STOCKTON LEADS G-LEAGUE IN WOMEN WORKING
STOCKTON — Jillian Stoker grew up a sports fan but didn’t always see how women had a clear path to a career in the athletic industry.
But she found a way to combine her passion and her career sports as the Stockton Kings’ director of ticket sales, and she’s far from the only one.
Wednesday was National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and there have been advances in gender equity in athletics locally and nationally. The Stockton Kings have the highest percentage of female employees in their front office in the entire NBA G League, and the trend runs through many sports.
Katie Sowers of the San Francisco 49ers became the first female to coach in the Super Bowl. The San Francisco Giants hired Alyssa Nakken as the first woman coach in Major League Baseball. And there are more female coaches, officials and front office personnel.
“It’s so important that women and girls have the opportunity to participate and work in the sports that they love,” Stoker said.
According to Dustin Toms, the Kings’ vice president of business operations, nine of the 13 full-time employees in the franchise’s front office are women, about 71 percent. The Kings came to Stockton from Reno before the 2018-19 season.
“When we were hiring, it just sort of fell into place that we hired a lot of females,” Toms said. “Of course, we had more male candidates than we had female candidates, but it wasn’t a matter of us sitting down and saying ‘how many males are here, and how many females are here.’ The best candidate for those positions happened to be female.”
Stoker, who grew the Southern California town of Lakewood, always loved sports but didn’t think much about working in the business until after college. She was the only woman among 11 employees with the Reno Aces baseball team before coming to Stockton.
“I didn’t see a path when I was young. Love sports as a fan, but just never really thought about getting into it on the business side or that it was even an option,” she said. “Optically, there weren’t a lot of women in the sports industry; however I never really did my research about how to get in until I was about 23. And I was like ‘Hey, you can make a career out of this.’ “
Stockton native Sabrena Hernandez is the Kings’ public relations and community impact manager, and she grew up around sports, especially basketball. Her father, Eddie Hernandez, has coached locally for many years and is currently a member of the San Joaquin Delta College men’s basketball staff.
“Coming from a sports family, I always thought I could do it, because I was always that one girl,” said Hernandez, 25. “I was the one girl watching practice with my dad’s team or being the water girl. It sort of prepared me for this, and I was always told that if you work hard, you can do anything.”
The Stockton Kings also have women in key positions outside of the front office. Katie Babcock is their head trainer and Morgan Ragan is the color commentator, calling games alongside play-by-play announcer Deuce Mason.
Ragan, 31, played basketball at Sierra College in Rocklin and is one of less than a halfdozen female television announcers in the G League.
“Times are getting better, but this is still a male-dominated industry,” Ragan said. “I think the women who came before me to pave the way, and I am fortunate that the Kings organization is so progressive.”
Ragan said her hope is that more women get a chance to work in sports and youngsters get an opportunity to see those experiences.
“I think it’s so important for little boys and girls to see women playing and to hear a woman’s voice announcing those games,” Ragan said. “It becomes the norm.”