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The History of Women's Basketball
Regarding John Molina's work..the history of womens basketball
"It is one of the finest collections on women's basketball," said Michael Brooslin, (former)museum curator at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (Hartford Courant May 20, 2002).
NOMINATED FOR EMMY
Positively Connecticut™, Fall 2002 has been nominated for outstanding informational program by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/ Boston/New England Chapter. The Fall episode of Positively Connecticut included segments on the world’s largest private collection of women’s basketball memorabilia
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Copyright 2005 John A. Molina. All rights reserved.
Warning!
All of the contents of this website, inclusive of photographs, text, logo and illustrations are the sole exclusive property of John A. Molina and are protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States Code. Any copying, reproduction, dissemination or distribution of the contents herein by any means, in whole or in part, are strictly forbidden without the written authorization of John A. Molina.
The owner of the contents herein will pursue all legal remedies available for those not obtaining proper authorization.
In the event that a copy of any of the contents of this website is desired, or you wish to obtain a copy of any of the photographs depicted herein, permission may be obtained by clicking on the link below.
If you are student or teacher and would like to use this information for educational purposes, I encourage this and please email me.
Contact the Author, John Molina
**Now booking exhibitions in the New England area, please contact for more information **
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Historian appears on New England morning show(click here)
Good day. My name is John Molina. I am an avid fan of the history of women's basketball and am very dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the history of womens basketball since it started in 1892. I want to thank all of you that are helping this exhibition grow and eventually become a museum. Your personal gifts of uniforms, pictures, posters from and much more from your own playing days or your mother, grandmother and others, has helped greatly and will be preserved for many to view and learn from. Some that have donated to help preserve the history of womens basketball:
The WNBAUniversity of ConnecticutUniversity of TennesseeMolly (Bolin) Kazmer - WBL all star and MVP Orwell Moore - Owner of All American Red Heads Central Connecticut State University Smith College University of Arkansas Women's Basketball Hall of FameThe United States Golf AssociationJolene Ammons - All American Red Head Barb Hostert - All American Red Head Spanky Losier - All American Red Head Jessie Banks - All American Red Head Martha Carswell - WBPA Pink Panthers Family of Peggy Lawson Surface Linda Yearby - Owner/player Arkansas Lassies, Shooting Stars Cyndi (Merserve) Bona - First woman to play in NCAA Liz McGovern - Manhattanville College, Fordham Univ 1979 The Granny Basketball League 6 on 6 in Iowa Women Impacting the Next Era Stephen Fox - Springfield Spirit National Women's Basketball League Anne Rydlewicz Above is John Molina and Rutgers Coach, C. Vivian Stringer. FINAL 4 in BOSTON 2006 An exhibit of this work was on display at the 2006 Final 4 in Boston (sponsored by the CT Women's Basketball Hall of Fame). Top College Coaches, Olympic coaches and professional players stopped and viewed this work. Here is what some of them had to say: "Thanks for everything that you have done for the game" C. Vivian Stringer - Head Coach: Rutgers "Thanks for all you are doing for the Women's Game" Linda K Sharp - Head Coach at Concordia (former 2 time National Champion Coach at USC 1983, 1984) "Dear John, Your dedication to our effort is terrific and I just would like to say thank you. Continue to do good work for "us girls" Teresa Grentz - 1992 USA Olympic Coach "What a great collection of memorabilia and history....awesome!" Lindsay Whalen - WNBA All-Star, Connecticut Sun The All American Red Heads have been nominated to the
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for consideration for induction as a "Team".
No Women's basketball team is inducted as a "team" in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Please Contact the Author, John Molina for further details.
A bit on the history (there are 3 pages on this specific web site).
Basket ball (as it was commonly known) had just been invented by Dr. James Naismith for his students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield Mass in the winter of 1891.
A few miles up the Connecticut River was the home of Smith College for girls in Northampton. In 1892, the physical education teacher, Senda Berenson used it in her classes. The purpose of the game was for physical fitness for her ladies.
Senda would change some of Naismith's rules to strive teamwork and cooperation, rather then competition.
She would break the court into 3 zones and 9 players would exist on each team. Each zone would have 3 players in it.
No player could leave her zone. The player could only hold the ball 3 seconds and dribble the ball 3 times before passing. This reduced the ability for single players to become stars and required the effort of all.
No snatching of the ball was allowed as well.
On March 21st 1893, the first collegiate game was played at Smith. The freshman class played the sophomore class. The doors to the gym were locked and no men were allowed in to watch, as it was not considered socially acceptable.
In this first game, each basket was worth 1 point. The class of 1896 would go on to defeat the class of 95 5-4, and the history was born.
Women's Basket ball would spread very quickly across the country.
By 1896 it was established at several colleges and in April of 1896, the first intercollegiate game was played.
This was between Stanford and Berkley. This was a game of 9 versus 9.
The male gender would again be boycotted from the event. Women were assigned to the windows and doors to ensure none of these men would interrupt the game.
In this game, no player was allowed to run more then 5 feet before passing it on. .
Stanford won the first ever inter-collegiate game 2-1 over Berkeley.
Much like the Women's Basketball Museum, the Women's Poker Hall of Fame
celebrates the greats in the game of poker and those that has helped to
contribute to the ever growing number of women that Play Poker
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Shown above is a photo from the 1897 sophmore class at Smith College (copyright Smith College).
