CHICAGO — The opening montage of Candace Parker’s Title IX documentary features clips of her playing career from Naperville (Ill.) Central to Tennessee to the Los Angeles Sparks to the Chicago Sky.
“That’s me. Candace Parker. Two-time NCAA champ. Two-time WNBA MVP. Two-time WNBA champ. Two-time AP Female Athlete of the Year,” Parker says. “But none of this could have happened 50 years ago.”
Through the lens of Parker’s rise, “Title IX: 37 Words That Changed America” tells the story of the evolution of women’s sports in the 50 years since Title IX was signed into law, with appearances from Billie Jean King, Lisa Leslie, Condoleezza Rice and many more.
The documentary was a passion project for its star and executive producer. Parker, with her company Baby Hair Productions, partnered with Turner Sports and Scout Productions to make it happen.
While on her way to receive the Title IX Leader Award from the city at an event that also honored King and DePaul coach Doug Bruno, Parker took some time to talk with the Chicago Tribune about the documentary, her future in media and the changes still needed for women in sports. This interview was edited for clarity.
— Why did you want to do the documentary and how did it come about?
— This was something that’s been in the making for two to three years. My agent and marketing, we always huddle, and they ask me, “What is your passion? What do you want to do?” And two, three years ago, I told them I wanted to create something with the anniversary of Title IX coming up because I feel as though this is something my generation has benefited from in the sense of so many people before me have opened up the doors so that I’m able to do what I love and I feel empowered and I have opportunities for learning life skills — but also being able to play a sport.
I kind of fall in the unique position of in between my mom and my daughter. My mom was a senior in high school in 1972 when Title IX was enacted, so she didn’t have the same opportunities that I had. And I felt like it was necessary to tell that story from the lens of somebody who has really benefited from it. If I had come a generation before, my life could look a lot different.
It’s just one of those passion projects. I did a project on it in eighth grade. I’ve always been invested in learning about women in leadership positions, and Title IX was a huge step for that.
— What did you learn from doing it — either about women’s sports history or the people you worked with or about producing?
— I learned an awful lot. I have tremendous respect for how much time and energy goes into documentaries and how much foresight has to occur. The storytelling was something that was uplifting and inspiring for me. There’s a female wrestling team that’s in the documentary, and I was able to go visit their school. So just to learn that we’re still battling, in different ways, things that we’ve been battling for 50 years and before that. So that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned, that we’ve come so far but we still have so many more things we have to do to make sure we’re leveling the playing field.
— What was that experience like visiting the Andrew girls wrestling team?
— It was unbelievable to be able to be in the gym with individuals that don’t even understand that they’re pioneers in what they’re doing, that because of them going out on a limb and doing something that was not necessarily popular or a custom of girls doing, they’re allowing others to be more themselves. Just to talk to them in the room, it was amazing to see their resilience, and they definitely inspired me because you’re looking at the future leaders of business, of wrestling, of whatever it is.
— The segment on Pat Summitt was powerful. What did playing under a trailblazer like that do for you, not just on the basketball court but in life too?
— I feel as though you can read words and you can be inspired by people telling you things and history, but to live it and watch it in action … she was a trailblazer for Title IX but she was a trailblazer for women leaders across the board. So to watch her as a mom balance everything she balanced while continuing to push everything forward. Her not being satisfied. Her living her words every single day in the way that she works. I’m inspired by her as an individual and a person but also as somebody who has really made the world better.
People toss around “legacy” all the time and what it means, but it’s leaving something better because you were a part of it. And she did that for all of our lives, for the Tennessee program but also just women’s sports in general.
— A lot of the documentary is about your journey, and since you dunked in high school you’ve been this icon of girls and women’s sports. How have you managed the pressure or expectations that go along with that?
— I don’t know if I ever stopped to think. I wanted to be great. I come from a competitive family, and it was never like, “Hey, Candace, you’re a girl, so these should be your dreams and this is going to be so much pressure.” I was just trying to be better than my brothers. I was just trying to win. When you focus on that and you focus on the process of getting better … we always talked about how losses and missteps and things like that make you better, and it’s how you look at it. I didn’t look at anything as a final failure, so I think that helped.
