Betty Wiseman: Building Belmont Women’s Basketball and a Nashville Sports Legacy

This week on Nashville Sports Report, Russell Ries sits down with Betty Wiseman, the founder of Belmont University women’s basketball and one of the pioneering figures in Nashville women’s sports.

Wiseman started Belmont’s women’s basketball program in 1968, at a time when opportunities for women in college athletics looked very different than they do today. She talks about discovering basketball growing up in Tennessee, playing for the legendary Nashville Business College program, building Belmont basketball from the ground up, coaching in the years before Title IX transformed women’s athletics, her friendship with Pat Head Summitt, and the players, coaches and experiences that shaped her life in the game.

The conversation also explores the remarkable history of women’s basketball in Tennessee and the generations of women who built the sport long before it received the attention it does today.

The timing of the conversation became especially appropriate this week, when Nashville unveiled Metro’s 300th historical marker outside Municipal Auditorium honoring the powerhouse Nashville Business College women’s basketball teams. NBC won 11 AAU national championships during its 20-year run, including eight consecutive titles from 1962 through 1969.

Russell also runs through the week in Nashville sports, including the Tennessee Titans’ loss to the New York Giants, the Nashville Predators opening their season against Minnesota before earning their first victory against Dallas, Vanderbilt football’s trip to No. 2 Georgia, Middle Tennessee at Kansas, Tennessee State at Western Illinois and another win for undefeated Vanderbilt women’s soccer.

Learn More About Betty Wiseman and Nashville Women’s Basketball

Betty Wiseman Scrapbooks – Belmont University Archives
Explore Betty Wiseman’s digitized scrapbooks at Belmont University

Metro’s 300th Historical Marker Spotlights Pioneering Local Basketball Team – Nashville Scene
Read the Nashville Scene story about the Nashville Business College historical marker

Be Like Belmont Betty T-Shirts
https://panetory.com/be-like-belmont-betty-shirt

Game Highlights & Recaps

Tennessee Titans vs. New York Giants
Watch Titans-Giants highlights

Nashville Predators vs. Minnesota Wild
Watch Predators-Wild highlights

Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars
Watch Predators-Stars highlights

Vanderbilt vs. Georgia
Vanderbilt-Georgia game recap

Middle Tennessee vs. Kansas
Middle Tennessee-Kansas game recap

Tennessee State vs. Western Illinois
Tennessee State-Western Illinois game recap

Vanderbilt Women’s Soccer vs. Kentucky
Vanderbilt-Kentucky game recap

Nashville Sports Report covers the teams, people, history and culture that make up Nashville sports.

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Transcript

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Intro

Russell Ries 0:12

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you wherever you're listening from. It's Sunday, October 4th. My name is Russell Ries, and you're listening to the Nashville Sports Report. Alright,

Betty Wiseman introduction

Russell Ries 0:39

well, welcome to the show. I'm doing something a little bit different this week. On Monday, I recorded a conversation with Betty Weisman, the founder and mother of Belmont Women's Basketball. It was actually one of a few interviews I recorded this week, partially because of scheduling conflicts and partially just because of life. And when I recorded it, I really didn't know when I was going to run it. I thought maybe I'd hold on to it until the start of basketball season, maybe a little later. I wasn't sure. I was just going to wait until the timing felt right. Then on Thursday, the city unveiled a new historical marker near municipal auditorium honoring the Nashville Business College women's basketball teams that played there. Those women were Betty Weissman's inspiration, and eventually some of them became her contemporaries. So suddenly the timing felt right. Betty's story is really remarkable. Her love of basketball, combined with her calling to be a teacher, made her exactly the right person at exactly the right time to lead what I think we can now look back on as a historic effort to establish women's basketball at Belmont. There's an old phrase for the love of the game, and I don't think I've ever talked to anybody who embodies it quite like Betty Weissman does. But I think our conversation speaks for itself. So I hope you enjoy my conversation with Betty Weissman.

Betty Wiseman interview

Russell Ries 2:06

Alright, Betty, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you making the time. I know that school's kicking back up and things are getting busy on campus, so thank you for joining me.

Betty Wiseman 2:17

Sure. My pleasure. Thank you.

