{"id":1173,"date":"2016-10-22T18:01:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T02:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2016-10-23T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T18:41:17","slug":"in-memoriam-dr-joan-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/?p=1173","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam – Dr. Joan Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joan<\/a>

Joan Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2026eyes can tell you a lot about a person.\u00a0 They are deemed to be the windows into the soul\u2026but I defer to Reverend Byron on such matters.\u00a0 What first struck me about Joan upon meeting her in 1972, were her bright blue eyes.\u00a0 They were warm, direct and welcoming.\u00a0 I was the \u2018new kid\u2019 in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics at Cal State LA and at age 29, I was hired to teach kinesiology and coach Men\u2019s Gymnastics when Gordon Maddux went on hiatus to work for ABC\u2019s Wide World of Sports.\u00a0 This was the start of our long and wonderful friendship.<\/p>\n

Dr. J, as she was affectionately known, was appointed Chair of our Department in 1977 and was the first woman in America to manage an NCAA D1 Athletics Program. \u00a0I had both the honor and pleasure of serving as her Associate Chair.\u00a0 At the time, we were a large and very diverse department which oversaw approximately 70 + faculty & staff (including coaches), a comprehensive undergraduate and graduate curriculum for majors, a full array of activity course offerings to all undergraduates, Intramural Sports and both Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Athletics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was a volatile time in collegiate athletics rife with the sort of vitriol we currently experience in all matters political and otherwise.\u00a0 Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 required gender equity in all athletics programs across the country and this was ground zero in the \u2018us vs them\u2019 debate\u2026aka the \u2018pink and blue wars.\u2019\u00a0 In its broadest terms, this act was designed to protect people from discrimination based upon sex.\u00a0 While it was not taken lightly upon passing, its full impact upon the collegiate athletics landscape was not felt until the mid to late seventies. \u00a0Joan Johnson was leading the way in this difficult fight for women\u2019s sports to take their rightful place in the pantheon of athletics.\u00a0 And often, it got \u2018down and dirty!\u2019\u00a0 She, along with minor sport coaches, (both men\u2019s and women\u2019s) advocated that all sports did not require that proverbial \u2018size 44 chest and size four helmet.\u2019<\/p>\n

I wrote a piece on my blog site a few years ago detailing my experience while at the university and I quote \u201cMy boss, Dr. Joan Johnson, was a wonderful and accomplished woman who led with honesty, integrity and a definitive vision.\u00a0 A Wimbledon player in her youth and Billie Jean\u2019s tennis coach at Cal State LA, Dr. Johnson was a sound administrator who pioneered women\u2019s athletics issues when the fightin\u2019 was ugly.\u00a0 Resolve in her mission was never compromised by lack of civility\u2026real old school!\u00a0 She fought hard and smart, yet never made it personal\u2026at least not publicly.”\u00a0 In the words of Don Vito Corleone, her attitude was\u2026\u2018it\u2019s just business.\u2019<\/p>\n

Upon leaving the University in 1984, I established an investment advisory practice and Joan and Geri were one of my first clients. With a big laugh, Joan said \u201cI know you may know a little something about kinesiology and gymnastics but I don\u2019t know what you know about money\u2026especially mine.\u201d For the second time, she took a chance on me, and again, I was very grateful for the opportunity to serve. \u00a0During those early years, Joan and Geri referred numerous clients and it really kicked off my new enterprise\u2026which brings me to\u2026. we all seem to have some paradoxes in our lives and Joan is no exception.\u00a0 All who know her would agree she is highly intelligent, goal oriented and very analytical.\u00a0 She taught Tests and Measurements to undergrads along with Statistics, and Research Design to grad students. \u00a0She was a woman who could easily calculate Coefficients of Correlations, conduct Analyses of Variance, establish Statistical Levels of Confidence but could not balance a checkbook.\u00a0 Reviewing an investment portfolio with JJ was comparable to explaining the third dimension to one who has been living in flatland.\u00a0 I loved the idea that a woman of Joan\u2019s standing in the both the academic and athletics world suffered from being just plain human.\u00a0 Somehow, this is comforting.<\/p>\n

In closing (this where you all clap), let me remind you that since 1972, every girl and woman who ever donned an athletic uniform owes a great deal of gratitude to Joan Johnson\u2026teacher, coach, pioneer and mentor.\u00a0 For me, I say good bye to a colleague, a client, and most important, my very good friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026eyes can tell you a lot about a person.\u00a0 They are deemed to be the windows into the soul\u2026but I defer to Reverend Byron on such matters.\u00a0 What first struck me about Joan upon meeting her in 1972, were her … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-snippetz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1178,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions\/1178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}