MAD AS HELL … I was stunned to open this very newspaper one day last week to learn that Pam Gill-Fisher, Larry Vanderhoef, Greg Warzecka and Bob Franks — all past or present UC Davis administrators — were being sued for discriminating against female athletes at UC Davis … I know these four people well, and while defending administrators has never been my strong suit, I can say without hesitation or doubt that these charges are utterly without foundation …

I have four daughters, and if any of them are inclined toward college level intercollegiate athletics, I most definitely would want them to attend a college or university administered by the likes of Pam Gill-Fisher, Larry Vanderhoef, Greg Warzecka or Bob Franks … in fact, I would insist on it … Gill-Fisher, a legendary athlete and coach at UC Davis before becoming a senior associate athletic director, spent a lifetime fighting for equal opportunity for female athletes at the collegiate level, not just at her alma mater, but across the nation … to charge otherwise is not only mean-spirited, it’s an outright lie …

Attorney Nancy Sheehan was only stating a fact known far and wide when she called Pam Gill-Fisher “a legend in Title IX circles” and described the four named UCD administrators as deeply committed to women’s sports … I pray this lawsuit is deemed to be without merit and summarily dismissed …

EVEN MORE ON THAT LAWSUIT … the above-referenced lawsuit alleges that three female wrestlers were dismissed from the UCD wrestling team in violation of Title IX … the attorney for the three claimed that UCD’s plan was to have the women compete for a place on the team by wrestling against others trying out for the team … whether or not that’s true remains to be determined, but incredibly, the attorney called such a plan “unprecedented” and unfair because the women would be forced to wrestle against male “Division I wrestlers with superior strength and skill.” …

Which, oddly, is exactly how this “trying out for the team” business works … you win, you’re in … you lose, you’re out … and yes, if you lose it’s generally to someone with superior strength and skill … happens to men trying out for the wrestling team, too … or the tennis, golf, baseball, basketball, soccer or football teams … I’ve been an athlete in both high school and college and I know how it feels to be “cut” and I know how it feels to make the team … but I didn’t realize at those times when I was cut I could have sued if the athlete who beat me out did so with superior strength and skill …

The claim of discrimination is especially odd in this case because wrestling is rare among sports in that you compete by weight class, which means the women being asked to “compete” for a spot on the team were presumably wrestling against competitors their own size …

FEATS OF CLAY … Clarice Baker, who taught several generations of Davisites the wonders of working with clay, is finally set to retire from teaching at the Davis Art Center … Clarice, known far and wide as the Clay Lady, has been teaching virtually nonstop for the last 40 years … a fitting tribute to the Clay Lady will take place at the DAC on Friday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. … organizers are hoping that some former students will manage to bring along a favorite piece they fashioned in one of Clarice’s classes long ago … or not so long ago … I suspect I have a couple of those pieces on a nearby shelf myself … while her retirement is certainly well-deserved, this town will greatly miss Clarice’s kindness, patience and remarkable ability to work with both people and clay …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected] Comment on this column at www.davisenterprise.com

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