Interviewer: Andrea Doyle, Rebecca Hamner and Erica Woekel
Interview Date: February 4, 2010
Location: Langton Hall, Oregon State University
Duration: 1:22:14
In this interview, Carol Menken-Schaudt discusses her atypical journey from being a nonathletic teenager to becoming a basketball Olympian by her twenties. She stresses that she did not play basketball as a child and that her parents never really pushed her to become an athlete. Menken-Schaudt says that when she attended Linn Benton Community College for Graphic Arts, the school didn’t have a women’s basketball program until her third year; she decided to try out because it sounded like an interesting and fun activity. She also suggests that she made the team only because she was 6’4” and was just one out of seven other girls who tried out. Menken-Schaudt then describes how she received the opportunity to play at Oregon State University on an athletic scholarship. She later found out that she was the second female athlete to receive a full athletic scholarship at OSU.
Next, Menken-Schaudt describes her attendance at Ralph Miller’s Basketball Camp the summer before she arrived at OSU, which is where she met Aki Hill, the university’s new women’s basketball coach. Menken-Schaudt then contrasts the treatment that the women’s basketball team received, as compared to the men’s program. In particular, she points out that, before she came to OSU, the women’s practices and offices were held in the Women’s Building. She says it wasn’t until she arrived that the women’s team finally got to practice in Gill Coliseum, but only around the men’s practice schedules.
From there, Menken-Schaudt recounts her experience of trying out for and participating on the United States’ women’s national basketball team in the 1984 Olympics, where they won a gold medal. She says that though she was the oldest player on her Olympic team, aged twenty-four, she had the benefit of overseas experience. She explains that prior to her Olympic status, she received attention from an Italian basketball team. She played several seasons in Italy from 1981 to 1988, but took a break in 1982 to marry her husband, Ken. Menken-Schaudt also describes two seasons playing basketball in Japan while accompanied by her husband.
The session concludes with an overview of Menken-Schaudt’s current activities, splitting her time between her children’s sports schedule and working full time at a Christian music radio station in Albany, Oregon.
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Next, Menken-Schaudt describes her attendance at Ralph Miller’s Basketball Camp the summer before she arrived at OSU, which is where she met Aki Hill, the university’s new women’s basketball coach. Menken-Schaudt then contrasts the treatment that the women’s basketball team received, as compared to the men’s program. In particular, she points out that, before she came to OSU, the women’s practices and offices were held in the Women’s Building. She says it wasn’t until she arrived that the women’s team finally got to practice in Gill Coliseum, but only around the men’s practice schedules.
From there, Menken-Schaudt recounts her experience of trying out for and participating on the United States’ women’s national basketball team in the 1984 Olympics, where they won a gold medal. She says that though she was the oldest player on her Olympic team, aged twenty-four, she had the benefit of overseas experience. She explains that prior to her Olympic status, she received attention from an Italian basketball team. She played several seasons in Italy from 1981 to 1988, but took a break in 1982 to marry her husband, Ken. Menken-Schaudt also describes two seasons playing basketball in Japan while accompanied by her husband.
The session concludes with an overview of Menken-Schaudt’s current activities, splitting her time between her children’s sports schedule and working full time at a Christian music radio station in Albany, Oregon.