PROFILE: Warren Sutton a proud part of women’s basketball history
In 1970 the University of Ottawa in women's basketball team took to the court for the first time with Warren Sutton bringing immediate respect and success to the team as its first head coach.
He fought for equal gym time and equal Converse sneakers for his Gee-Gees women's teams as they forged a new era in varsity sport at uOttawa. He recruited a league-leading scorer who would become an Olympian and a member of Canada's Basketball Hall of Fame. His teams loved playing together. Now 50 years later, it's time for Warren Sutton to gain some recognition for his trailblazing role in Gee-Gees women's basketball history.
Warren Sutton was a household name back in 1970, known primarily in Ottawa for his impressive performances on the court against the Gee-Gees and Ravens during his playing days for Sir George Williams. His play had earned him MVP honours at the 1964 National Championships and he was the first player ever drafted to the NBA from a Canadian university.
Following his graduation from Sir George Williams, and his NBA tryout with the St. Louis Hawks, Sutton was hired at the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (now Statistics Canada) in Ottawa. As a systems analyst and programmer Sutton was working on some of the most advanced computers in the city and that brought him to the uOttawa campus.
"The university had one of the top computers in the area, an IBM 360," explains Sutton over the phone from his home in Kitchener, Ont. "At Stats Canada we didn't have full access to the 360 to run the programs, so they set me up with an office on campus at uOttawa where I could get faster turnaround time on the computer there. It was a difference of overnight versus hours. Then a job opened up at uOttawa and I got the job there."
After nine years in Ottawa Sutton and his wife moved to Kitchener-Waterloo where he worked at Conestoga College and later the City of Kitchener for 23 years, retiring in 2004. "Retirement is fantastic, but I always enjoyed the work. At the beginning everything was brand new and very exciting, but it always remained interesting to me."
Being in Kitchener-Waterloo allows Sutton to remain connected to the Gee-Gees as the team comes through on road trips. He regularly watches Gee-Gees games at Guelph, Laurier, and Waterloo where he was also head coach for one season in 1986-87. "I sit on the Waterloo side for the first half and the Ottawa side for the second half," he laughs.
"I'm just a big basketball fan and very supportive of the women's games. Andy [Sparks] will bring me into the locker room and introduce me as the fossil. So I still have a little connection to the team - it's great that the team is doing so well now. I'm missing watching the university games this year."
Sutton is in fact nowhere close to a fossil. His recall of events as he put teams together in the early days is remarkable, and his voice rises with joy and excitement pointing out different details and personalities. "All kinds of humourous little things," he chuckles as he generously unfurls his stories.
While working at Dominion Bureau of Statistics Sutton started playing and coaching in the Ottawa senior men's league in 1967, further cementing himself in the basketball community. Soon, he would become central to the growth of the women's game in the city.
"Although there was high school teams, there really was no competitive women's basketball in the city before that. Most of the players were really hockey players who played in the basketball league in the hockey off-season," he recalls.
Sutton started a women's club team called the Champagne Electras in 1968, then coached the Ottawa Reivers to a national championship appearance, coached the first Ottawa Rookies team, and created a summer league which ran out of McNabb Community Centre. An avid scrap-booker, Sutton looks back on clippings of his teams. He notes that at one point he was coaching against himself during a championship game.
"I think the attitude towards women's sports in general was that it would be provided, but treated as a social event rather than a competitive event. In the early seventies, mid-seventies, that started to change. Some of the girls were exceptional athletes and I found that they were hungry to learn, hungry to compete."
"The people were there, but the opportunity wasn't." Sutton strongly believes that competition, playing, and improving were the motivating factors for growing the game at that time. "I wasn't a great motivator, but I taught them the basics of the game. And they responded to someone teaching them."
Meanwhile on the uOttawa campus, women's athletic director Sue Cousineau was getting ready to implement varsity women's teams. Marilyn Yeates had played for Sutton's club team for a couple of years and she approached the University looking for a team. At the time there was no team, but between Marilyn and Sue the timing was right.
The first Gee-Gees women's basketball game took place on Nov. 3, 1970 with Ottawa defeating Carleton 44-27 and Yeates the leading scorer with 16 points. The Garnet and Grey also played Queen's twice that first season, but with not enough intercollegiate games available Sutton also entered the team in the Ottawa Ladies Basketball League. The team won the City Championship, taking the two-game championship series against Sutton's Reivers.
In 1971-72, the Gee-Gees joined the OWIAA and played a full inter-university schedule. Sutton coached the team to a 9-1 record, tied for 1st place in the East Division with a league-best 614 points for, and 376 against. In 72-73 he joined the Gee-Gees men's team staff as an assistant, but in 73-74 he was back in charge of the women's program and going back to the conference Final Four.