Russell Ries 2:19

I'm gonna go ahead and dive right in. I have a series of questions that I ask everyone that comes on the show. And it starts with what is your earliest sports memory?

Betty Wiseman 2:30

Wow, you know, uh I grew up on a little on a farm, and I spent most of my time, if I wasn't in school, I'm on the farm and I loved being outside and working with my dad, and it has served me well as I have matured and done what I've been able to do. But I think probably when I was actually in the seventh grade, sports for girls was just maybe basketball, and that was it. And I don't even think they had a junior high team, and so I think they were kind of experimenting and and uh took us to this little place to to just see what we could do. I was uh in the seventh grade at that time, which was junior high, and it was my first experience playing, except for shooting at a goal on the farm on the side of a wall or eventually up in the loft of the barn. But I just remember going to this little junior high school and and playing like a simulated game. I'd never played before. I've watched it and I found out that I really liked it, and I was, you know, I couldn't, I couldn't get enough of it, and we only had three or four little games that year. And then it was in the eighth grade, still junior high school. The coach from the high school came over and talked to the teachers, and and they decided I could he would come and get me, which was kind of across the way from the high school. And so when I was in eighth grade, he came and got me, and and I played on the high school team when I was an eighth grader in junior high school. And uh those those were my earliest memories of participating in any kind of other than just playing a little softball game or something. So uh when it started, it started for me. Somebody recognized something within me that they wanted, so that's that's that's the earliest I can remember competing. Of course, I lived on the farm and I loved to run. I love to be outside and I would create a place to see how high I could jump over a pole and just keep raising it. And I just I loved activity, but I wasn't I was never involved in it. There wasn't anything for young girls like that. Not like today.

Russell Ries 5:00

You mentioned someone seeing something in you and bringing you onto the team. Did you see that in yourself as well? Or is that something that had to be drawn out of you as you started playing?

Betty Wiseman 5:11

I I was I feel like I've been this height ever since I can remember. I was I was tall, I was active and physically just blessed. And so I knew that that I had something in me. I just I didn't know what it was because I'd not been exposed to sports. And um back then that there wasn't any in my little hometown except you know, maybe uh eighth grade and then a high school. So I I see things through the eyes of God, and and I think it was by his design that that coach noticed me, and that's that's where it began for me in competition.

Russell Ries 5:50

That noticing sure made a large, large impact on Middle Tennessee and the state and the game of women's basketball. So I I think you're right there. I want to kind of turn now. You grew up in Portland, Tennessee. What is it that brought you to Belmont in Nashville? And what do you remember about the city of Nashville when you first got into town?

Betty Wiseman 6:11

I remember that once a year my I had an older sister, and my the four of us, my parents and my sister, once a year we'd come to Nashville uh before school starts and get shoes and put on town and get a new coat or something like that. And that's that's about the only thing I knew about Nashville. And then Portland was we just had the one high school, and the high school sports was was it for us. It was nothing in terms of of sports other than that. I just remember there were no interstates. There was I 65 hadn't even wasn't even there even when I came to school about four or five years later. And so I went to First Baptist Church and we had some young men who came and helped lead our worship services on Sunday morning, and I was very active in church and choir, and I got to know these people. And my older sister actually, when she graduated four years ahead of me, she spent two years at Belmont. So I was familiar with Belmont University, it was Belmont College then, maybe 300 students just beginning. And so I had contact with these people through my church and my sister, and in my mind and my heart, it was a small place that was destined for me because I wasn't ready for something really big.

Russell Ries 7:41

It's interesting you say that. I read that you had been recruited to go play at Nashville Business College at the time, which was somewhat of a powerhouse. Do you think it was that existing relationship with the Belmont community that drew you there and kind of pulled you towards Belmont rather than going to join that program?

