MPR’s Chris Roberts shares how basketball star, Janet Karvonen, made it to the Minnesota Hall of Fame and her local legacy within Minnesota. She is the first women to be inducted into this hall of fame and at the time was the youngest inductee as well. In this interview, Karvonen also shares how views of women in sports have changed throughout her career.
CHRIS ROBERTS: For many, Janet Karvonen's heroics as a basketball star at New York Mills helped to legitimize girls' athletics at the high school level in Minnesota. Voted Miss Basketball as a senior in 1980, she owns virtually every record imaginable, including most points scored in a season and career. And she led her team to three state titles-- in 1977, '78, and '79. Her former coach, Peggy Zimmerman Stibbe, recalls that Janet's devotion to basketball, even in junior high, set her apart from other players.
PEGGY ZIMMERMAN STIBBE: To run across an individual at that age level to be as dedicated and determined as Janet and that was willing to pay the price was-- I feel unusual. I think today we find a lot of dedicated athletes. But back in those times, not to the degree that Janet was she. Like I said, very dedicated and determined to be the best basketball player she could be.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Karvonen is the first to acknowledge that she took the game very seriously as a teenager, and that New York Mills success as a team in the late '70s came at a time when people were beginning to change their perceptions about female athletics.
JANET KARVONEN: And people started coming out and watching the state tournaments. And it really did a lot for the popularity of the sport and I think just really helped girls be appreciated rather than just tolerated, as had been the case for many, many years.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Many were disappointed when Karvonen passed up a chance to become a Minnesota Gopher to play instead at Old Dominion University in Virginia, and then at Louisiana Tech. But after her college career, Karvonen came back to Minnesota, where she now is a color commentator for women's and girls' basketball games and writes a bimonthly sports column for the Saint Paul Pioneer Pres dispatch. Throughout the years, she gives motivational speeches to groups about her experiences as an athlete. And over 500 girls are enrolled in her summer basketball camps, which are held in the Twin Cities area and across the state. It is in these various capacities that Karvonen believes she will make a lasting contribution to women's athletics.
JANET KARVONEN: Basketball is a great game, and it can give you a lot, but it is only a part of your life. And we try to talk about other issues with regard to self-esteem, drug and alcohol, education, nutrition, injury treatment and prevention. We try to bring in all the aspects of just total well-being for young people. And I think that's what sports involvement is all about.
CHRIS ROBERTS: In 1987, Karvonen was the First Minnesota woman to be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. But her induction into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame means more to her, not only because of the caliber of her fellow inductees, but because it's a Minnesota honor. She will be the Hall of Fame's first female inductee, and at 27, its youngest member. I'm Chris Roberts, reporting.
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