The Shell Game of Corrupted Government Exposed
From Foul Balls To Fair Calls
Publisher's note: The author of this post, Jackie Drake, is a contributor to ECU News Services.
Growing up in Fuquay-Varina in the 1960s, Sheilah Cotten's only chance to participate in competitive sports before she entered high school was retrieving foul balls during boys' baseball games.
Like everything else this venerated coach and athletics administrator went on to accomplish in her life after graduating from East Carolina University, Cotten put her considerable energy and competitive spirit to the task.
"There was not a foul ball to be lost if I worked a game," she recalls with a laugh. "I participated in anything I could, but I couldn't really play; women's opportunities were very limited back then."
Things have changed when it comes to women's competitive sports. Cotten has helped make that change.
A leader in the field of women's collegiate athletics, Cotten has pursued equality and opportunities for all. She was a record-setting member of the ECU women's basketball team shortly after conference play began. She also played on the volleyball team and in 1981 became the first female athlete inducted into the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Cotten coached women's sports and some men's sports at Louisburg College for 28 years. She was also a key figure in the National Junior College Athletic Administration from 1992 to 2000, where she worked to expand sports opportunities for women at two-year and community colleges in the Southeast and throughout the country.
Cotten does not describe those things as accomplishments but rather as teaching young women to do their best and to push themselves to the limit of their capabilities.
"I chose to be the best I could be on the court, in the classroom and as a coach because it simply feels good to know you have given your all," Cotten says. "To value the opportunity, do your best, have no regrets, that is still what I share today with the students I teach."
East Carolina is where she learned how to do that. Playing basketball at ECU and competing at such a high level, says Cotten, gave her the confidence to speak up in the classroom as a teacher, on the court as a coach and in the boardroom as an administrator.
Cotten played basketball in high school but didn't think she could continue at the collegiate level. But during her junior year of high school, she began to hear about women's basketball teams forming on college campuses. She first heard about ECU when head basketball coach Catherine Bolton came to watch her high school play in Rocky Mount during her senior year and recruited her for the Pirates.
"I was excited for the opportunity to play basketball on a college campus and to continue my career in sports," Cotten says. "That's what brought me to ECU. I didn't really know anything about ECU until she came and watched me play."
Bolton was ECU's first professional women's basketball coach. Women's basketball has more than 100 years of history at East Carolina, with intramural teams formed as early as 1915. Competitive play against other colleges began in the 1930s. Official conference play began under Bolton's direction in the 1969-1970 season, shortly before Cotten arrived on campus.
"From the time I could dribble a basketball, I had always watched the boys play," she says. "I knew I wanted to go to a university where there would be a strong athletic program."
Cotten remembers playing in pinnies, or scrimmage vests, during her first year and not getting official uniforms until her second year.
She helped lead the women's basketball team to a 47-17 record during her four years on campus. She set several single-game and season records, including most points in a game (33) and highest rebound average for the season (8.3 rpg). She finished her career with 1,152 points, helped win a state championship and played in district championships and a national tournament.
"That experience emphasized to me that I wanted to go on to be a coach," she says. "I knew I wanted to be involved in sports in some capacity, providing opportunities for other young girls like myself to be able to enjoy competition and learn how to become leaders."
Cotten majored in health and physical education and remained at ECU to complete her master's degree in health education.
Her physical education instructors and her coaches were her role models, she says, for learning how to teach and coach others.
"ECU began to open my eyes to all the opportunities for women in sports," she says. "It provided me with...outstanding peers who I could learn from."
An ECU advisor also helped her find her first job, pointing to an opening at Louisburg College and allowing her an extension on her thesis so she could go ahead and begin her career.
Cotten arrived at Louisburg College in August 1977. She has never left.
Northeast of Raleigh, Louisburg College is a private two-year college with about 750 students. Founded in 1787, it is the oldest two-year college in the nation and the only residential two-year college in North Carolina. Several sports teams play under its mascot, the Hurricanes, in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region X, encompassing North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Cotten coached women's volleyball, men's tennis, women's basketball and slow-pitch softball at Louisburg. But she is best known for her tenure as coach of the fast-pitch softball team from 1986 to 2005. Her overall record was 516-293 (.640). Several of her teams won region and district championships, many going on to national NJCAA tournaments.