Betty Wiseman 8:00

Yeah, but I'll, you know, I'll have to be honest. I when I got in high school, and of course I played five years high school ball instead of four, I was I was gifted and I knew it. And I I had a lot of confidence in myself. And um one of the highlights of my whole young life was my parents took me to see Nashville Business College down at the Coliseum, old Coliseum in Nashville one night. And I watched those women go up and down the court, and of course, I was still playing divided court, and that just intrigued me so much. And when I saw Nera White play, it was like whoa, whoa. I mean, she was unbelievable. And so uh as I as I got into the upper grades of high school, Coach Head, John Head, would come to see me play, and eventually he came to my house, talked to my parents, and wanted me to play for Nashville Business College when I graduated. That intrigued me so much that you know Belmont just kind of went to the side a little bit. And so I thought, wow. Anyway, I signed a contract to play with them when I was a senior. And so I would be going, taking classes at Peabody College. It was not, it was not a regular schedule because they traveled so much. And so I came with my mother to see Dr. Gabhart, the president, when I was a senior, and I told him about this gift that I had and opportunity to play. And I said, What if I come to Belmont? Can I miss some classes? Maybe I could come to Belmont and still play as long as I can miss classes. And we traveled, you know, all over the world. And he, you know, he he listened to me, and I just made my plea. And then finally he said, Betty, you're at a crossroads in your young life. You have a very important decision to make that probably will affect the rest of your life, your journey. Are you gonna play basketball the rest of your life, or are you gonna go to school and get your degree? And at that point, I was just gonna teach and coach in high school somewhere. And I had 40 days to break my contract, and I broke it on the 40th day after a lot of prayer and conversation with my family, and that man would become a mentor to me and one of the most influential people in my life. He didn't say you can't do this, he just said, You have a decision to make and you need to pray about it, think about it. What is gonna get you to your life's goal in the best way? That conversation has helped me through the years talk to young people, and that's what I do now is mentor at Belmont, the students. So that's that's kind of the story of how I went from here to here, but I was always, I think, as I was focused and and ready to go straight ahead, and and I did.

Russell Ries 11:23

It sounds like that initial conversation not only changed the course of your life, but it seems like from what you're saying, you took away some lessons in leadership that you would continue to apply for the rest of your life. Is that fair to say?

Betty Wiseman 11:36

That is fair to say. And I mentor college students now at Belmont and have for ever since I retired. And I always tell them find an older person that you respect, sit down, ask questions, sit at their feet and ask questions. And so this is this has helped me become who I am today and how God has used it in my life to work with young people, which is it's my happy place. And so, yeah, that conversation and how it transpired, I hope I have given some of the same advice and uh have passed it on to other people. That's my that's been my desire.

Russell Ries 12:19

I do want to pivot now to that second conversation you had with Dr. Gebhardt about asking to start the team. Was this sort of a wing in a prayer thing, or did you have a clear vision of what you wanted to accomplish?

Betty Wiseman 12:30

You know, I have to backtrack just a little bit because you know, I never left Belmont. When I was a senior, this same president that I went to four years earlier called me into his office. I was getting ready to apply for jobs. And he said, Betty, you've proven yourself to me. I want you to, I want you to be a part of Belmont. I want you to teach, I want you to stay on. You'll need to get your master's at Peabody, you'll stay on here, work in the office, etc. I was I was working for the dean of students. So I never left Belmont. It's just a very unusual story. And so the story continues between this man and me. And I had been there a year, there were no sports, and I was I was just struggled with that the whole time I was there, four years getting my education. And I I would do some intramurals and get people together, even organize girls to go play Peabody and MTSU, just pick up games or whatever, because I love the I love sports. But the first year I was there, toward the end of the year, we started in 68. I went to see him in 67 early on, and I said, I'm going to propose something to you. There are no sports for women, it's not fair. The world is a big place, it can handle women and sports. I've made my plea. I didn't have anything really written out to say, except I understand that Belmont doesn't have a lot of money. We're small, it's owned and operated by Tennessee Baptist then, it's not now. But I said, just give us an opportunity. That's all I want for young women that I didn't have. And so he said, I don't have any money. I said, just give me enough to go to games, pay officials, we'll use the men's basketballs. They're the same size back then as they were for women. And I said, We'll practice at 10 o'clock at night if we have to. When everything's done, I said, just give me a chance to start something. You know, and he he just again he listened. He didn't jump in and ask questions. He heard from my heart. And so he said, Betty, I have no doubt that you can do this. He said, Give me some time. I'm gonna have to talk with some school officials, we're gonna have to look at this and process. And of course, it was a group of men, and I said, just trust me, just trust me. I'll do the best I can. And then after a point of time, they came in. He called me in and said, Hey, we think you can do this. I believe in you. And so the rest is history. I started sending out notices to the dormitory, anybody play basketball, you know, and and then the Nashville, Tennessee, and sent sent out a notice, a press release that Bill Mont was starting women's basketball, the first sanctioned at a university, and made it public. And that summer prior to when I was gonna have the first team, I said, I want to start camps. The the boys have been having camps for years. I can do the same thing with girls. And so he said, go for it. And so that summer I started basketball camps for girls. And guess who was in my first camp? Pat Summit. Pat Head. And uh so anyway, and I used my players to help, and I got I got some coaches from the mid-state, and that was our beginning.

