...in 1903

Almost a century ago, in 1903, Pasadena High was a southern California powerhouse in girls' basketball, beating teams by all sorts of lopsided margins. In 1903, it won the Girls' Basketball League of Southern California championship.

Girls played basketball way back then?? Yup. In fact, girls' and women's basketball was so hot in the early 1900s in this part of the country that the teams were covered by the major newspapers, but there in no mention of boys' or men's teams. However, not all onlookers liked what they saw on the court. Many thought the game was too rough for women and it should be stopped.

Of course, those who played it knew otherwise. The Pasadena team was lead by forward May Sutton, an amazing athlete in many respects. She was a starter on the team at age 12 (her older sisters also played for Pasadena), but was actually more well-known for her tennis game. At age 17, she became the first American to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon (in 1905).

And so what happened to the popularity of girls' basketball? Why do the boys' and men's teams now get so much more publicity than the women's game?

It has to do with those onlookers who worried about the roughness of the game--thanks in part to Lou Henry Hoover, U.S. President Herbert Hoover's wife (who was head of the Girl Scouts of America in 1923), sports for girls began to be curtailed and downplayed as the first half of the century wore on. In 1923, Hoover helped form a group called the Women's Division of the National Amateur Athletic Foundation, which professed the belief that competitive athletics was bad for girls. Its voice was very strong and, in 1925, it convinced the National Association of Secondary School Principals to put an end to: all extramural competition for girls, publicity about girls' teams, and the collection of any gate receipts.

As depressing as that story is, the good news is that much of this history has been recently penned and published in a book called A History of Basketball for Girls and Women, by Joanne Lannin. To order the book, contact Lerner Publications Company at www.lernerbooks.com.

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