"My philosophy was always to teach the fundamentals and get people to play together. People bought into that - they worked hard and really put in the effort - and it worked. I never really focused on winning or losing…I thought that if I taught the right things and get people to play together the winning will take care of itself."
"I've always felt that between the players on my teams there was very little friction, and I think that was a big reason for the success too – they all got along. And they still get along today!"
When Sutton was inducted into the Gee-Gees women's basketball hall of fame in 2010, eight members of the teams he coached joined him to celebrate, and reflected on how close-knit they still feel.
"We were a team," wrote Maureen Stark in a letter reflecting on the event which deeply touched Sutton. "There was something about being together that we all loved. It wasn't spoken about, or even thought about, but it was real for us all. All of the old admirations, enthusiasms, boundless joys, determinations, compassions, vulnerabilities, innocence and profound gratitude were served up to the moment through simply being together."
Not only a coach but also a referee, Sutton stayed involved in basketball consistently until about four or five years ago when he found himself coaching a team in the local ladies league which included Loretta Ann (Dooher) Madison from his uOttawa teams.
"Her team was not good," he laughs. "She couldn't believe I went back after the first game." Sutton coached the team up and they went on a five-game win streak. The same philosophy of teamwork and fundamentals had worked again, and the joy of basketball shone through.
"There is such a satisfaction in seeing how the game and the women within it have developed over the years."
That perspective is particularly poignant, given what Sutton himself overcame. In February of 1960, Sutton was escorted out of a movie theatre by New York City police. After three seasons of stellar play at Alfred University, the school's treasurer had called the police because Sutton was dating his [white] daughter without his permission. At twenty years old, Sutton faced a crossroads.
Through a connection with a coach in New York City, he was recruited to Acadia University and headed north to Wolfville, N.S. where new possibilities opened up. "My experience at Acadia and throughout Canada, for the most part, was that I was accepted as a person, as me. I know Canada has a race problem as well, but the environment and culture are significantly better in Canada because of the majority of its people."
Sutton has lived in Canada since 1960 but holds fond memories of his time in New York City and at Alfred, where he was awarded an Honourary Degree in 2017.
"From my standpoint, I see people as people — not as colours, not as races. A lot of people take a different perspective. They look at differences rather than what we have in common," he said in another interview.
After being discriminated against, Sutton's new life in Canada often saw him creating opportunities for others. He was a major part of uplifting women's basketball in Ottawa and creating tightly knit, successful teams and lifelong friendships.
"You have to pursue your own goals and objectives," noted Sutton in an interview with Acadia University. "You shouldn't be influenced by your peers or what people are saying. Sometimes you just have to go against the grain and follow your beliefs. Whether it's social, business, whatever, you just have to take the step yourself."
Spoken like a true trailblazer.
Warren Sutton Quick Bio:
1939 – Born in Chester, Pennsylvania
1956-57 – Chester High School Pennsylvania state championship game, team co-captain
1957 – One of five Black students at Alfred University, NY, studying chemistry-biology
1957 and 1958 - Received All-American honorable mention for NCAA Division 3 Basketball
1960 – Escorted out of a movie theatre by New York City police, companion arrested
1960-61 – Member of the Acadia Axemen (Maritime champions)
1963-64 – Member of Sir George Williams, National Championship Tournament MVP
1964 – Drafted by St. Louis, 94th overall in the NBA draft
1967 – Laws banning interracial marriage are struck down by United States Supreme Court
1970-71 – First Gee-Gees women's basketball team is formed
1986 – Inducted into Alfred University Hall of Fame
2004 – Retires from career as systems analyst
2010 – Inducted into Gee-Gees Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
2012 – Inducted into Acadia Sports Hall of Fame
2013 – Inducted into the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
2017 – Awarded official apology and 'Doctor of Humane Letters' Honorary Degree by Alfred University
*The photo above shows the 1971-72 Gee-Gees team with their Converse shoes. The previous team photo in the article is the 1970-71 team before Sutton advocated for the women's team to be part of the University's sneaker purchase deal.
1970-71 Women's Basketball Team Roster: Liz Jeffrey, Denise Demers, Maureen Stark, Glynne Turner, Marilyn Yeates, Kathy Webster, Dominique Theriault, Suzanne Scantland, Line Dubois, Loretta Anne Dooher-Smith (co-captain), Mary Murphy-Ray (co-captain)
1971-72 Women's Basketball Team Roster: Liz Jeffrey, Loretta Anne Dooher-Smith, Mary Murphy-Ray, Glynne Turner, Salome Tam, Lynn Corbeil, Mary Jane O'Reilly, Coleen Dufresne, Sue MacDonald, Carol Hyer, Lynne Nesbitt, Maureen Stark.