Russell Ries 16:26

That's incredible, and it's amazing to have had an advocate like that in your corner. And I'm struck again by the parallel of someone seeing something in you, him saying, I want to keep you on campus, I see these things in you, and how that paid fruition in the end. I am curious about those early days. You were told, okay, we're gonna have a team, and you had to spin it out a whole cloth. What was that process like of creating something completely out of nothing?

Betty Wiseman 16:55

Yeah, you know, I never I never saw, I I I didn't have a budget or anything. There was there was a couple of men who worked some with athletics, and they were kind of doing the operation of that. But I I looked in high schools and around, and I don't know if you earlier Sally Smith, she was the number one player in the state, and I thought, well, heck, I'm going after her. And so I just identified some different people. I had these high school coaches who I brought in in the summer. I made connections with them and they had players. I had like three girls who came out of the door, maybe four, and when we started playing, I recognized that you know they weren't the caliber, but I had somebody come in from uh MTSU, Cinda Haddon from John Oberton High School. She was she was really good. I had this girl during my camp that summer had gotten the word, heard. She was she was from Florida. She rode a bus all the way to Nashville, and she came in and just called and wanted to come. And I said, sure. And so, you know, I talked to her, and then I gave her enough food to get home. That's just kind of the way we did it. And then I had a girl from Mississippi who came during the camp. She heard about it. And Pete, Alfrida, Pete was only 16 years old, just graduated from high school. She said, I've graduated, I graduated. So I came in, and after camp was over that day, I worked her out and I said, I don't have any money. I'll give you a, I'll give you a room, I'll give you a room grant. That's all I can do. Well, she wound up coming and she was a she we called her pistol peak. She was just special. So it the word, the word and the opportunity brought people in. And of course, after that, I began doing more recruiting, going to high school games, just driving to different places, mostly in the state. And then I'd have some calls from people. And of course, Pat Head was in my camp that summer. She had one more year, and I thought she was coming to Belmont. We talked about it, she wanted to come, but her daddy said she was going to UT Martin, where her brothers went. And they had a team, they had started a little team down there. And so I coached against her uh while she was at UT Martin. I put a box and one on her. Imagine that. That didn't take a brain to do that. So anyway, we won. And that's that's history. But Pat and I were great friends, and uh still miss her today.

Russell Ries 19:42

I am struck. You you mentioned Pat Head, and you know, I think of Belmont and Tennessee Tech, and then obviously the the success Tennessee had eventually. What was it about the state of Tennessee or what was happening in the area? It just seems like it was so far ahead of the rest of women's basketball, at least of what I'm aware. Why do you think that was?

Betty Wiseman 20:03

You know, I I I can't answer that question, period. But Tennessee has been a leader in women's sports for a very long time. And we had basketball before many of the people around us, and they were already playing out up north and out west and and and other places. I just think it's because sports is so dominant in this area. I mean, you look what it is today, it had to come from somewhere really special. And so the thing that was holding even holding us down was the divided court. And of course, that's what I played. And then our first year, we played kind of that semi-professional ball like National Business College did. It was a roving game, four people with the ball all the time. And and so I had to learn that game. And then, of course, Pat played a probably the biggest role in Tennessee in getting it changed to full court basketball. And you know, there's Russell, there's a there's a little girl in inside me that that little girl just thinks about the time that I couldn't go full court. I just felt like I was stymied, that nobody knew what I could do because I only played on part of the court. You know, I wanted to go full court, and and I never got to do that. And when the chat rules changed is when Tennessee took off and recruiting and people began looking at us. You know, I had girls that I recruited that had never shot a basketball. They were guards in high school. And you know, I would just I would just say you've got to be able to shoot a free throw and put them in specific places, but eventually. That just, you know, that's that's in our past, but it was it's a very important piece of the puzzle that had to be removed for us to move forward in the state of Tennessee in those early years.