Her record speaks for itself:
"It's clear that this college, and myself as a small part of it, is making a difference in the lives of these kids. That's a great accomplishment every day," Cotten says. "That's what ECU did for me, and that's what I hope I can give back to the young people I work with."
Cotten also opened doors for countless others at schools throughout the region through her leadership in the NJCAA. She established sports procedures for women's fast-pitch softball, implementing divisional play and even international play. She oversaw various sports and held several positions culminating in NJCAA Region X women's director of athletics.
In 2007, she was inducted in the Louisburg College Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2010, she was inducted into the NJCAA Sports Hall of Fame. She was recognized as one of the "Top 100 Female Athletes for 100 Years" by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
"She's a pioneer in women's athletics," says Louisburg College Athletic Director Mike Holloman. "She brings a lot of passion and excitement and she's always looking for teachable moments. She's touched a tremendous amount of lives here at Louisburg and in our region. And she hasn't slowed down."
"I've never been to work a single day. I just go and play every day," Cotten says.
Cotten is clear about why she chose the path she did: Sport builds strength of character, she says, along with a belief in self and a greater appreciation of what can be done with teamwork and a common purpose.
Participation in sports is one way to reduce the fear of failure and discover hidden gifts and talents, she says.
"To learn how to compete can bring out the best in yourself," she says. "Something as simple as being able to throw the ball back into the game...I can remember the exhilaration of that, being able to pick up that baseball and throw it to the coach."
All kids enjoy competition, she says. "That is not a gender-related thing at all. It's universal to all kids. They want to be able to play."
Heather Ross, a faculty member at Brenau University in Georgia who played basketball and softball under Cotten in the 1990s, described her coach as "energetic and excited about the game."
"Her spirited approach to the game was contagious," Ross says. Yet Cotten's lessons went beyond the playing field.
"She was an ardent advocate for our team and each one of us as individuals," Ross says. "I believe that coach Cotten took everything she learned and accomplished in her own career and tried very hard to instill those lessons and skills onto each one of her players."
Students and players say Cotten's impact on them has been permanent.
"I have referenced many life lessons that I have learned from coach Cotten throughout my career as a coach, teacher and educational leader," says Brandy Frazier, a career and technical education coordinator for Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools. "She taught me how to not only play the game of softball but prepared me mentally, emotionally and physically for the game of life."
For one student in particular, Cotten's confidence and mentoring in college made a life-changing difference.
Jomaica Johnson, who graduated from Louisburg in 2005 and now holds a doctorate degree, is an infrastructure branch manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She works to save the lives of others. In her region of FEMA, she is the youngest branch manager and the only African-American female branch manager.
Cotten offered Johnson a chance to play softball at Louisburg. But shortly after Johnson got there, she fell in with a group who used marijuana and got caught, she says.
"Coach Cotten sat me down and told me there would be consequences, but that she wasn't going to suspend me or expel me," Johnson says.
Just as important, Johnson says, is that Cotten took time with her and supported her as her life improved.
"Coach Cotten offering me an opportunity to play set me on the road to success," says Johnson. "I was going through a lot of personal things and dealing with depression and low self-esteem. Coach Cotten helped me find myself."
That second chance, Johnson says, may have saved her life. "I really messed up.... If she had sent me away, I don't know what I would've done. I may have considered suicide."
Johnson credits Cotten's caring leadership and high expectation for her success-and passes what she learned from her along to other young people.
"She taught us how to carry ourselves, how to dress and speak professionally, to speak the truth and own what you're saying," Johnson says.
Johnson is involved with AmeriCorps, a program where teens work with FEMA to get a grant for college. "What coach Cotten instilled in me, I instill in these young people," Johnson says.
Cotten says her leadership style is based on thinking positively.
"Forever the optimist, I consider a failure or a great challenge a valuable learning opportunity," she says.
Go Back
Sheilah Cotten '75 '77 expanded athletic opportunities for women
Growing up in Fuquay-Varina in the 1960s, Sheilah Cotten's only chance to participate in competitive sports before she entered high school was retrieving foul balls during boys' baseball games.
