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Feminists Around the World: Eun Jung Lee Ok · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Andy and Samantha. I'm welcome to step
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And today for feminists around the world, we are going
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: down a different route. We are doing the sportsball thing.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'm being facetious, y'all. I know many film people love sports.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I'm just not one of those people. So I'm making
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: fun of myself when I say this. But we're talking
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: about a Korean basketball player that I stumbled upon, Yes,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: thanks to TikTok, and it's from next Shark is the site.
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  Speaker 2: I don't follow them, but it popped up. I was like,
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  Speaker 2: look at this. I've gotten a lot of Korean soccer
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: coming at my way and I've been very happy about it,
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  Speaker 2: so I think this is why I got this as well.
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  Speaker 2: But this player is actually from South Korea but played
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  Speaker 2: in the US, and we're talking about Unjung e k
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: or e j Ok as ever. Everybody else calls her
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: and Minnie also referred to her, including the Sports Illustrated
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: at the time, as the Korean Magic Johnson. She was
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  Speaker 2: so good and Annie, just sit back because I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: tell you all about her, okay, because I found it fascinating,
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  Speaker 2: and also it's hard to translate to what I found
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  Speaker 2: on TikTok onto writing, Yeah, that's what we do, because
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's a little different the video version versus
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: us talking about it on audio version, I guess because
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  Speaker 2: you get to see all the highlights and those scripts
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  Speaker 2: that write through it. But yeah, So Next Shock did
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  Speaker 2: feature her as one of the probably best female basketball
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  Speaker 2: players ever that not many people know about, and the
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: fact that she's Korean. She was like five six at
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: the time, so I was a little bit taller than me,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: but whatever, And she came into the US in the
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighties. Again, I was really shocked. I was like, really, like,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Korean people have been infiltrating a lot of American sports
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  Speaker 2: and I love to see it, and just like European
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  Speaker 2: sports in itself, and it's been fascinating to see who
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: those who have actually been able to cross over into
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  Speaker 2: Western fame. But she is one of those, and especially
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: as a woman in basketball, I was like, what, so of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: course I had to go down this route. So she's
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: originally from gimj, South Korea, and EJLK started playing basketball
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  Speaker 2: around the age of ten in the fifth grade, and
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  Speaker 2: her mother would actually sneak her to practices after realizing
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: how good she was, and was telling her father, who
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: didn't approve of women in sports, very old school, that
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: she was going to piano lessons and she was so good.
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  Speaker 2: She and her high school team when she was a senior,
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  Speaker 2: was featured on national television, where her father watched her
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  Speaker 2: for the first time and actually admit it of like, yeah, okay,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: you're good. And I could see this like just the
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  Speaker 2: Korean like mm okay, I get it, like that's that level,
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  Speaker 2: and knowing that she's actually really good at something like this,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and again she was so good that she and her
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: team were flown to the US to do exhibition games
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: in both LA and Jacksonville, Florida. Which why does Jacksonville
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  Speaker 2: get these random things like this? I'm like, that's such
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: an odd place to be. I don't even does Florida
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  Speaker 2: have a I'm saying this, does Florida have a basketball team?
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  Speaker 2: Like an actual like a like of course, the colleges
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: have different teams, so I'm not like making fun of that,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: but like, you know, Atlanta Hawks, we have that, like
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the national teams they go different places. They don't even
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: have so I'm really kind of like, wait, what to
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: be fair, she was in high schools, but that level
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: of like, huh, that's an interesting place to have that, Okay,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: But she went to Jacksonville, Florida. I wonder what she
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: thought of that in the nineteen eighties. Anyway, and because
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: of her reputation, she was soon picked up by Northeast
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  Speaker 2: Louisiana University, where she garnered even more attention for her
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  Speaker 2: skills and abilities. It was also noted in the next
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Shark video that she had a very specific move which
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: was like the shot fake behind the back pass, and
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  Speaker 2: they even mentioned saying that many other people felt that
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Michael Jordan and Larry Bird was influenced by that because
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: they used that shot as well. That was part of
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  Speaker 2: their signature as well. So I'm like, interesting, this little
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  Speaker 2: Korean lady influenced Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. Who I
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: knew they were my time timeframe. Of course, everybody knows
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  Speaker 2: who Michael Jordan is, but you know what I mean,
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  Speaker 2: and Larry Bird. But anyway, but her playing was incredible
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  Speaker 2: and so well known throughout the States. And here's some
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  Speaker 2: quotes from a twenty fourteen article from charactermedia dot com.
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  Speaker 2: Ej is the best female point guard i've ever seen,
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  Speaker 2: said Brown, who coached Sikill O'Neil at LSU in the
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  Speaker 2: early nineties. I don't mean to embellish this, but she's
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  Speaker 2: a female Pete Maravich. They had eyes all around their head.
