Circa 1930’s:
WDNAAF continues to apply pressure and, in many states, competitive basketball at elementary, high school and college level all but disappears.
Majestic Radio Team, a team in the industrial league. (photo)
Washington: Bellevue Japanese Girl's Basketball Team (photo)
1930:
Rules: Seamless, 30" ball standardized. Allows for new moves such as the bounce pass, lay up, and jump shot.
Kansas: 28 teams from a dozen states (Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Oklahoma) compete in the national AAU tournament in Wichita. The Sunoco Oilers defeat the Golden Cyclones to with the championship.
Maine: Naples Girls playing basketball. (photo)
Boston, MA: The Dennison House sports a Chinese women’s basketball team.
North Carolina: East Carolina Teachers Training School Team (now East Carolina University) (photo)
Ohio: State tournaments for girls are banned.
Texas: High Schooler Babe Didrikson joins the Dallas Golden Cyclones. She is given a clerical job and paid good money: $75 a month ($900 a year.)
1931:
A survey of 25 industrial cities shows 65 different community organizations provide women’s basketball programs.
The Dallas Golden Cyclones win the National AAU tournament.
Chicago, IL & Philadelphia,PA: During the 1930s, two women's black barnstorming teams feature two of America's best athletes. Organized by Edward "Sol" Butler, the Chicago Romas star player Isadore Channels was also a four-time winner of the American Tennis Association (ATA) Women's title. The Romas, who played against both male and female teams, went undefeated between 1939-1945. The Romas' chief rival was the Philadelphia Tribunes, also known and the Philly Tribune Girls, sponsored by the black newspaper of the same name. The team's star player Ora Mae Washington won eight ATA titles.
North Carolina: East Carolina Teachers Training School Team (now East Carolina University) (photo)
Germantown, PA: The Germantown Hornets, representing the black YWCA in Germantown, Penn., compile a record of 22-1, and claim the black national championship. Their stars include longtime sports promoter Inez Patterson and Ora Washington, the reigning black national tennis champion.
1932:
Rules: Guarding on any plane is made legal (making the game much more exciting and skillful). All field goals now count two points. Two options to start the game: a center throw-in or a jump-up.
Kentucky: The high school sports establishment cancels the girls state basketball tournament, effectively ending interscholastic competition.
North Carolina: East Carolina Teachers Training School Team (now East Carolina University) (photo)
Pennsylvania: The newly formed Philadelphia Tribune team takes a five-game championship series from the Germantown Hornets, and claims the African American national championship. That fall, Ora Washington joins the Tribunes. With Washington as their star, the Tribunes will dominate black women's basketball for more than a decade.
Washington: Tacoma Carsten's Packing Company Team (the Vagabonds) compete in Tacoma City Girl's basketball League There were six women's teams in the 1932 city league sponsored by the Metropolitan Park District including teams representing Hoskins Grill, Pacific Telephone, and Tacoma Poultry and Eggs.
1933:
Rules: Rules List
North American International Series begins pitting the champs of the US (AAU) vs. the champs of Canada. Presbyterian College Cardinals (Durant, OK) would beat the Edmonton Grads for this first title.
New York: NY State High School Athletic Association ends high school tournaments.
Iowa: Bode High School Basketball Team (photo)
1934:
Tulsa Business College Steno's (OK) win the first of 3 consecutive US AAU National Championships, only to fall to the Edmonton Grads each year for the International Champions.
The United States joins the International Amateur Basketball Federation (FIBA) which recognized the AAU as the organization responsible for selecting and overseeing the US teams.
Iowa: Bode High School Basketball Team (photo)
1935:
California: A group of Nisei (second generation Japanese) women based out of the Central Y decide to formalize their basketball teams under the name of Southern California Women’s Basketball League. Following a successful first season, the Women’s Athletic Union of the Japanese Y, the W.A.U. was formed. In the first official year of the W.A.U., 18 teams played in A and B leagues.