Like everything else this venerated coach and athletics administrator went on to accomplish in her life after graduating from East Carolina University, Cotten put her considerable energy and competitive spirit to the task.
"There was not a foul ball to be lost if I worked a game," she recalls with a laugh. "I participated in anything I could, but I couldn't really play; women's opportunities were very limited back then."
Things have changed when it comes to women's competitive sports. Cotten has helped make that change.
A leader in the field of women's collegiate athletics, Cotten has pursued equality and opportunities for all. She was a record-setting member of the ECU women's basketball team shortly after conference play began. She also played on the volleyball team and in 1981 became the first female athlete inducted into the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Cotten coached women's sports and some men's sports at Louisburg College for 28 years. She was also a key figure in the National Junior College Athletic Administration from 1992 to 2000, where she worked to expand sports opportunities for women at two-year and community colleges in the Southeast and throughout the country.
Cotten does not describe those things as accomplishments but rather as teaching young women to do their best and to push themselves to the limit of their capabilities.
"I chose to be the best I could be on the court, in the classroom and as a coach because it simply feels good to know you have given your all," Cotten says. "To value the opportunity, do your best, have no regrets, that is still what I share today with the students I teach."
East Carolina is where she learned how to do that. Playing basketball at ECU and competing at such a high level, says Cotten, gave her the confidence to speak up in the classroom as a teacher, on the court as a coach and in the boardroom as an administrator.
Opportunity opens
Cotten played basketball in high school but didn't think she could continue at the collegiate level. But during her junior year of high school, she began to hear about women's basketball teams forming on college campuses. She first heard about ECU when head basketball coach Catherine Bolton came to watch her high school play in Rocky Mount during her senior year and recruited her for the Pirates.
"I was excited for the opportunity to play basketball on a college campus and to continue my career in sports," Cotten says. "That's what brought me to ECU. I didn't really know anything about ECU until she came and watched me play."
Bolton was ECU's first professional women's basketball coach. Women's basketball has more than 100 years of history at East Carolina, with intramural teams formed as early as 1915. Competitive play against other colleges began in the 1930s. Official conference play began under Bolton's direction in the 1969-1970 season, shortly before Cotten arrived on campus.
"From the time I could dribble a basketball, I had always watched the boys play," she says. "I knew I wanted to go to a university where there would be a strong athletic program."
Cotten remembers playing in pinnies, or scrimmage vests, during her first year and not getting official uniforms until her second year.
She helped lead the women's basketball team to a 47-17 record during her four years on campus. She set several single-game and season records, including most points in a game (33) and highest rebound average for the season (8.3 rpg). She finished her career with 1,152 points, helped win a state championship and played in district championships and a national tournament.
"That experience emphasized to me that I wanted to go on to be a coach," she says. "I knew I wanted to be involved in sports in some capacity, providing opportunities for other young girls like myself to be able to enjoy competition and learn how to become leaders."
Cotten majored in health and physical education and remained at ECU to complete her master's degree in health education.
Her physical education instructors and her coaches were her role models, she says, for learning how to teach and coach others.
"ECU began to open my eyes to all the opportunities for women in sports," she says. "It provided me with...outstanding peers who I could learn from."
An ECU advisor also helped her find her first job, pointing to an opening at Louisburg College and allowing her an extension on her thesis so she could go ahead and begin her career.
Opening opportunities for others
Cotten arrived at Louisburg College in August 1977. She has never left.
Northeast of Raleigh, Louisburg College is a private two-year college with about 750 students. Founded in 1787, it is the oldest two-year college in the nation and the only residential two-year college in North Carolina. Several sports teams play under its mascot, the Hurricanes, in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region X, encompassing North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Cotten coached women's volleyball, men's tennis, women's basketball and slow-pitch softball at Louisburg. But she is best known for her tenure as coach of the fast-pitch softball team from 1986 to 2005. Her overall record was 516-293 (.640). Several of her teams won region and district championships, many going on to national NJCAA tournaments.
