Basketball

By: Dawn Herd-Clark

Source:

 Black Women in America, Second Edition

Basketball

Basketball was invented in 1891 by a Canadian-American physical education instructor named James Naismith at a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts, in response to a call to develop a sport that young men could participate in during the cold New England winter months. Originally called “basket ball,” the game evolved into one of the most popular sports in the world for both men and women. In the early twenty-first century, there were professional leagues for both male and female basketball players throughout the world. For more than a century, the only thing that stood between black women and success in basketball was opportunity. When that opportunity came in 1996, with the formation of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), they proved ready for the challenge.

Early Participation

African American participation in basketball began soon after its inception in 1891. Edwin Henderson helped introduce the sport to Washington, DC, African American youth in 1904. He had been exposed to the game during his summer physical education classes at Harvard University, and under his guidance the game quickly spread throughout the black community. Due to Jim Crow laws in both the North and South, African Americans had to play in separate leagues and at separate facilities from whites. Many of those facilities were poorly lit and too small for spectators; however, because the game could be played on almost any surface and required little equipment, it was an affordable form of recreation for African Americans, particularly those in cities.

As the sport grew in popularity, African American women began to participate in it as well. They began their foray into basketball during the World War I era. The wartime economy allowed black women to take on jobs other than domestic work, and many of those employment opportunities were in the North. There, basketball courts were being constructed in parks and playgrounds, thus exposing black women to the game. This great migration of black people to the North, combined with the increasing independence of many women during the first part of the twentieth century, encouraged African American women to define and express themselves in a more public fashion; playing basketball was one way of doing so.

As women began to play basketball, some played with five players on a full court following what were also known as “boy's rules,” but most played using new rules created to “protect” them. Although these women's rules varied throughout the first half of the twentieth century, there were some constants. For example, the basketball courts the women played on were usually divided into sections—normally two or three—and the women were required to stay in their assigned sections. Other rules women often had to abide by included the prohibition against stealing the basketball, and limitations placed on the number of times a player could dribble the ball and the amount of time a player could hold it. This was done to prevent the women from “straining” themselves during practices and physical competitions.

African American Club Teams

Although gender bias initially hindered African American female participation in the sport, by the mid-1920s, many secondary schools and institutions of higher learning had either incorporated basketball into the curriculum or allowed the sport as an extracurricular activity. In the 1930s, two premier African American women's basketball teams had emerged, the Chicago Romas and the Philadelphia Tribunes. These black female teams played other African American club teams, as well as Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) teams, in their respective communities; the Romas even played white industrial-sponsored teams.

The Chicago Romas, organized by Edward Butler, were led by Isadore Channels; other players who regularly started for the Romas included Corrine Robinson, Mignon Burns, Lillian Ross, Virginia Willis, and Lola Porter. The Romas were noted for their toughness. Their chief adversaries were the Philadelphia Tribunes, who, like many other African American basketball teams during the 1930s, were sponsored by a local business—in this case, the Philadelphia Tribune newspaper. The Philadelphia Tribunes, founded in 1931, were led by Ora Washington; her teammates included Gladys Walker, Virginia Woods, Lavinia Moore, Myrtle Wilson, Rose Wilson, Marie Leach, Florence Campbell, and Sarah Latimere. Throughout the 1930s, the Philadelphia Tribunes were named national champions by most African American newspapers; there was no official competition to crown a champion on the court, and thus the papers selected a champion.

New Opportunities

As athletics became more popular in the African American community, their significance was reflected in the physical education courses and extracurricular activities of black youth at all educational levels. Although basketball was popular among African American women from the 1920s through the 1940s, many female physical education teachers became concerned that the sport caused women to become too competitive; they preferred that women play basketball as a recreational sport. Others concerns about women basketball players include the potential sexual exploitation of the athletes, as well as the commercialism of the sport. In response to these concerns, some educational institutions created “play days,” at which several schools or teams would gather to compete. Instead of playing to represent a particular school or team, however, the women played on intersquad teams for fun. For those athletes who participated, the emphasis was on demonstrating the physical fitness of all women, not on the athletic competitiveness of a few. Despite the shift toward play days, there were still many competitive African American basketball teams.

As more African Americans became exposed to basketball and America gradually began to lift Jim Crow laws, participation in the sport provided new and exciting opportunities. Although the possibilities for African American women were not as plentiful as they were for African American men (some black men could play basketball in high school, earn college scholarships, and, for those privileged few, play at the professional level), black women could play, coach, or referee basketball, and it became a means of traveling throughout the United States and an additional nontraditional source of income. Black women also enjoyed the publicity that came with excelling in basketball, as well as the feeling of increased self-confidence.

