Title IX pioneers: Sarah Patterson helped Alabama gymnastics find footing

To be a fly on the wall of that conversation between two legendary women's college coaches: Alabama gymnastics coach Sarah Patterson and Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Summitt gave Patterson advice at a head coaches meeting in Destin, Florida, and it stuck with the long-time Alabama coach.

In the early days of Title IX, when women's sports were still fighting for equal footing with men's, Summitt gave some advice to Patterson on how to grow the program.

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“What she told me, I’ll never forget,” Patterson said. “You have to market and promote as much as you recruit, or you’ll play in front of no one.”

And that's what Patterson, her husband Dave, and her players did from 1979 until the day she retired in 2014. Patterson fought for more funding for women's sports, including better facilities in the post-Title IX era.

Nearly two decades into her career, she was able to enjoy the fruits of her labor when Alabama gymnastics sold out a match against rival Georgia in 1997 at Coleman Coliseum.

"It was a historic moment in women's gymnastics at our university," Patterson said. "By the time the lights came on and the girls were introduced, the whole arena was packed. It was one of the most memorable moments (in my career)."

In her time as coach, Patterson guided Alabama to six NCAA championships and eight SEC championships.

Patterson, who had 384 career wins, was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

She was hired by legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and took over a program that never had a winning season and was on its fifth coach in five years.

Despite just making $5,000 and her husband making $500 from a leftover women's basketball scholarship, she fought for equipment for her gymnasts.

"We were using an old wrestling mat with a tear in it. We taped it with athletic tape and put an ‘A' over it," Patterson said. "I remember going into his office and asking him to give us $5,000 for a regular exercise map with springs. I was asking for the same thing he paid me. He did it."

That wasn't the only bold move Patterson made for Alabama women's sports, for which she served as the senior women’s administrator at the UA from 1985-'96.

The Alabama football team had chartered flights.

“I used my position and told them that if they were going to do that for two men’s sports, they had to do it for two women's sports," Patterson said.

While the results from this request weren't immediate, it did have a gratifying ending for Patterson.

Alabama gymnastics repeated as national champions in 2012 and then Patrick Murphy helped lead softball to its first national championship later that year.

“I came back on a university plane,” Patterson said. “When I got home, I was able to go to Tuscaloosa airport and see my daughter (Jordan) fly in on a chartered plane.

“It made me think from the beginning from being in a (passenger) van and driving all over the place (for meets) to seeing my daughter win a national championship and be able to fly on a chartered plane."

Patterson said seeing women's athletes continue to stand up in the last couple of years has been rewarding. Overall, she said Title IX has had a strong impact.

“Everything still has some work to do,” she said. “Title IX brought so many different changes. I do find it very rewarding to see some of these female athletes are being provided opportunities due to athletic careers. I think that's been very good.”

Contact Ehsan Kassim at 256-300-5313 or ekassim@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Sarah Patterson fought for equality for collegiate female athletes