Sports media pioneer, OHIO alumna talk opportunities, responsibilities with Margaret Boyd Scholars

Betsy Ross, author of “Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in the World of Men’s Sports,” shares her journey to becoming one of the first women to break into national sports media with Ohio University’s Margaret Boyd Scholars. Photo by Harley Wince, BSVC ’21

Each fall semester, Ohio University welcomes a group of first-year students into the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program, presenting these members of OHIO’s first and only women’s scholars program with four years of academic enrichment opportunities with a goal of cultivating agents of change both on campus and in life.

On March 21, some of the approximately 80 Margaret Boyd Scholars on the Athens campus were provided an opportunity to hear from and engage with an agent of change whose book documents fellow trailblazers in what has long been a male-dominated industry.

In “Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in the World of Men’s Sports,” author Betsy Ross shines a spotlight on the pioneering women who paved the way for the increasing role that women are playing in sports broadcasting, reporting and business. The start of each new cohort’s Margaret Boyd Scholars experience includes a book discussion with the scholars being provided a common book to read, followed by a group discussion, which this semester included the book’s author.

Margaret Boyd Scholars listen as Betsy Ross gives them advice in their journeys to professional success, personal happiness and becoming women who will do great things. Photo by Harley Wince, BSVC ’21

One of the first women to break into national sports media, Ross grew up enjoying sports but never considered it as a career path because, she said, “It just wasn’t something women were involved in at that particular time.”

As a college student, Ross interned at The South Bend Tribune and volunteered to help cover local high school sports. In graduate school, she worked for a local television and again volunteered to help with sports coverage. Her first piece of advice to the Margaret Boyd Scholars: Sometimes when you really want to do something, you have to do it on a volunteer basis; don’t always go for the experience that pays the most.

After graduating, Ross took a position as a news anchor at a television station in Indianapolis—at a time when the city set out on a course to become the amateur sports capital of the country and Ross found a growing opportunity to build her career in sports reporting. She went on to work at the NBC-affiliated TV station in Cincinnati and covered the many local athletes competing in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Shortly thereafter, ESPN was preparing to launch its 24-hour news network, ESPN News, and was looking for a professional well versed in sports but with experience in anchoring the news. Ross landed the job, cementing her spot in sports history. She spent the next five years anchoring both ESPN News and ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

For the past 17 years, Ross has served as president and founder of Game Day Communications, a Cincinnati-based public relations firm she established with business partner and Ohio University alumna Jackie Reau, BSJ ’92, MSA ’12. The two had worked together covering the Olympics and seized an opportunity to bring their talents to a city rife in sports and public relations but lacking a firm that specialized in both.

As Ross shared her story with the Margaret Boyd Scholars, she provided them advice in their journeys to professional success, personal happiness and becoming women who will do great things, stressing first and foremost to care only about those who are sources of encouragement.

(From left) Dr. Nancy Sandler, a professor of physics and a member of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Advisory Board, and Jackie Reau, BSJ ’92, MSA ’12, CEO of Game Day Communications, a public relations firm she established with Betsy Ross, listen as Ross addresses the Margaret Boyd Scholars. Photo by Harley Wince, BSVC ’21

“Nobody of any consequence ever told me, ‘No,’” she said.

The scholars, program staff and advisory board members engaged in lively discussion and serious debate with Ross and Reau on everything from gendered language used in sports and society to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Ross said the most important thing she hoped the scholars took away from the conversation is the opportunities these trailblazers have and the responsibility they carry to those who follow in their footsteps.

“You are so fortunate that you have so many choices,” she said. “You need to encourage that next group because all of this opportunity that we enjoy…, it can all be taken away. It can all disappear.”

She said the women in her book who successfully forged their way in a male-dominated industry all had three things in common:

• They were focused on what they wanted to do.
• They were flexible in how they got there.
• They were a friend to the next generation.

“I always try to remind female athletes of what others gave up or went through so they could have what we have today,” Ross said.

“This was really exciting,” said first-year Margaret Boyd Scholar Savannah Copeland, who is majoring in screenwriting and producing. “I’m not a big sports person, but it was interesting to hear about her experiences and the experiences of the women in her book. I was inspired.”

Fellow first-year Margaret Boyd Scholar Ashley Keller played sports in high school.

“I never thought about what it took to get here and these women who I didn’t know who helped me get here,” Keller, a biological sciences/pre-med major, said.

For Reau, the book discussion provided yet another opportunity to connect with a program she’s supported with time, treasure and talent and with fellow Bobcats who inspire her.

“I am constantly amazed at the women in the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program, their personal stories and their academic success,” Reau said. “I love spending time with these women and learning from them.”

When Patti McSteen, associate dean of students and director of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program, mentioned this year’s book discussion to Reau, she immediately thought of Ross’ book.

“The women featured in this book are women who sometimes flew under the radar but who are a very big deal in sports and beyond,” Reau said.

For information on how you can support OHIO’s Margaret Boyd Scholars Program, click here.