The Glass Closet: Latasha Byears

Los Angeles Times Magazine - http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-tm-byears34aug21,1,1417961.story

Latasha Byears' off-the-bench 'dirty work' helped the Los Angeles Sparks win two WNBA championships. Then a sexual assault allegation ended her career.

By Sandra Kobrin and Jason Levin, Sandra Kobrin and Jason Levin are Los Angeles-based freelance writers. Kobrin last wrote for the magazine about the cost of medical care for older inmates.

At 5-feet-11 and 203 pounds, Latasha Byears epitomized the power in power forward. She used her girth to set body-crunching picks that freed up Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie to score. On defense, she snatched rebounds and dogged the opponent's best shooter. If a player physically rubbed her or a teammate the wrong way, Byears exacted payback, committing hard fouls while helping the Sparks win back-to-back championships.

Then, in June 2003, a few weeks into the team's drive for its third WNBA title, Byears was dealt a blow of her own: She was accused of sexual assault following a party at her Marina del Rey condo.

Less than a month later, a similar allegation would be leveled against Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant by a Colorado hotel worker. The athletes shared more in common than the specter of a criminal trial. They also worked for the same corporate family, an L.A. institution that would treat the two ballplayers—one famous and the other relatively obscure—very differently.

The Los Angeles Lakers stood by Bryant. The team's general manager, coach and fellow players publicly supported him throughout his arrest, teary declaration of innocence at a televised Staples Center news conference and court appearances. NBA Commissioner David Stern said that Bryant should "absolutely" continue to play until proven guilty.

In contrast, as a police investigation was opened, the Sparks wasted no time in releasing Byears. She hoped to be picked up by a different team, but the woman who had worn the number 00 on her uniform found zero interest among the other WNBA franchises. She took a series of odd jobs, including a stint slinging JC Penney merchandise in a Buena Park distribution center that lasted seven hot, boring days. "It's not that the work was bad," Byears says. "I just couldn't take it. Playing basketball is what I've been doing since high school, and it's all I really know how to do."

In some ways, the uneven treatment of Bryant and Byears speaks to the obvious: Bryant is a marquee player—so famous beyond the arena that, like Arnold or Oprah, he is widely known by only his first name. He sells millions of dollars' worth of tickets and merchandise for a big-time sports franchise. Byears generated no discernible income for an unprofitable enterprise, and she had already made some other missteps on and off the court. What's more, in its effort to project a wholesome, family-friendly image, the WNBA is more sensitive to bad press than is the NBA, which could field a pretty decent All-Star team of players who have rap sheets.

And yet the 32-year-old Byears believes her particular predicament stems from something other than her largely unheralded status as a player or her reputation for unladylike behavior. She's convinced she has been ostracized for another reason: She is gay.

As a child in Millington, Tenn., a small town near Memphis, Byears related to boys. She was tall and heavyset, big enough to hold her own on the basketball court with her brothers and male cousins. And like them, she desired women. "I've been gay for as long as I know," says Byears, who goes by the nickname Tot-o, a moniker inspired when her grandmother called her "Tot" while she was growing up.

Byears says she never hid her sexuality from her family, which she says supported her. At Bolton High School in nearby Arlington, Tenn., a few people dared to pick on her, but she had found a refuge. "I loved women," she says, "but I was serious about basketball."

The top colleges in women's basketball wooed Byears—until they got a look at her transcript. Anemic grades and low admission-test scores sent her instead to a two-year college, Northeastern Oklahoma A & M, where she continued to bash bodies and score big. Division I schools were watching.

As a transfer student at DePaul University in Chicago, Byears averaged 22.8 points and 11.7 rebounds a game during the 1995-96 season, a performance that earned her a first team All-American slot. Along with impressive stats, she picked up a reputation as a tough competitor who once was suspended for taking things too far. "She talked some trash, did some 'signifying' to the other players and coaches, got upset at the referees, things like that," says Doug Bruno, DePaul's head coach for the past 19 years. He notes that while he found Byears to be "a pleasure to coach" and "inside is a really good person," she's "a nonconformist who knows she needs to conform, but sometimes has a tough time with that."

Despite her rough edges, Byears expected to be an early selection in the inaugural WNBA draft. Back home, she and her family gathered at a barbecue to await the call and celebrate the beginning of her pro career. "It never came," Byears says.

The disappointment of being passed over in the draft faded when the Sacramento Monarchs invited her to training camp. Byears' confidence soared when she saw the other free agents—her competition. "It was the same girls I slaughtered in college," she recalls. "I called my mama and said, 'I'm on the team,' before I even picked up a ball."

Byears not only made the team but posted solid numbers as a starter for three straight years. In her fourth season, 2000, head coach Sonny Allen shook up his roster and yanked Byears from her starting position. Miserable on the bench, Byears asked to be traded, and that November she joined the Sparks.

It was a team on the cusp. The Sparks had put together a league-best 28-4 record in 2000 under new coach Michael Cooper. But the season ended in late summer with a second straight playoff loss to the then-indomitable Houston Comets. The Sparks hoped Byears would toughen them up around the basket, pushing them past Houston and into the WNBA Finals for the first time in 2001.