Russell Ries 22:14

Yeah. I remember Pat Summit wrote something similar about her frustration with the divided court game when she was in high school.

Betty Wiseman 22:21

She wrote it and she spoke it. Uh I'm telling you, I still revere her and what she has done for women's sports.

Russell Ries 22:33

She was truly one of one for sure.

Betty Wiseman 22:36

Yes. Yes.

Russell Ries 22:37

I want to turn back now to that first team. What was that year like? How did you schedule games? What were practices like? What what do you recall about those that early year and the women on the team?

Betty Wiseman 22:49

First of all, the women on the team were so excited they'd do anything you ask them to do. Second of all, we had to, I made sure that that I never crossed the line and upset anything in the women's in the men's program. We practiced at night after everything else was over in the gym. We would practice sometime at seven, eight o'clock at night until after a year or so, then we got special times too, like everybody else. But it it was a journey and finding our way. There were not a lot of teams to play except these semi-professional teams like National Business. I played those people. I called Coach Head, and you know, he came and spoke at my camps. He was such a good man. I said no to him, and yet when I invited him to come and participate and help me and speak at my camps, he was such a dear man. And he was about women's basketball moving forward. So I owe him a debt of gratitude. After saying no to him, I think he recognized that, hey, she's gonna do something for basketball. And so we played a lot of those AAU teams, and we played their rules, and we got our brains beat out a lot. But the biggest thing that happened, I think, in the first semester, the first year was we went to Iowa early in the season to play this semi-professional AAU team. It was cold. We went up there and drove two old station wagons. And I'll just never forget if I ever get home, I'm not ever coming back this way ever again. And then they returned the game to Belmont late in the season, and we upset them. And I just remember that game when I said to myself, we can do this, we can do this. It was kind of a proof. We maybe won three or four games that first year, and then the second year, of course, other teams were following suit, and we we had more people. Mary nell Meadors up at Tennessee Tech. I mean, she needs she deserves a lot of credit in women's college basketball. Marynell and I competed a lot, and um UT Martin, and then the lady down at Memphis State, and it was just kind of a snowball effect. And Pat began graduated and came back to Tennessee and took over that little program they had and made it look what it is today. So, you know, I take great joy in a humble way that I was a part of something really special in those early days when I gave up something and God gave it back to me in the form that He did. And the journey, the journey is still going. And every day when I watch our girls practice or maybe go to a game away, travel with them, or see them play and mentor them. I spend a lot of time mentoring. I know where we've come from, and Coach Bart, he he talks about our history, they know our history, and that we we started on a very firm foundation and with somebody that didn't know what she was doing but believed in it. And so um, wow, when I think about it, I'm I'm really humbled, um, really am.

Russell Ries 26:36

Yeah, it makes total sense. It it seems like one of those sort of mustard seed situations, you know, things that can grow out of such small, small beginnings. But I am curious, we're driving in two station wagons. Where did they come from?

Betty Wiseman 26:51

How did you there were two old station wagons, and I don't know really where they came from, but they were used on campus for anything, you know. So I drove one and Mr. Cheney, who was an administrator, he volunteered to kind of be our man on the spot. So it was the old station wagon where in the back the seat faced out back. I mean, we had girls that traveled for miles backward, get off and play basketball, get back in there and travel backwards, you know. And I'm when I think about it, I think, Betty, how did they do that? I don't know. But they were old station wagons and it didn't matter. We'd have a flat tire, we just put another one on, and then we then we graduated to vans. And you know, when we first started, we took the boys from the boys' team, we took their discarded warmups, and the mothers cut them down for the girls. We redid the warmups. We had nice suits, we had we bought suits, we had one pair of shoes, and you know, we just made them do. We'd just tape them up if they split or something, and if I had to buy another pair, I would, but those first couple of years, two or three years, and then and then the school saw the value in our program and took pride in it. People came to see us, they were intrigued. We were doing something, created something that we were the first. And and so I I think it's been a I think it's been a point of joy and satisfaction and pride that we started something really special when there was no, you know, Title IX came along four years after I started the program, and we still couldn't get involved in Title IX because we were owned and operated by Baptist churches, and so it took us a while to even be able to. I coached 16 years and I didn't give any full scholarship until two years before I stopped coaching. All they had was they could get a room grant and maybe some books. There were no scholarships, but we did it, we did it, and I never said, I never fussed or why not? Why, why, why I never did that. I did the best I could with what I had, and I tried to prove that we were legit and if it was in the best interest of the school, and people respected me. I I never was I was in a man's world, but I was never I never felt uncomfortable with the men respecting me. I went to coaching clinics and I'd be the only female and I'd raise my hand and ask a question, or I just earned people's respect, I think, with my work ethic, and all that came from my experience on the farm because I worked hard, I helped my dad, and and we had to do it for a living. And here I was doing the same thing, putting something in the ground and starting it from scratch and and made it happen.