Her record speaks for itself:
- More than 600 career wins
- 15 NJCAA All-Americans
- 14 Academic All-Americans
- A graduation rate for her players of more than 90 percent since 1990
- 56 graduates received scholarships to NCAA Division I or Division II schools
- NJCAA Region X Coach of the Year multiple times
"It's clear that this college, and myself as a small part of it, is making a difference in the lives of these kids. That's a great accomplishment every day," Cotten says. "That's what ECU did for me, and that's what I hope I can give back to the young people I work with."
Cotten also opened doors for countless others at schools throughout the region through her leadership in the NJCAA. She established sports procedures for women's fast-pitch softball, implementing divisional play and even international play. She oversaw various sports and held several positions culminating in NJCAA Region X women's director of athletics.
In 2007, she was inducted in the Louisburg College Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2010, she was inducted into the NJCAA Sports Hall of Fame. She was recognized as one of the "Top 100 Female Athletes for 100 Years" by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
"She's a pioneer in women's athletics," says Louisburg College Athletic Director Mike Holloman. "She brings a lot of passion and excitement and she's always looking for teachable moments. She's touched a tremendous amount of lives here at Louisburg and in our region. And she hasn't slowed down."
"I've never been to work a single day. I just go and play every day," Cotten says.
Turning opportunities into lessons
Cotten is clear about why she chose the path she did: Sport builds strength of character, she says, along with a belief in self and a greater appreciation of what can be done with teamwork and a common purpose.
Participation in sports is one way to reduce the fear of failure and discover hidden gifts and talents, she says.
"To learn how to compete can bring out the best in yourself," she says. "Something as simple as being able to throw the ball back into the game...I can remember the exhilaration of that, being able to pick up that baseball and throw it to the coach."
All kids enjoy competition, she says. "That is not a gender-related thing at all. It's universal to all kids. They want to be able to play."
Heather Ross, a faculty member at Brenau University in Georgia who played basketball and softball under Cotten in the 1990s, described her coach as "energetic and excited about the game."
"Her spirited approach to the game was contagious," Ross says. Yet Cotten's lessons went beyond the playing field.
"She was an ardent advocate for our team and each one of us as individuals," Ross says. "I believe that coach Cotten took everything she learned and accomplished in her own career and tried very hard to instill those lessons and skills onto each one of her players."
Students and players say Cotten's impact on them has been permanent.
"I have referenced many life lessons that I have learned from coach Cotten throughout my career as a coach, teacher and educational leader," says Brandy Frazier, a career and technical education coordinator for Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools. "She taught me how to not only play the game of softball but prepared me mentally, emotionally and physically for the game of life."
'A second chance'
For one student in particular, Cotten's confidence and mentoring in college made a life-changing difference.
Jomaica Johnson, who graduated from Louisburg in 2005 and now holds a doctorate degree, is an infrastructure branch manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She works to save the lives of others. In her region of FEMA, she is the youngest branch manager and the only African-American female branch manager.
Cotten offered Johnson a chance to play softball at Louisburg. But shortly after Johnson got there, she fell in with a group who used marijuana and got caught, she says.
"Coach Cotten sat me down and told me there would be consequences, but that she wasn't going to suspend me or expel me," Johnson says.
Just as important, Johnson says, is that Cotten took time with her and supported her as her life improved.
"Coach Cotten offering me an opportunity to play set me on the road to success," says Johnson. "I was going through a lot of personal things and dealing with depression and low self-esteem. Coach Cotten helped me find myself."
That second chance, Johnson says, may have saved her life. "I really messed up.... If she had sent me away, I don't know what I would've done. I may have considered suicide."
Johnson credits Cotten's caring leadership and high expectation for her success-and passes what she learned from her along to other young people.
"She taught us how to carry ourselves, how to dress and speak professionally, to speak the truth and own what you're saying," Johnson says.
Johnson is involved with AmeriCorps, a program where teens work with FEMA to get a grant for college. "What coach Cotten instilled in me, I instill in these young people," Johnson says.
Cotten says her leadership style is based on thinking positively.
"Forever the optimist, I consider a failure or a great challenge a valuable learning opportunity," she says.
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