Jody Conradt, Pat Summitt, Vivian Stringer, Leon Barmore. They’re some of the more powerful, influential and successful coaches in the history of women’s basketball. Yet none of them have had more to do with the growth of the sport than Betty Jaynes.
A leading national figure in women’s basketball for 38 years and the first executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), Jaynes died Tuesday at St. Mary’s Hospice House in Athens. She was 68.
“I feel very confident in about saying this: Betty Jaynes was at the table when every meaningful conversation took place about growing women’s basketball,” said Georgia women’s basketball coach Andy Landers, himself a legend of the women’s game. “She was there every time. That makes her the pioneer, the leader, when it comes to the development of women’s basketball.”
A staunch advocate for and defender of Title IX, Jaynes helped found the WBCA and became the organization’s first executive director in 1981. Her title was changed to CEO in 1996, and Jaynes was a leading resource, voice and advocate for coaches of women’s basketball, with her organization growing from 212 members in its initial year of existence to more than 3,000 at the time of her retirement as CEO in November 2001.
“Betty was like a mother to many of us; a good friend to all of us,” said current WBCA CEO Beth Bass, who succeeded Jaynes as chief executive in 2001. “For me, both personally and professionally, she was an adviser, mentor, confidant and my closest friend. Women’s basketball and the WBCA were not just her livelihood, they were her entire life.”
Landers has been at Georgia long enough to remember what women’s basketball was like as a sport before people such as Jaynes stepped in to initiate positive change. One of only four women’s college basketball coaches with more than 900 career wins, Landers remains the one and only coach the Lady Bulldogs have ever had, starting the program in 1979.
“She experienced a lot of things from a growth standpoint back in the day that a lot of people can’t imagine today,” Landers said. “There were times when people did not know if you’d have uniforms or not have uniforms, if you’d have a way to get to games or not. That was before Title IX or anything. Our game was at an infancy stage, and what motivated her was to make things better for everyone.
“The idea originated with her to form an association for coaches that wasn’t a social club. It was done at a time when we were trying to grow and evolve to a new level.”
A native of Covington, Jaynes attended Newton County High where she lettered in basketball for four years. She was a two-time All-State selection and helped lead her team to a 33-1 record and a berth in the 1963 Class AA state championship game in Atlanta her senior year. Jaynes earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Georgia College in 1967 and her master’s degree in the same field from North Carolina-Greensboro in 1968.
Jaynes joined the staff at Madison College in 1968 as an assistant professor of physical education, with primary teaching duties in gymnastics, tennis and swimming. She eventually became the Dukes’ head women’s basketball coach (1970-82). She chaired the U.S. girls’ and women’s rules committee from 1979-81. She also acted as tournament director for the 1975 AIAW Large College National Basketball Championships, which boasted the first championship-game sellout in the modern era of women’s college basketball.
Funeral arrangements are pending, but the service will be held in Covington. WBCA.org, the association’s official website, will be updated as information becomes available.
