Friday, December 25, 1998

Air Force:
No press
in lockers

A female's presence on the press corps
spurs the controversial decision

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

The presence of a female reporter in the press corps covering the Jeep Oahu Bowl this afternoon has led Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry to bar all media from his locker room after his game against Washington.

DeBerry said his policy is to open his locker room only when there is an all-male press corps.

Sports feature writer Paula Parrish of The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Col), who has covered the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League, is the subject of DeBerry's decision.

''To me, it's not a gender equity thing and it's not a fairness thing, it's what I think is right," he said.

Parrish, who recently joined The Gazette from the Nashville Tennessean, said she has been allowed to enter every Major League locker room, almost every NFL locker room, more than a dozen NBA locker rooms and ''more than a handful" of NHL locker rooms.

But DeBerry said the smells and sights of a men's locker room are inappropriate for women.

''I have very personal and strong feelings about a young lady being in there with partially clad young men,'' said DeBerry. ''That's my personal ethics. And that's out of respect for the female reporter. I have a great respect for women."

DeBerry's remarks brought a sharp reaction from Parrish's executive sports editor, Geoff Grant. He called DeBerry's assertion that he is taking his action out of respect for women's sensibilities ''absurd."

''How can he say he respects her when he has no respect for her feelings on the matter?" said Grant. ''She wants to do her job. All they're doing now is making themselves look bad, because the federal court decision about equal access is 21 years old."

Grant referred to a 1978 ruling that came about after a Sports Illustrated reporter successfully sued over access to a World Series locker room.

Pro sports has been allowing equal access to locker rooms for two decades.

Grant wouldn't say if The Gazette will take any legal action on the matter, but he said the problem of access for Parrish must be resolved because she will be assigned to Air Force football coverage.

Grant said he thinks it's surprisingly poor public relations on Air Force's part to support a males-only policy so soon after Lt. Kendra Williams brought favorable attention to the service by becoming the first woman fighter pilot to see combat action in raids over Iraq.

''When they asked her about it, Williams said, 'I was just doing my job.' Now DeBerry's preventing our female reporter from doing her job," Grant said.

The NCAA leaves opening or closing locker rooms to the discretion of individual members, but Grant said it must be a consistent policy. Washington and Oregon maintain closed-door policies, regardless of reporter gender. Colorado allows all reporters into its locker room.

Grant said DeBerry is maintaining a ''selective enforcement" of his closed-door policy by barring access to all media only when women are in the media pool.

''Access should be a consistent policy," said Grant.

He said Parrish will be on the job today, regardless of whether or not she gains access to the locker room.

''I've been the head coach at Air Force for 15 years and this is how we've always done business, and this is how we will continue to do business as long as I am head coach," said DeBerry.

''It has never been a problem before, and we have had female reporters cover the team, and in the Western Athletic Conference, we have several women who cover other teams," he said.

Parrish's Gazette colleague, John Branch, said the lack of access to the locker room will affect his and Parrish's ability to meet deadline for The Gazette.

The Bowl Games of Hawaii policy is to keep the locker rooms closed to everyone until after coaches appear at a press conference.

After the press conference, coaches have the discretion to open their locker rooms or keep them closed.

DeBerry said players requested by reporters for postgame interviews will be brought to them outside the locker room.

A top bowl official saw no problem with DeBerry's policy.

''If that's his policy, then that's how he runs his team," said Marcia Klompus, executive director of Bowl Games of Hawaii. ''That's his right."