Ohio: Basketball is used by campaigning politicians as shown in this
photo of Councilman L. O. Payne's basketball team of African-American women. (photo)Pennsylvania: Franklin High School Girls Basketball Team (photo)
Brigham City, UT: Box Elder High School girls' basketball team (photo)
1936:
Rules: Center throw-in mandatory (no jump-ball to start game).
The All-American Red Heads are founded by C.M. Olson of Cassville, Missouri. The most successful women’s barnstorming team ever, they only played men’s teams and by men’s rules. Featured in popular magazines and on television, they continued to play up through the mid-seventies.
U.S.B.R. (United States Bureau of Reclamation) ladies basketball team.
NCCA breaks from YMCA/AAU.
California: In Oakland, 144 female basketball players participate in the Industrial Recreational Association, made up of 80 plants.
Florida: Gulf High School Girls Basketball Team (photo)
1937:
New Haven, CT: Local 151 ILGWU Girls' Basketball Team (photo)
Missouri votes to limit girls to one game a week and eliminate tournament play.
Washington: Seattle Girls Basketball (photo)
Late 1930’s:
Tuskeegee Institute hosts national black high school tournaments for both boys and girls.
1938:
Rules: Three-court game changed nationally to two-court game with six players per team at all levels. A team is three guards and three forwards. Only forwards can score but all players are part of action.
Washington: Seattle Chinese American Basketball Team (photo)
1939:
A survey shows 25% of black colleges object to women participating in intercollegiate sports, while 83% of white colleges are against women participating in varsity athletics.
Chicago,IL: City of Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium poster promoting testing for tuberculosis (photo)
Texas: Purdon Girls Basketball Team (photo)
Auburn, WA: Japanese Girls Courier League Basketball Champions. Sponsored by the Japanese-American Courier (1928-1942).
Circa 1940
Duke University intermural basketball (photo)
1940:
Canada: With onset of WWII, the Edmonton Grads take to the court for the last time as their arena is needed by the army. Team finishes with a record of 502-20.
Iowa: Hansell High School wins state championship in front of 7,000 fans at Drake University. 70% of the teams come from schools of fewer than 100.
Texas: Barry Girls Basketball team (photo)
1941:
Texas: Toole Girls basketball Team (photo)
1942:
Granada Relocation Center in Amache, CO: While the beginning of WWII signaled the end of most West Coast teams, that did not stop Japanese-American women from playing basketball. Even when shipped to internment camps, the game continued. This photo highlights a game between the Granada High School girls team and a girls team from the Granada Relocation Center newspaper.
1942-43:
Rules: Team scored against, either by field goal or free throw, gets ball at center court (previously, possession alternated after each goal, also at center court).
American Institute of Commerce "Stenos," based in Davenport, IA, win AAU national championship. Most of the players were preparing for careers as secretaries or stenographers.
1943:
Poston, AZ: Colorado River Japanese-American Relocation Center New Year's Fair. A basketball game is part of the athletic events commemorating the New Year. (photo)
California: Manzanar Japanese-American Relocation Center girls play basketball (photo)
Iowa: Wesleyan College decides to field a competitive (not intramural) team. Within two years, the Wesleyan Tigerettes were competing in regional AAU tournaments. (AAU teams included: Dr. Swett’s Root Beer based in Des Moines, Maytag Company in Newton, Northwestern Bell, Look Magazine, Armstrong Tire, Meredith Publishing.)
Duke, OK: Girls Basketball Team (photo)
Washington,DC: A girls' physical education class practices basketball at Woodrow Wilson High School (photo)
1944:
March 18: Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Heart Mountain, WY: In a game between the Heart Mountain Relocation Center and the Powell High School girls, the Heart Mountain girls emerge victorious, 32-24.
1945:
Close to 10,000 companies sponsor sports programs for their workers, looking to fill extra hours of now reduced work week. Basketball teams include: Hanes Hosiery, Cooks Goldblum (brewery in Nashville), Dr Pepper in Arkansas, and the Atlanta Blues, an independent team. They scheduled games against each other during a regular season on weekends, culminating in the AAU national tournament.