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  Speaker 2: Great players perceive things that aren't there. They diagram plays
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  Speaker 2: and know it in their heads and make that pass
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  Speaker 2: Tuesday this later. She was a phenom. I tell you
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  Speaker 2: she had it all and I was kind of one
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  Speaker 2: of the many players you talked about it, and then
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  Speaker 2: it talks about specific games that she played, it says.
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  Speaker 2: With Three hours ago before tip off, the line outside
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  Speaker 2: Ewing Coliseum on the campus of Northeast Louisiana University circles
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  Speaker 2: around the arena. An anti crowd of seven thousand equally
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  Speaker 2: waited to enter for the biggest and most anticipated game
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  Speaker 2: of March Madness basketball in the school's history. The Lady
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  Speaker 2: Indians were about to take on their longtime rivals Louisiana
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  Speaker 2: Tech in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship game for a
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  Speaker 2: berth in the nation's Final four. As the game got underway,
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  Speaker 2: fervent chance of EJ EJ from the crowd reverberated inside
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  Speaker 2: the arena at ear drum splitting levels as fans showed
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  Speaker 2: their appreciation for the NLU's star player. EJ short for
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  Speaker 2: Eun Johani, the junior point guard who only came to
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  Speaker 2: the US from Gimbee, South Korea, three years later, had
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  Speaker 2: earned a specials place in the heart of these fans.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Every day on campus. EJ was the talk described Gene point,
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  Speaker 2: the radio play by play man for NLU's basketball game
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  Speaker 2: in the nineteen eighties, The fans couldn't get enough of her,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: so like the team was loved and apparently before the year,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: her freshman year that came on, they were their game
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  Speaker 2: stats were twelve, twelve and twelve, so not doing well.
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  Speaker 2: And this is the first time they were so good
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  Speaker 2: that they could make it to the final four. I
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: believe a lot of controversy happened where she wasn't They
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: weren't able to make it, something about recruiting, illegal recruiting.
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  Speaker 2: But she was so good that everyone had like banners
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  Speaker 2: for her, loved her. There was newspaper articles. They knew
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: in Louisiana who she was, and she actually talked about it.
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  Speaker 2: In the same interview, she says it was unbelievable says
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  Speaker 2: the star lu point guard now fifty one, So this
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  Speaker 2: was twenty fourteen and now ej Oak her married name,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: recalling that momentous game twenty nine years ago. Everybody was
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: pulling for me. Our fans really loved the way I
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: played basketball. I was always ready to play Louisiana Tech
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: so that I can make our fans happy when we
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: beat them. It meant so much for them. And apparently
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: after her game, the coach Louisiana Tech coach like was like,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be so happy when you graduate, Like
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  Speaker 2: I actually said that to her face, like I'm going
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: to be so excited when you graduate, you know, understandably
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: so so she was making huge plays, making huge deals.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: You can now watch YouTube clips of her playing, and
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I watched a little bit. I was like, oh my god,
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  Speaker 2: she was so good. She does so well. Say this
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  Speaker 2: is the person who can't get off the ground, like
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: when I see Korean representation, Okay, good on you. And
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: as in fact, there was another article on twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: two from Basketballnetwork dot net who says the same thing
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  Speaker 2: that I did, and like, why didn't we know about
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: this person? They said Unjong e k was truly ahead
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  Speaker 2: of her time, there was still no professional league for women.
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  Speaker 2: After she graduated from the US, she had to go
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  Speaker 2: to Sweden and Italy to explore opportunities, and she won
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  Speaker 2: MVPs in her stint there. Just the impact she could
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: have had if she had played the era of social media,
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  Speaker 2: Oak's story was a perfect recipe for a Netflix docuseries,
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, that was kind of the consensus, like if
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  Speaker 2: social media was around at that time, she would have
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  Speaker 2: been on fire and she would have been so well known,
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  Speaker 2: and she got so many awards even without social media
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  Speaker 2: or any of that fame. She was the fourth time
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  Speaker 2: SLC Player of the Year and she was also the
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  Speaker 2: three time All American, which apparently no other player today
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  Speaker 2: to this day has ever gotten bad. So even men
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  Speaker 2: have not gotten that. So her accolades are pretty big.
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  Speaker 2: Those are just two of them. There's so many more
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  Speaker 2: she'd gotten. She was a coach for thirty years and
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  Speaker 2: apparently she's currently a head coach in the Solarrall State
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  Speaker 2: University for the women's basketball team even today, so she's
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: still there. She's still doing her thing and apparently using
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  Speaker 2: her gift and knowledge in this game that I know
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  Speaker 2: very little, very little about but I know when I'm
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  Speaker 2: supposed to be impressed.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Annie, and impressed you are.
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  Speaker 2: I am so good on you, ej Elk and thank
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  Speaker 2: you for your contribution.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, that's such a great story. I hadn't heard of her.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Very very cool.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: As always, listeners, If you have any more information any
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: other things in this realm that we should talk about
• 9:20
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• 9:23
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• 9:26
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• 9:36
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• 9:39
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• 9:41
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