s strong performance over the course of the season, however, the Bears fell only two places in the polls- from 5th to 7th.

Spirits were high for the team during the week – especially after the team’s win against Brandeis on Sunday in which the Bears’ prolific offense and stingy defense returned to form. Players were especially excited about this weekend’s upcoming games against conference rivals Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Rochester.

Rochester recently lost its first game of the season this past Sunday in double-overtime, 82 to 78. Case Western Reserve, Rochester, and the Bears are all tied atop the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings. Rochester was ranked first in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA DIVISION III Coaches’ Poll but fell to 4th after Sunday’s loss.

While Rochester is no doubt “a big game,” according to Head Coach Nancy Fahey, its significance is somewhat lessened due to the strength of the UAA Conference. The remaining games of the season are all against conference teams, including two more games against Rochester in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, a sweep of this weekend’s inter-conference games would be a step in the right direction, pulling the team ahead in the tightly contested and highly competitive UAA Conference. The top three teams each are tied at 4 – 1, with NYU and Brandeis nipping at their heels at 3 – 2. Should the Bears wish to prove that its setback against NYU was an anomaly, a win is crucial against Rochester, especially if the team hopes to stake an early claim as the best team in the country.

“We’re not going to deny [that] we know the importance of the game,” said the Bears’ leading scorer Senior Lesley Hawley. “It’s a real challenge . . . We’re excited to see how we stack up [against Rochester].”

With only two players averaging double digits in scoring and a field goal percentage at 41 percent, Rochester’s offense does not appear particularly potent at first glance. The offense is deceptively effective though and averages a healthy 69.1 points per game. Their surprisingly strong offense is complemented by a defense that is just as stingy as the Bears’. While both Rochester and the Bears will count on their strong defenses, the outcome of the game may depend on which team’s offense is best able to withstand the opposition’s suffocating defense.

For Fahey, it has been her job this week to develop a strategy to slow down Rochester’s two stars: Erika Smith and Kelly Wescott. Fahey noted the difficulty of stopping an offense that features multiple players who can attack and are offensive threats. Smith, a 5’6″ guard out of Sherman, NY, is averaging nearly fifteen points and just under six rebounds a game. Wescott, a 5’11″ forward from Burke, NY, is averaging 12.6 points per game, while snagging seven-and-a-half rebounds and a ferocious 2.4 steals per game. It will certainly be a challenge for the Bears to stop Rochester’s two pronged offensive attack.

Rochester’s defense will have its hands just as full in defending the Bears’ dynamic trio of shooters and defenders. Leading the team is senior guard Lesley Hawley of Springfield, MO, who leads the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game. Hawley has been pulling double duty on the defensive end as she has snagged a robust 2.6 steals a game. Shooting alongside her are sophomore Kelly Manning and junior Hallie Hutchens, who average 12 and 11 points per game respectively.

The keys to the game, according to Fahey, are to keep Rochester off the foul line and play good team defense, both of which should help ignite the Bears’ offense. Avoiding too many fouls against Rochester may prove to be the most important key. Against NYU, the University was out-shot at the charity stripe 47 to 14, which was easily the biggest contributor in the loss. Hawley, Manning, and Beehler each fouled out in that game. Hawley was the only player to crack double digits on the team.

Despite the foul trouble that plagued the team against NYU, players do not plan on abandoning their defensive intensity in exchange for fewer fouls called against them. Against Brandeis, the Bears were out-shot at the foul line by only 17 to 12.

While the Rochester game is an important step in the Bears’ road to the championship, the players cannot lose focus and forget about CMU, who the Bears will be playing on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CMU, riding a nine game losing streak coming into tonight’s game against Chicago, has won only three games all year and none within the conference. The team has lost its games by an average margin of 16.6 points per game. The University has won by an average of nearly 23.

“We can’t overlook them,” said Hawley. “We can’t overlook anyone in this conference.”

Hawley, due to her breakout performance this season both on and off the court, has been promoted to captain, After the excitement and season-long anticipation leading up to the game with Rochester, the Bears may seem prime for a letdown, to which CMU would certainly be willing to oblige. But at this junction in the season, says Fahey, the “veteran players” of Washington still follow their coach’s instructions to take each game as it comes. This mantra was repeated by Hawley who is confident there will be no letdown.

“We’ve shown all season that we’re not going to let up on anyone,” Hawley said.