Russell Ries 30:10

Looking back at leadership, how did you manage to keep the spirits uplifted and keep the focus on where you were going with the team? Were there ever moments of doubt?

Betty Wiseman 30:21

That's a great question, and it makes a lot of sense, but I I never doubted myself, and I never doubted that it would catch on because of Title I and what it did, and all the other universities were getting programs of moving forward because they were accepting money, and eventually, you know, we moved in another direction with the college and the university, and so it's not owned and operated by Tennessee Baptists. But yeah, I just kept emphasizing to the girls that hey, we can get better. This is an opportunity to get better. There were some times I was really disappointed in them, and the real probably inside of me came out pretty pretty tough on them. I could be pretty tough, but we were a family, and we we had an opportunity that other people didn't have, other people were coming along. And there's a story, Russell, that the second year I was coaching, we were in a van going down to Mississippi to play a game. Maybe it was the second year, I guess. And uh we stopped, we we usually took sandwiches from the cafeteria to eat, and then we'd get something after, you know, a burger or something on the way home. We didn't have big meals, and so I stop at this little restaurant, and we go in, and it's in Sid, Mississippi, and it's uh just a restaurant small, and I'm I'm sitting there, and and one of the girls comes over and said, Coach Wiseman, Maddie and Pete and Shoma, everybody has their food, but them. Maddie and Pete and Shoma were African American, black. And I said, What? And so I go back to the to their table, and even the white girl had her, even the white girl had her food. I was so angry, Russell. I'm telling you, it's one of the hardest moments of my being my life. And I said, I said, where's the rat, where's the waitress? And she said, I'm not in charge. And I said, Well, go get your manager. By then I'm really, I'm really hot. And and so he comes out and he says, What do you want? And I said, Why aren't you serving this table here? And he said, We don't serve, and he used the N-word. The whole restaurant, everybody heard it. And boy, I put my finger in his chest and I bumped him and I got in his face, and I said, Man, this is wrong. And if you don't serve them, you don't serve me, or you don't serve any of us. Do you hear me? And he said, I'm not serving you. And I said, We're not eating, we're leaving. So I just got the girls up. We went to the van, and the girls were crying. I mean, it hit them really hard. And I I started crying, and I just brought them together and I said, Hey, we're family. There is no color on this team. I think it was a defining moment, the second year of existence of who we are. We're family. And we started from scratch, and we were hurt together that day. Well, we went on down and played the game. I think it was Mississippi University for Women. And when we got on the bus, we got us a hamburger. That's the first time we'd eaten. We didn't eat before we played, we didn't have time. That's where this program's come from. That's why this program is special. It is in the deepest part of my soul and my being as a person that I've been a part of something really special. And I've come up through the ranks. It's like it's like a father, you and your son. If your son's treated that way, these girls were my girls. I'm single, never married. They're all my they're all my family. That's the era we we've come through. But I tell you that story, it's a part of our history. And we're not going to forget it. Our players, as they come in, Bart always tells that story, and Belmont tells it a lot, uses it, just to tell where we've come from, and that sometimes as pioneers, as you know, our ancestors, imagine what they went through. That's a long story, and I'm sure I'm sorry I took up so much time.

Russell Ries 35:17

Do not apologize for that story. It was a wonderful story. I appreciate you telling it. I think it speaks to the kind of program you built, but also the kind of person that you are and sounds like have always been. So thank you for sharing that. Don't know how to segue from something like that, which is just so foundational and beautiful and ugly in lots of ways, of course. But the way that you as a team reacted and you as a coach reacted is a beautiful thing. It wasn't long after that that you made what four consecutive WNIT appearances. What was that transition like?

