Triton Women's Basketball looks back at 50 years of opportunity
(Story courtesy of Triton College Athletics & tritonathletics.com)
Melding past and present, an exuberant Triton College women's basketball team set itself up in two rows in one corner of their home court to honor all those who had come before them.
The Trojans Feb. 3 welcomed back several former women's basketball players and coaches who were in the house to mark the 50th anniversary of the program. One by one, as they were called to a ceremony at center court, the alumni high-fived – or low-fived, the players as they semi-danced their way through the reception lines.
Last -- but never least – to saunter through was Virginia Hodges, the lone representative of the original 1974-75 women's team. Hodges could look around with pride at the good facilities in which the 2023-24 Trojans practice and play, knowing she and her former teammates had to scrape and scrounge for locker rooms and gyms a half-century ago.
But such were the building blocks of starting any women's collegiate sport from scratch in the 1970s. Competitive, organized women's sports were given the green light by Title IX, a 1972 congressional law that barred sex discrimination in any educational institution drawing financial support from the federal government.
"We had to practice in Franklin Park by the ice skating rink," said true local product Hodges, a Proviso East alum who has lived in Maywood for six decades. "There was no (permanent) gym at Triton. We were in a small gym way in the back. They had to make up locker rooms for us on the road. You had to be careful storing your clothes. I remember how cold it was."
"But I was happy to play. It was fun meeting different people, and having friends."
Hodges' teammates were co-captains Jeanne Schultz (the team MVP) and Marilyn Pickers, along with Katie Kollar, Joyce Pianovski, Sue Werling, Wendy Burton, Vicki Nelson and Kathy Maloney, Katie Kollar was top scorer averaging 10 points per game.
As women's programs started up, teams played whomever they could schedule. There was no division between community colleges and four-year universities. The first version of the Trojans played just 10 games, none outside the Chicago area. Triton was 5-5, earning its first win 44-27 over Elmhurst College (now Elmhurst University). The Trojans traveled to Lincoln Park and scored a 55-29 triumph over DePaul.
"I was real excited to go to DePaul," Hodges said.
Similar stories of sharpening their basketball skills, playing on other campuses and learning crucial life lessons were told by other alums who ran that happy reception line.
Unlike their men's counterparts, who won the NJCAA Division II national championship in 2018, the Triton women haven't yet nailed the big prize. They were NJCAA runners-up in 1993-94, and a fallow period following has ended with the program elevated to a consistent regional contender the past decade under the foundation built under former head coaches Kellee Robertson and Marques Hatch.
But titles and trophies weren't foremost in the minds of the assemble alumni. They focused on how they played the game with pride and using those skills for life beyond Triton.
"They taught me it's a team sport," said Kelly Sweeney, who transferred from Elmhurst College to play for the 1991-92 season. "That gave me a lot of drive."
Sweeney was driven to the point she became Triton's record holder in most points in a single season (676) and scoring average (26 per game). She was a first-team all-region and second-team All-American.
The camaraderie was the most striking aspect of her Triton season.
"We were friends off the court," Sweeney said. "There were no dorms. All the athletes in fact were close. There was no division between men's and women's sports."
While Sweeney was a pure shooter who still can nail her jumpers in middle-age adult leagues, Alondra Chavarria was more of a driver into the lane. That style helped Chavarria tally 1,029 career points, second all-time in school annals, and thus won Triton's Female Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017. She is the record-holder for most steals in a single season (149).
"I was a very fast point guard," Chavarria said. "Just playing was a highlight, and meeting new people." 
Chavarria's teammate in her first season was Candace Madison, who preceded her at Triton Female Athlete of the Year in 2015. Madison is fourth all-time with 980 career points and holds the record for most free throws made and attempted in a season.
"I loved the sisterhood here," she said. "Being a basketball player set up my next venture. You learned discipline, perseverance and self-confidence. I still go back to sports for the concept of completing my tasks."
Two names kept coming out from the alumni as the "glue" of the women's program: the late head coach Dan Hull and 25-year Triton veteran Tim McKinney, whose assistant coach's job is one of many hats he has worn at the school. Both gentlemen are members of the Region 4 Hall of Fame.
Mary-Margaret Hull, his widow, represented him at the ceremony. Hull attracted Sweeney to Triton from their connection in his Elmhurst travel softball days. He was also a key influence on former head coach Frank DeAngelis' style.
"Dan Hull was amazing," he said. "He just gave off a wonderful glow. He got his players to really buy in."
The Triton women now play in the annual Dan Hull Memorial Classic on Veterans Day weekend.
McKinney, in charge of both the defense and post-game care and feeding of players among his myriad tasks, is a master recruiter.
"Coach Tim believed in me," said Madison. "He approached my mother (at her Proviso West games). He got me here. All praise to Tim."
Similarly, McKinney snared Chavarria. "Tim came to see me at my high school games," she said of her days at West Leyden. He was the reason why I wanted to play basketball at Triton."
Hull, a Brookfield police officer, was also instrumental influencing Sweeney's career choice. She served as an Elk Grove Village police officer for 25 years, retiring recently. She learned that just like in a basketball game you usually have to throw away the script early on each shift driving a prowl car.
Basketball lessons certainly were not lost in the careers of Hodges, who has spent nearly 25 years as an accounts researcher for a cruise line supply company, and Madison, employed in marketing for a tech company. "The interpersonal skills (honed in basketball) are used with my clients," said Madison.
The pride and tradition of a proud program now 50 years old was on full display, past and present. The success of the Triton women's basketball program are the true long-term effects of Title IX: equality of reputation as both a winner and developer of good citizens.
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)