Lisa Olson

1964-

American sports journalist

Lisa Olson sent the arena of sports journalism spinning when she reported a harrowing incident she experienced when interviewing a player in the locker room in 1990. Her strong sense of righteousness allowed her to stand up and take note. This was not acceptable behavior and Olson wanted to make sure her attackers knew it, as well as the rest of the world. Unfortunately her world was turned upside down as a result of her actions. Although Olson was a victim of her circumstance, many believe she forged the way for other female journalists, giving them a voice for what they had quietly endured for years.

The Sports Illustrated Reading Program

For Lisa Olson becoming a sports journalist was not a whim. "She almost learned to read with Sports Illustrated and her brothers' Boy's Life, " reported Leigh Montville in Sports Illustrated. When Olson was seven she would report on the sporting events in her neighborhood in a newsletter she created. Of course when she started high school she was on the school newspaper and continued into college.

While Olson was in graduate school she approached Bob Sales of the Boston Herald about any kind of sports writing work available. Sales gave her a chance writing the anonymous daily sports summary. Sales could see Olson's excellent style shining through and decided to move her onto sports coverage of the local schools. Sales commented to Sports Illustrated, "She did nice stories portraying athletes as human beings.… These were stories about high school volleyball players and swimmers, and she made you want to read them. I like what she did a lot."

By this point, Olson had proven her stellar capabilities to Sales and he gave her an opportunity to cover the Boston Bruins hockey team when his regular reporter became ill and was unable to cover the beat. She really knew her sports and it came through in her writing. Olson's talent was taking her to high places in the Boston Herald. After a year and a half of reporting for the Bruins, a spot opened up for covering the New England Patriots. This was an excellent opportunity for Olson and she jumped at the chance.

Ex-Patriots

The first few months on the Patriot's beat Olson had not had an incident. She was enjoying her new position. In September Olson had started working on a piece featuring Maurice Hurst. When she asked him for an interview, "Hurst said he would do the interview after practice, in the locker room, where Olson had been only twice before," commented Montville. She did not like to do interviews in the locker room, but Hurst made it clear that she had to come to him, rather than him meeting her in the pressroom. After practice on September 17, 1990, Olson went to see Hurst, who was apparently icing down an injury he had endured that day. While she was asking him questions for her piece, Robert Perryman, Michael Timpson and Zeke Mowatt surrounded them and directed crude comments at her while gesturing with their genitals. Olson, attempted to ignore them and continue her interview with Hurst, but she was too flustered and ended up leaving the locker room briskly. She ran to her car and drove home quickly, all the while crying and hitting her fist upon the steering wheel, expressing her rage.

Once she arrived home Olson immediately called Sales to tell him of the incident. They "intended to confront privately the Patriot's management about the incident, but the item was published three days later by the Boston Globe," according to Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher. The players did not step forward to apologize before the incident was published, but when their reputations were at stake, the Patriots' owner, Victor Kiam, took out an apology ad in the paper. It was too little to late. The damage to Olson's life had already been made. Eventually an investigation into the altercation was performed, and the guilty parties were fined for their wrongdoing.

Olson ended up having to move out of the country to Australia because of the harassment she received following the story. "The people who run the NFL must have felt this was an acceptable solution, because they did nothing to change it," said Mike Celezic of the Record. Sadly, the event didn't have the life-changing effect it should have. "I don't think it helped women," said Andrea Kremer to the Denver Rocky Mountain News. She continued, "I would never second-guess anything she did. I haven't stood in her shoes. My instinct is you try to defuse everything with humor, but there was nothing humorous about this." Celezic added, "The women, knowing what happened to Olson, cringe and suffer in silence rather than lose their access and their jobs."

Higher Standard

Johnette Howard for Newsday stated, "One of the powerful things that came out of Lisa Olson's case was that teams and leagues have said adamantly that they won't tolerate that kind of behavior … before that, I think women thought ritual hazing was part of the job they had to get through." Olson agrees, stating, "Things have changed dramatically since I was new on the Patriots' beat."

Chronology

Nine years later Olson is back in the States reporting for the New York Daily News. In her column she relays that she has received disgusting hate mail since her return, but will not back down from the job she loves. Olson explains why women continue in the field of sports journalism saying, "we do it because we love writing and producing and filming and talking sports." Many people have tried to come up with solutions to this prominent problem as more and more women enter the field. "Reporters wish the athletes would keep their uniforms on long enough to be interviewed, and that would eliminate all problems," said Holli Armstrong for the University Wire. Olson has no problem doing her job in the professional manner in which she has always conducted herself.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Periodicals

Celizic, Mike. "Sport. Professional. Athlete. Woman. Behavior. Discrimination." Record, (October 15, 1991): 01.

Dougherty, Pete. "The Grass Ceiling Women Sports Reporters Take the Field." Denver Rocky Mountain News, (October 4, 1998): 15C.

Fitzgerald, Mark. "Lisa Olson Redux." Editor & Publisher, (January 25, 1997): 11.

Galloway, Paul. "Female Sportswriter Showing Another Kind of Grace." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (July 10, 1994): 07F.

Jenkins, Sally. "There's No Room for this View." Washington Post, (October 29, 2000): D01.

King, Peter. "Inside the NFL: Shame on the Patriots." Sports Illustrated, (October 1, 1990): 54.

Kunen, James. "Up front: Sportswriter Lisa Olson Calls the New England Patriots Out of Bounds for Sexual Harassment." People, (October 15, 1990): 40.

"Letters: Congatulations to Leigh Montville and SI on Your Story About the." Sports Illustrated, (June 3, 1991): 4.

"Mail: Lisa Olson." People, (November 5, 1990): 4.

Montville, Leigh. "The Early Morning, at Five or Six O'clock, is When Sportswriter." Sports Illustrated, (May 13, 1991): 60.

Myers, Donald. "The Locker Room / The Women Who Enter to Interview Male Athletes Find They're Still Not Always Welcome." Newsday, (June 8, 1999): B06.

Whitaker, Leslie. "SPORT: Trouble in the Locker Rooms More Women Reporters Face Hostility that Threatens their Access." Time, (October 15, 1990): 97.

Other

Armstrong, Holli. "Women Still Battling for Level Playing Field in Sports Journalism." University Wire. (March 12, 2002).

"GRID: Life Down Under Not All as it Seems." AAP Sports News (Australia). (August 8, 1999).

Sketch by Barbra J Smerz