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Stephanie Canada, silent because she feared retaliation, speaks up.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 2001
TAMPA -- Former South Florida assistant women's basketball coach Stephanie Canada said Sunday that unconcealed acts of racism within the women's program were so common that six months into her tenure she resigned one afternoon, worked a final day, then "fled" home to Oklahoma -- so determined to leave she drove into the wee hours of the morning.
"I decided that waiting tables would be better than working at the University of South Florida," Canada said. "I said I was homesick. I was homesick for a professional, non-racist basketball program."
Since August, eight former players have filed federal lawsuits against former women's coach Jerry Ann Winters and USF, alleging racial discrimination.
As Winters wages a court battle to regain the job she was fired from in December, Canada spoke publicly for the first time Sunday, saying Winters encouraged segregated rooming assignments and practice sessions and that Winters and other members of her staff mistreated and "demoralized" black players. Canada lived with Winters from September 1997 until March 1998.
Canada, 29, is an assistant coach and senior women's administrator at Division II Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. She said she voluntarily flew to Tampa over the weekend to meet with Jonathan L. Alpert, attorney for the former players, because she had conquered her fear of professional retaliation and no longer could battle her conscience.
Her written declaration will be part of an amendment to the lawsuits, which will be filed today in support of consolidating the cases. The two sides will meet in court again on May 23. Alpert said he wants the eight separate trials to be heard by one judge. Canada said she wants the truth to be known.
"What got the best of me was my conscience," she said. "I hope now, as I've hoped all along, that they can get this behind them and move on with their lives. I'm not worried about getting a bad reference.
"I decided it's (silence) just not worth it anymore."