Title IX Brings Change

Although African American female participation in basketball declined from the late 1940s through the 1960s because of an emphasis on noncompetitive female athletics, federal legislation in 1972 brought much needed equity to women's athletics through Title IX of the Education Amendments. When Title IX was implemented, it came on the heels of the modern civil rights movement, as well as the women's rights movement. The legislation—which banned sexual discrimination in schools—reopened the door for female basketball players. In the athletic arena, Title IX meant that schools had to provide equality between men's and women's teams; thus, women's basketball programs were implemented at all educational levels and African American female basketball stars reemerged and helped take the game to new heights.

Lynette Woodard

. One of the many black women to benefit from Title IX was Lynette Woodard. Woodard began to play basketball at an early age with her brother in Wichita, Kansas; despite her gender, she was frequently named team captain by her male and female peers because of her mastery of the sport. By the time she reached Wichita North High School, the five-foot, eleven-inch teen was a rising star in women's basketball. In 1975, as a sophomore, she led North to the state 5A championship. Two years later, as a senior, she received national recognition when named to the all-American high school team. After high school, Woodard received a scholarship to the University of Kansas, where she set many school and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) records. Woodard's career advanced further when she was named to the 1980 United States Olympic women's basketball team. Although the United States and sixty-one other countries boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, Woodard was also named to the Olympic team in 1984, leading that team to the gold medal. Beyond those noteworthy achievements, Woodard's most significant role in women's basketball history came in 1986 when she became the first female to sign a contract with the Harlem Globetrotters. Woodard, the only woman on the squad, toured with the Globetrotters for two years. After that experience, Woodard played basketball overseas for several seasons and then in the WNBA for two years before retiring as a player and returning to her college alma mater in May 1999 as the assistant women's basketball coach, where she remained until 2004. When passed over for the top coaching spot at Kansas after her mentor Marian Washington retired, Woodard left the KU program.

Cheryl Miller

. The 1980s saw one woman reign supreme in the world of women's basketball—Cheryl Miller. Born in Riverside, California, Miller was a four-time all-American at Riverside Polytechnic High School, making her the first person, male or female, ever to have that distinction. In high school, Miller averaged 32.8 points and 15 rebounds per game. During a 1982 game against Norte Vista High School, Miller scored a phenomenal 105 points. That same year, Miller enrolled at the University of Southern California, where she became a four-time collegiate all-American. Among her many accolades, in 1985 she was named the best basketball player in the country—male or female—by Sports Illustrated; she was the Naismith Female Player of the Year in 1984, 1985, and 1986; and she received the Broderick Cup in 1985 and 1986, which recognizes the best women's basketball player in the nation. In addition to these honors, Miller set several USC school records and led the team to the NCAA championship in 1983 and 1984. Like Woodard, Miller played on the 1984 gold medal-winning Olympic team.

Hoopsters  Never let it be said that women, African American women included, lagged too far behind men on the hardwood. This Denver, Colorado, West High School squad was captured on film sometime during the 1920s.

Library of Congress

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Miller's contributions to basketball go beyond her on-court achievements. From 1986 to 1991, Miller worked as a television sports commentator and as an assistant basketball coach with USC's women's team. In 1993, she took over as head coach at USC; she stayed only two years despite winning regularly both years, quitting to return to her broadcasting career. In 1995, Miller was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. With the formation of the WNBA in 1997, Miller became the head coach and general manager of the Phoenix Mercury until she resigned in 2000, citing mental and physical fatigue. In 2004, Miller was working as an announcer for Turner Sports; in the early twenty-first century, sportscasting was one of the many emerging career opportunities for females interested in athletics.

Birth of the WNBA

From the 1970s until the early 1990s, women who had run out of NCAA eligibility had few opportunities to play their sport professionally. Those women who wanted to play professional basketball did so in foreign leagues, including those in Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Japan. In 1996, after years of successful collegiate and Olympic female basketball teams, an American professional women's basketball league was formed called the American Basketball League (ABL). The Columbus Quest won the first ABL championship, but the eight-team league was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1998.