Betty Wiseman 35:54

It took a lot of work and it took a lot of ups and downs. And we went through the valley before we got on some mountaintops. You know, after I got out of coaching, the men's conferences started women's programs within the conferences. That helped us a great deal. And of course, Title IX did more than anything because of the money. People like universities, Tennessee, and those people were getting all kinds of federal money to help in recruiting and giving scholarships and things like that. Of course, I had gotten out because I had taken it as far as I and I was teaching full-time. I was teaching classes. And so I thought if our program is going to go forward, they're going to have to make a commitment, a different kind of commitment. I got it off the ground, I got it started. It's time for somebody to come in here like everybody else, and have, and that's that's their job. I'm a teacher at heart, and I love students, and I love more than just basketball. So when I got out, and they were forced to bring somebody in and pay them as a basketball coach. They paid me as a teacher. And so that was a turning point. And Belmont began to put more focus, and we at that point we were beginning to get some federal aid and things like that. And of course, it had all just it had just skyrocketed. But we're in a good position now. If you live long enough and you stay with something long enough, and all the changes that take place, like the portal and everything now, it's like whoa. I mean, it's totally different. I talk to Bart all the time, our women's coach, and I think he's the best in the country. But we talk about they deal with things now in their own rights is the same kind of stuff we used to deal with, you know. If you live long enough, things change. And so the dynamics of sports has changed such that they have things to deal with, and I had mine. The thing that I sit now and I can turn a television on anytime and watch women's sports. That's one of the greatest joys, gifts of my life is being able to do that. And I think about it almost weekly when I just turn on to see who's playing, or you know, what sports playing, or I can go on somewhere and watch our girls if they're on the road. It's just, it's like everything else, it's a journey. And for me, the prize has always been in the process. Not maybe a championship out here, but what were we able to do in those early years and those medium years? You know, our history, we made history, and so history moves on and more history is made. But I think our players always take pride in their history, and Wilmot makes sure that people know our women's histories.

Russell Ries 39:13

I think that's a wonderful thing, and it's something that Belmont should certainly be proud of. I do wonder what do you most envy about the current state of women's basketball?

Betty Wiseman 39:24

That's a great question. There's a lot of things that I could say, wow, if we'd had that. If we'd had that. You know, watching something build. And I think our I think our girls who played in those early years, they're so grateful for just an opportunity. They know that they were blessed with an opportunity. And so what we did have, the opportunity, just trumped everything else. And I made sure they knew that. But they'll always be remembered for beginning something really special that lives on and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And just taking pride in what we had. And for me, just a man in the 60s, a president who would listen to a 26-year-old, 25-26-year-old girl who didn't have a clue what she was gonna do, but she just wanted to do it.

Russell Ries 41:03

If you could go back to those days and speak to that man and that girl, what would you say to them now?

Betty Wiseman 41:28

I would um I would tell you this that uh Dr. Gebhart was like a father to me, and on his uh he knew that that I appreciated him and he he knew that I loved him as a father figure, as a mentor. He believed in me. And he was he was on his deathbed and the family let me, I had some time with him by myself and I was like a daughter to him, I know that. And and I was able to tell him the night before and um just sit by his side at the bed, and I just leaned over and just loved on him and said, You have been another father to me, and you gave me opportunities that someday I'm gonna be able to talk about. And I want to thank you and tell you how much I love you as a man and respect you. And and uh he just you know, he just smiled, his eyes were closed, and he opened his eyes and he said, Daddy, we fought the battles of Jericho together, didn't we? I said, Yes, sir. And um so scripture everything that we did around that program was grounded in ministry and in um something bigger than ourselves for someone greater than ourselves and I think I think that's one reason why it has been stable and secure and meaningful and purposeful because it was built on a foundation a rock and that's who Belmont is built on. So I you know I didn't do any more than anybody else would do under the circumstances, I think. And uh I love it. Belmont University. I'm committed to the core. I am single, never married. That is my home, that is my family, those are my children, even today. The students. And every player that comes through there, I was there Saturday, and two new recruits coming in, and one is a is the daughter of one of our former players. And it's it just builds on you. That's what I take pride in. I I don't these wins speak at this point in my life, they speak nothing to me, but it's what is built, and it's the people, and it's the it's the program itself. And uh it's purposeful, it's meaningful, and we're family. And we'll keep being that way.