I keep a close circle, so it matters to me what my family says and what they think and how I play. But when I read stuff in the newspaper, I realize everything, especially nowadays, it’s about right now and hot takes and things like that. So I really feel like your story is still continuously being written.
— To me, especially as a woman in sports media, one of the important things you’ve done off the court is your analysis for Turner Sports. How have you grown into that? And you talked about your passion for producing. Is that a future for you — both behind the camera and on camera?
— I would love that. I have fallen in love with television, and I feel extremely grateful because it’s tough enough to find one passion in life and I’ve been able to have two a little bit. I love talking about basketball. Don’t tell Turner, but I would do it for free in terms of just sitting on my couch and talking about basketball. I mean, that’s my job? It’s crazy. It’s the second-best job in the world.
So to be able to do that and now to be able to explore producing and directing and stuff like that … the biggest thing I’ve taken away both as a basketball player, as an analyst, as a producer is if you’re authentic in what you’re producing and it’s authentic to you and your story and what you’re trying to convey, it comes across that way on screen and it comes across on the court and it comes across in terms of personality. So that’s one thing I’ve learned is to continue to be authentic to who I am and what stories are important to be told.
— You mentioned earlier you didn’t think about your dreams through the lens of being a girl. There was a moment in the documentary when you were talking about commanding respect of men in TV and business and how sports have given you the confidence to know you deserve to be in the room. Are you aware of the impact you’re having both in media and sports business as a woman in male-dominated fields?
— I don’t know if that’s the focus. The focus is I want to get to a place where women do not have to shrink themselves to walk into rooms and women can command the type of respect and lack of questions. I thought it was very interesting that when you’re meeting somebody and they talk about how women shouldn’t be in sports or broadcasting sports or whatever, and they’re like, “You’ve never played in the NBA.” Well, neither has Stephen A. Smith. He’s never played in the NBA, and you take his opinion. So it’s just trying to take away that double standard, and it’s something that every woman in this world is walking into rooms I hope with the intention of taking away that double standard.
And so that’s how I am. I want to be authentically me. And I shouldn’t have to apologize for having an opinion or being passionate or being competitive. I’ve always been encouraged to be Candace from the time I was little. So that’s what I’m taking into rooms, and hopefully through that people will see it’s on the individual and it’s not a female or a male thing.
— The end of the documentary was looking ahead to what strides still need to be made for women in sports. What kind of world would you like for your daughter — and your son too — when they’re your age?
— I’ve always talked about the mindset. … I was fortunate to grow up in a household where we didn’t have the gender roles and there was nothing like, “Oh, you can’t do that because you’re a girl.” Our curfews weren’t different. However, I feel like we need to reach that across the board, not just because of the household you grow up in.
My hope is that my daughter and son … I mean, listen, sports are important, but sports are important because they teach you the life skills necessary to be able to survive after sports are long gone. The ball is going to stop bouncing for everybody — whether it’s in high school or college or professionally. Whenever it does, you still have to have those life skills, and I think having the opportunity and the mindset going in that you aren’t less than because you are female or you aren’t less than because you’re an African American female, I think that’s important. So when (they’re) my age, I want my son or daughter to walk into the room and know that they’re the best person for the job or they’re not the best person for the job.
Obviously there are a lot of things we have to do in order for that to happen, and one of those things is we’re so reactive in our country and not proactive. So what are things we can put in place to reach certain landmarks or reach certain percentages of people at the table, whether it’s in business or sports? And I think that’s going to be a step in the right direction.
— Is there anything else you want to add about the documentary?
— I don’t know if you saw the softball part where we are talking about high school. This mentality is built over time, from a fourth-grader who receives a hand-me-down uniform while the boys receive brand-new ones. That’s a mindset that’s being developed through society that you’re less than.
It’s important for people across the board to understand it’s not just about college. This is high school. This is elementary. This is grassroots, and it’s important for parents when you see something and you see it’s not right to get involved to change it. Because you never know how many people you’re going to impact by not being silent and making sure that things are headed in the right direction.
