She wasn't "Fortunate".  She worked her butt off to succeed, something that  doesn't seem in vogue at Duck-U anymore.  

It's all 'entitlements' and 'affirmative action' instead.  

She worked two full-time jobs, did the athletic thing and had GPA's such that even the Math Department took her test results out because they affected the curve too much.

I credit Knight for providing money so that  the rest of the sports programs, including those for women,  can actually have participants and an opportunity to compete.