Russell Ries 44:52

That is just wonderful. I so grateful for you taking the time to speak with me and and share this story. And uh you now have the distinction of being the first guest to get me teary-eyed. Um so thank you for that too.

Betty Wiseman 45:10

You know, I don't listen. If I can't speak from my heart, I don't want to I don't want to do it because this program is a part of who I am. It represents all I stand for, I think, and I've given my life to that program. Those are those are my family. That's my I had a one of my first players who came and brought her daughter back this summer. We walked around, went in the new gym, you know, and just talked about old times and and it's family. It's family. And I know other programs are the same way. I just happened to be one of the first, and um and it was totally different back then. But I'll tell you this, I do it all over again. I do it all over again. God has been good to me, and to him be all the glory.

Russell Ries 46:16

Coach Betty Weissman. I can't think of a better note to end on. Tennessee basketball icon, mother of Belmont basketball. Thank you so so much for sharing your story with me today. It's really been an honor, and I I appreciate it. I'm very grateful to you and I'm excited to see where Belmont goes from here.

Betty Wiseman 46:37

Thank you, Russell. And um thank you for thank you for listening and for the obvious connection. Understanding, I think you understand where we've come from, and uh that it's all about those young women and the opportunity.

Weekly Recap

Russell Ries 46:58

All right, well, that was my interview with legend Betty Weisman of Belmont Women's Basketball. My thanks again to her for her time, her inspiration, for coming on the show. Truly just a wonderful person to talk to. I'm gonna include some links down below in the description. Betty made a bunch of really awesome scrapbooks during the time that she was coaching the team, and Belmont has digitized those and put them on their website. So there's a link down below to that. There's also a link to the Be Like Belmont Betty shirts that were sold. So if you'd like one, check that out as well. And now we will move into the week. The Tennessee Titans continued what has been a disappointing trend, losing 12-7 at the New York Giants on Sunday and falling to 0-3. Titans were down 12-0 before Cam Ward led a late comeback attempt. Unfortunately, a ill-advised pass near the end zone doomed the team to lose. And the Titans are on the road today at the Baltimore Ravens, where they will face Derrick Henry for the first time since he left the team. He will always be a Titan to me, but it's going to hurt to watch, I'm sure. In college football, Vanderbilt lost 38-14 on the road at Georgia. They are now 3-2 and 0-2 in SEC play. Their next game will be Versal Miss on Saturday, October 10th here in Nashville at 2.30 p.m. Middle Tennessee was on the road and lost 55-0 at Kansas, falling to 2-3 overall, and 0-1 in Conference USA. They host Delaware on Tuesday, October 13th at 6 p.m. Tennessee State lost 28-21 at Western Illinois, falling to 1-4 and 0-1 in OVC play. They next host UT Martin on Saturday, October 10th at 2.30 at Nissan Stadium. The Nashville Predators kicked off their season on Thursday with a 3-1 loss to the visiting Minnesota Wild. But then last night, they beat the Dallas Stars 2-1, so they are now 1-1 on the season. Exciting time to be a Preds fan. See this new look team under GM Chris McFarland. Nashville SC is off this weekend. Their next match will be on the road at Austin FC on Saturday, October 10th at 7.30 p.m. And lastly, Vanderbilt Soccer beat Kentucky 2-0 on Friday night, improving their overall record to 11-0-1 and 4-0-1 in SEC play. Their magical season continues. Excited to see where Coach Darren Ambrose and the team goes this year. They're doing great things over on West End.

Outro

Russell Ries 49:47

And that's going to be our show for the week. Thank you so, so much to Betty Weisman for coming on. I really enjoyed my conversation with her. If I haven't said enough, I'm going to say it again. So thank you, Betty. Thank you for listening. We appreciate it as always. You can reach out to us on Twitter and Blue Sky at NSH Sports Report.com. You can find us at our website, www.nashville sportsreport.com, and anywhere that fine podcasts are purveyed. With that, we will say thank you and we will see you next week.