Cooper, a former Laker swingman whose defensive skills helped seal five NBA titles, gave Byears simple instructions. "My job was to do the dirty work," she explains, "guard the other team's best player and create some space for Lisa. I had a lot of respect for coach Cooper because of what he had accomplished, and I wanted to win, so I said, 'Fine, let's do it.' "

But before she could get down to business, Byears was suspended. A few months prior to the start of the 2001 season, she was arrested for drunken driving and pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving. She sat out her first game. The following year, she was suspended for two games, for bouncing the game ball off the face of Michelle Marciniak of the Seattle Storm during an on-court tussle. In online forums, WNBA watchers started calling Byears a thug.

Still, as the first or second player off the bench, Byears did her job—and then some. She sank 60% of her shots from the field in her first two seasons, grabbed a team-record 10 offensive rebounds in one game and made six steals in another, tying the team record. The Sparks jelled, beating the Charlotte Sting to win the WNBA title in 2001 and again clinch the crown in 2002.

Cooper says Byears' hustle and grit factored heavily in the team's turnaround. "Latasha was a real team leader who pushed everyone in practices and in games," he says. "She was one of the most committed players on the team and a big reason we won it all. She was just huge for us, nasty and tough on the inside."

On June 5, 2003, just before the Sparks' first home game of the new season, Byears received her second WNBA championship ring—diamonds in several colors set in platinum.

Comments

[BigBlackRod]

It must KILL y'all that Kobe is two wins away from his fourth NBA title, and probably the MVP as well....PEACE.

[bser]

There are a lot of mad people posting in relation to her getting a bad deal. I'm a lesbian as well but the issue regarding Ms. Byears is not why didn't the WNBA back her up. Seems like everyone is missing the point. The problem is not that she is a lesbian the real problem is her personal choices. I don't know her personally just what has been written about her. If she has problems drinking and driving and she is being associated with raping a female, it sounds like she has some deeper problems and they are not to be blamed on the fact that she is a lesbian. She is choosing to do things that aren't acceptable because they kill or could hurt other people(ie. a car accident because she is drunk driving and emotional turmoil caused to someone who is raped) as well as against the law. If she was a straight woman or man drunk driving she should still pay the price and be happy she didn't kill anyone. If she is a straight man, he or she is going to suffer the consequences for rape. As for Kobe, he is still a piece of shit regardless of who decided what and what jury said what.He still is a rotten man who has a wife that is suffering from tunnel vision. She should have divorced him immediately. The NBA is run by men for men they are worried about MONEY,MONEY, MONEY and Kobe being convicted would mean a big loss in revenue. I will never watch the Lakers play again and everytime I see his face I feel anger and hate because he got over on his wife even if he didn't rape her he was still putting himself in a bad position because he is a married man asking a woman to his hotel room. Ya greedy mutha fucka.
I'm willing to continue this discussion with anyone who has an opinion!

[Lupe Aguilar]

Did Latasha Byears ever sue the Los Angeles Sparks? What was the out-come?

[cardte]

Tot still means the world to me. My bud for life! I know how she feels and only God will see her thru...I too was blacklisted because I stood up for my friend. I am proud to be gay and Tot where ever you are... I am hear for ya!
Cardte

[CLAUDETTE]

I TOO AM SADDENED TO KNOW HOW SHE WAS TREATED AND STILL IN OUR AMERICA WE MUST ACT AND BEHAVE THE WAY THEY WANT OR WE SUFFER, I LOVED WATCHING HER PLAY HER GAME AND BEING THE TOUGH GIRL SHE IS. I MISS WATCHING A TOUGH GIRL ON THE COURT IT MADE IT MORE EXCITING AND ENJOYABLE.
ALL THE BEST TO YOU SISTAH KEEP YOUR CHIN UP

[T]

I got one word two words to say about all this

LAAAAWWWWWW SUUUUIIIIITTTTTTT

SUUUUEE the mutha fukas

[J. JULIAN'DIAZ]

IS THIS NOT STILL "LAND OF THE FREE, HOME OF THE BRAVE" SHE SHOULD SUE, WE ALL HAVE THE RIGHT 2 LIVE OUR LIVES AS WE DESIRE 2, SHE'S LEFT HER MARK IN THE SPORTS BUT THEY DON'T HAVE THE RIGHTS 2 TOSS OUT...j

[taylorSiluwé]

Like the article said, KOBE goes by one name, he's that famous. But he's also straight. If he'd been accused of assaulting another young man ... would his team stand by him? Would his fans?

The only issue at play in this game ... is the GAY one. As usual.

[TaTa]

I just wanna give much love to Tot & say keep your head up.
I feel if Kobe Byrant was able to continue playing so should she. When are they gonna give women the same respect as they give the males. Both are contract holders in the National Basketball Association and both are good at what they do. I don't really see a differnce, except that Commissioner Mr. David Stern is being prejudice.