North Dakota: Monango High School State Championship girls basketball team (photo)
1946:
Iowa: 16 papers carry syndicated column by Rod H. Chisholm about Iowa girls basketball called "Queens of the Court." 9 radio stations set up broadcast booths at the state tournament.
Oklahoma: Jennings Girl's Basketball Team (photo)
1947:
Rules: Players must wear numbers both front and back.
Sports writer and broadcaster Red Barber interviews Gene Shumate, a Des Moines radio commentator, about Iowa girls basketball on Barber’s nationally syndicated radio show.
North Carolina: East Carolina Teachers Training School Team (now East Carolina University) (photo)
Duke, OK: Girls Basketball Team (photo)
Washington,DC: Trinity College basketball game (photo)
1949:
Rules: Limited two-bounce dribble with no height definition allowed, as well as a timeout for all fouls and free throws, and guarding is redefined-one or both arms, legs or body in any plane now permitted.
Hazel Walker, an All-America AAU basketball player from 1933 to '45; and AP's female athlete of the year in '40, founds the barnstorming Arkansas Travelers; she toured with them until '65.
Elizabethtown College Women’s Basketball Team (Photo)
1950:
Rules: NSWA rule book shows that the official "maximum" size of the court is 94 feet in length by 50 feet in width.
1951:
Rules: Rule change allows coaching during timeouts and halftime.
AAU national tournament is now a week long festival that showcases the best female players in the country and attracts thousands of fans. Hanes Hosiery, coached by Virgil Yow, wins first of 3 AAU titles (’51, ’52, ’53).
Hanes Hosiery wins the first of three consecutive AAU national titles featuring eight-time AAU All-American (1947-54) and 3-time tournament MVP Lurlyne Greer Rogers. Rogers, who also played for Cook's Goldblumes, was captain of the first U.S. Pan American team in 1955.
1952-53:
Missouri Arledge is the first black woman to play in a national Amateur Athletic Union tournament.
Mid 1950’s:
An African American team from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR participates in the national AAU tournament.
1953:
Rules: Overtime period established. Following one overtime, games are decided by "sudden death."
Rules: NSGWS rule book shows the "minimum" size is 72 feet by 42 feet.
US wins gold in first World Championships. Held in Santiago, Chile, the team includes many players from the AAU National Championship team, the Nashville Business College (NBC), and coached by NBC’s John Head.
The Amateur Basketball Association of America (now USA Basketball) takes over as governing body of US international competition. Teams and coaches for Pan American game, World Championships, and Olympics would come mainly from colleges.
Texas: Woodsboro High School Girls' Basketball Team (photo)
1954:
Wayland Baptist College "Flying Queens" (TX) win the AAU title, and again in ‘55. They won again in ’56 and ’57 under coach Harley Redin.
The Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union is formed under the direction of Wayne Cooley, which successfully works to establish a state-wide program for girls sports equal to that for boys. By 1974 almost 500 Iowa schools have full girls' programs, which included equal coaches salaries, better media coverage, and end of season championships for girls and boys.
Oklahoma: Sandy Point High School Girl's Basketball Team (photo)
1955:
Rules: Three seconds in the lane is a violation.
USA women's basketball team, coached by Caddo Mathews, plays in first Pan-American Games basketball competition in Mexico City and wins the gold medal.
1956:
Rules: Ball can be tied-up with two hands around ball held by opponent.
1957:
US defeats Soviet Union 51-48 to win the gold medal at the World Championships in Brazil. Rover Nera White selected best basketball player in the world.
1958:
March 20-22: Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) sponsors its first Girls' State Basketball Tournament at David Lipscomb College in Nashville. Loretto High wins the title by defeating Isaac Litton 57- 45.
Flying Queens lose in the semi-finals of the national AAU tournament (46-42, Nashville Business College), snapping a winning streak of 131 games, unmatched in women’s college or AAU play.
1959:
Rules: A missed free throw continues in play (bringing back the art of rebounding).
