Although Nancy Dito, 66, will is a member of the Sonoma Bocce Club competing in next month’s Sonoma Wine Country Games, she’s a relative newcomer to the sport of bocce. But she brings to the game a wealth of athletic skills in other sports forged in competition at some pretty high levels.
Nancy’s athletic abilities emerged early. A standout in all varsity sports at Mercy High School in San Francisco, she earned her block letter in her freshman year. Her achievements apparently still impress: on May 9, she is being inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. “We all have our own gifts, but to get a ‘nod’ for yours, is precious,” she says.
In college, she continued to play a wide range of sports, including basketball, tennis, softball, racquetball and bowling.
Basketball became her focus, and her skill at it helped her make a bit of history, along with approximately 50 other women who played on four teams at the core of a women’s basketball league Franklin Mieuli, owner of the Golden State Warriors, attempted to form in the early 1970s.
The women’s teams, which lasted only a short time, played before and during halftime at Warriors games. Dito was the third highest scorer in the league. It would be another 20+ years before the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was formed.
“I guess people weren’t ready for a women’s league, yet,” she concludes.
Dito also tried out for and earned a spot on the American team formed to play women’s basketball at the 1972 Olympics. She was again part of a movement that perhaps wasn’t quite ready for fruition, but certainly was on the cusp: women’s basketball had been considered for inclusion in the 1972 Olympics, but didn’t make it into the line-up until 1976.
While Dito didn’t become a professional athlete, she did make a joyful career out of teaching, coaching, and coordinating athletic and recreational activities. Dito started teaching physical education at 19 at Catholic schools in San Francisco, continued teaching and coaching in her 20s and 30s, then enjoyed a 27-year career with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.
Dito retired at 55 and now lives part-time in San Francisco and part-time in Sonoma with her partner of 36 years, Janice Farrell. Dito started playing bocce about two years ago with the Sonoma Bocce Club and now runs one of their 13 weekly leagues and the club’s yearly tournament. She even donated the funds for a new bocce court, “out of my love for the game and the friends I have made playing it.”
Nancy Dito will compete on a bocce team comprised of six players from the Sonoma Bocce Club at the Sonoma Wine Country Games, June 4 – 14, sponsored by the Council on Aging. The Games offer competition in 20 different sports. Registration for most of the events ends in the third week of May. For more information, go to www.winecountrygame.com.
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