While the ABL failed, a new, more stable women's professional league emerged at nearly the same time—the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The WNBA was organized on 24 April 1996 when the National Basketball Association (NBA) Board of Governors agreed to help form a women's professional basketball league. Backed by firm support from broadcast partners NBC and ESPN (as well as the Lifetime channel, the women's network that was added to increase female viewership), the league formally began play on 21 June 1997 when the New York Liberty defeated the Los Angles Sparks 67–57 at the Great Western Forum in Englewood, California.

During the league's inaugural season, more than fifty million viewers watched WNBA games. In 2004, the league comprised sixteen teams that saw their games broadcast in more than 167 countries, including South Africa, Serbia, and Montenegro. The eleven-member squads played forty-minute games divided into two, twenty-minute halves. The league was noted not only for its talented athletes but also for its community outreach programs, including Read to Achieve, which encouraged reading; the Jr. WNBA, which supported recreational youth basketball; and the Sears WNBA Breast Health Awareness program, which helped draw national attention to and promoted early detection of breast cancer.

The WNBA gave talented African American female basketball players a stable, professional home. In fact, the development of a successful, professional women's basketball league led to a new group of role models and superstars, including Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Chamique Holdsclaw.

Sheryl Swoopes

. Born in Brownsfield, Texas, in 1971, Sheryl Swoopes won the Texas High School Player of the Year award in 1988. At Texas Tech University Swoopes averaged 25.1 points per game and led the Lady Raiders to the 1993 national championship. For her performance, Swoopes won the Naismith Award as the nation's outstanding female basketball player that year. A member of the U.S. gold medal-winning Olympic teams in 1996 and 2000, Swoopes was the first player to sign with the WNBA in 1996. As a member of the Houston Comets, Swoopes led her team to four consecutive WNBA titles from 1997 through 2000. Perhaps most remarkable about her success is that she gave birth to her son, Jordan Eric Jackson, on 25 June 1997, just as she was helping to found the league. Swoopes was also the first woman to have a Nike basketball shoe named after her, the Air Swoopes. Having Nike, the largest sports and fitness company in the world, name its premier women's basketball shoe after an African American athlete was a remarkable accomplishment and clear evidence that the sport of women's basketball had grown tremendously and that the marketability of black female athletes equaled that of their male counterparts.

Lisa Leslie

. Another noted African American female basketball player, Lisa Leslie began her basketball career at Morningside High School in Los Angeles, California, where she led her team to two state high school championships. She made history during her senior year when she scored 101 points in just the first half of a game against South Torrance High School. After high school, Leslie attended USC (Cheryl Miller's alma mater), where she set Pacific-10 conference records for points scored and rebounds per game; in 1994, she was named the national player of the year. Like Swoopes, Leslie also helped the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team win gold medals in 1996 and 2000. In 2001, Leslie made WNBA history by becoming the first player to win the regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, the All-Star Game MVP, and the playoff MVP during the same season; her team, the Los Angeles Sparks, won its first WNBA title. In 2002, Leslie helped the Sparks win a second consecutive WNBA championship, and on 30 July 2002, she gained notoriety by becoming the first woman to do a one-handed slam dunk during a professional basketball game. Off the court, Leslie spent time modeling for Wilhelmina Models, appeared in Vogue magazine, and modeled clothes from fashion designers such as Giorgio Armani and Tommy Hilfiger.

Chamique Holdsclaw

. Another outstanding WNBA player was Chamique Holdsclaw. Born and raised in New York City, Holdsclaw was recruited to play basketball for one of the nation's top girls' programs, Christ the King High School; Holdsclaw led the team to four consecutive high school state championships. She then led the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers to three national championships, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, male or female. She was also the first female player to be named ESPN's Player of the Week. During her senior year, Holdsclaw became the first female collegiate athlete to win the Sullivan Award, which is given to the best amateur athlete in the United States. Drafted by the Washington Mystics in the 1999 WNBA draft, Holdsclaw was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year. She also played on the 2000 U.S. women's Olympic team, which won the gold medal. Holdsclaw added “author” to her growing list of achievements during the 2001 WNBA off-season when she wrote Chamique: On Family, Focus, and Basketball.

Barriers Remain

Since James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, the sport has evolved into one of the most popular in the world. From the early days of the Chicago Romas to the style and grace of modern superstar Chamique Holdsclaw, African American women have brought their own unique flair to the game. In the early twenty-first century, black females were involved in all aspects of the sport, from playing and coaching to team management, and from refereeing to serving as athletic trainer. The remaining barrier for black women as of 2004 was ownership of a professional basketball franchise.

See also Miller, Cheryl; Olympic Games and Amateur Sports, Participation in; and Sports

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