I waited a long time to write my story. And I learned early in the process how helpful it would have been if I had kept a journal for the last 70 years! If I only knew during my life that someday I would want to put it all down in words.

I've spent the last year and a half writing FIERCE: My Fight for Nothing Less, which Ascend Books will release on Aug. 6. I was a private person most of my life. But I open up over 304 pages, and I share moments and memories I've talked about with few others.

In my autobiography, I write about my own athletic career – the juggling I did to play basketball at a high level in college, raise a child and work several full-time night jobs. I talk about being part of the first national collegiate championship at West Chester State College. I talk about throwing the discus in Madison Square Garden. I share the disappointment about what was supposed to happen at the 1972 Olympics but didn't.

I made history at Kansas as its first and only director of women's intercollegiate athletics. I'd like today's women to understand the meaning of the word "intercollegiate" when it comes to women and sports. It didn't exist before Title IX. That meant hiring coaches when stipends were minimal. Finding space in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse to store equipment, to build offices, a weight room and add a locker room. I was often on my own – a young African American woman in a leadership position in an all-male athletic department in the Midwest in 1974.

My book is a history lesson from someone who was there. I lived it and breathed and fought for equality and excellence. I supported men's athletics while believing there was room for women to succeed as well. It wasn't a matter of one vs. the other…at least not for me. My vision for the program never changed…there was room for both to thrive.

The now is such an exciting time for all women's sports. I look forward to all there is to come while reflecting on all we as pioneers did to get here.

I welcome your comments and will read and respond to them as quickly as I can. Please feel free to share your thoughts on my book and anything else.