While many of the games were played inside, during the first 20 years, girls also would play on an outside grass court during the summer. In some areas, the women wouldn't even get the opportunity to play inside.
During the initial era of women's basketball, the style of hoop changed quite a bit. Some had closed buttoms on the net, with a string attached to them. When a basket was scored, the string would be pulled, popping the ball out of the hoop.
The basket itself was sewn shut and when a goal was scored, the umpire would have to pull a string or a chaing that would pop the ball out of the bottom of the net.
During this time, the rules varied. The first set came out in 1901 by Spalding was edited by Senda Berenson. There was great concern with women playing basket-ball, as it was general consenus that women were more 'selfish' and not as team orientated in team games as men were.
(copyright credit:unknown)
October 2005 - Article on The All American Red Heads done for the Women's Sports Foundation.
Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a charitable educational organization dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.
 Above, several inductees to the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of fame view a portion of the history of women's basketball at the dedication of the permanant home of the CT Women's basketball hof.
Some members of the CT Women's Basketball Hall of Fame" CT women's basketball hall of fame
seated left to right
Jean Hunt, Becky Strominger, Joan Sullivan, Joan Joyce
second row
Marge Dolan,unknown, Celeste Beattie, Joann Galati, Laura Degennaro-Raftery, Pat Mascia, Debbie Chin
third row
Tish Sacca-Fabbri, Ann Lander, Liz mcGovern, Donna Fiedorowicz, Lou Albrecht, Erika Beerbaum, April Hunt-Palm
CT Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Dinner 2005. Inductee Carol Stiff (ESPN Women's Basketball Director), Beth Bass (WBCA CEO), John Molina, Inductee Diane Nolan (Coach Fairfield University)
The above picture is how it all started for this author. The tall woman in the back is Bernice (Gondek) Molina. She played for the J.B. Williams Soap Factory team in Glastonbury CT in the 1930s. She was my grandmother. All of the work on the history is done in dedication to her and to my family for their support and love.
This web site is dedicated in honor of Jolene Ammons of Homerville Ga.
There have been many great players over the last 110+ Years.
Jolene is a great woman that was involved with basketball at every level and excelled in them all.
Jolene was an All American Red Head for 12 years. During this time she would score over 25,000 points, playing 200+ games a season. Yet if you talk to her, it is not the points that she scored that means most to her. It was her assists. She was a terrific ball handler and can still put a great spin on a ball and go under her arm and back up with it.
Years before players like Diana Taurasi and Lindsay Whalen were born, Jolene was throwing a behind the back pass from the top of the key to a player driving the lane that would make a sold out arena stand and applaud to this day. A true team player.
Jolene later went on to be player/coach of the Red Heads for 2 seasons. This meant not only playing, but driving the team each day (over 200 games in 6 months), booking hotels, doing radio and television interviews. She also ran practices, handled financial portion of game with sponsors and then called owner at night with results.
Upon leaving the Red Heads, she would become a player/coach of the Indianapolis Pink Panthers. This was in the Women’s Professional Basketball League in 1974. The league only managed to have 1 exhibition game before disbanding. Jolene wanted to help the women on the team be able to experience part of their dream and play some professional basketball. They went on the road and played exhibition games. Jolene passed up her salary and gave it to her teammates, so that they could play professional basketball for a while.
After the Panthers she became part owner of another traveling team, the Arkansas Lassies. At this point, traveling teams were quickly on the downslide as title ix provided equality for girls and women in public educational institutions.
Jolene remains the same type of person today. She always put others ahead of herself. She has been nominated to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. She deserves to be inducted into this institution for all she has done for the game and the role model she was for many thousands of girls and boys
Supporting the History of Women's Basketball research.
The exhibitions done with this work (as well as these web sites) do not raise any money for profit, yet have raised money for charities, such as research on brain cancer, promoting awareness in girls and women in sports and more. It is a goal to have this become an official non-profit organization in the future.
A trifold brochure is available on the history of womens basketball for projects and presentations. Please email the Author, John Molina. The cost is $25.00 for these files which can then be printed. All monies will go to helping support these sites and continued preservation of the history of the game.
Uniforms donated by the WNBA (2002 style except for the CT Sun which is 2004)
T-shirts are now available. All proceeds go to help preserve the history of womens basketball and work is being done to bring part of this collection to the Final 4 National Convention in Boston for 2006. Price is $20.00 postage paid. Sizes adult M,L, XL. pre-shrunk cotton.
Other Basketball Links:
Find basketball systems and equipment at Superior Hoops
Get basketball jerseys including a Lebron jersey for the holiday season
Girl Basketball Camps Early exposure girls basketball camps designed to help players get exposure to secure athletic scholarships
Elite Girl Basketball Camps Elite girls basketball camp designed to showcase the top girls basketball players against elite competition.
The 6 on 6 game is BACK! Only in Iowa. Check out The Granny Basketball League
Never too Late basketball camp for women over 50
A new book has been published on the History of Women's Basketball called "Shattering the Glass" by Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackelford.
Contact the Author
It is my endeavor to someday have a museum or traveling exhibition dedicated to the ladies of the game. It is not the intent to focus on the stars only, but to give an overall view of how the game started, and evolved into what it is today. You will see from the beginning of time thru the years when the Edmonton Grads played, The AAU years and even teams like The All-American Red Heads" or the Womens Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL ITEMS AND INFORMATION FOR MY COLLECTION. If you know of anyone that could help me, please contact me. This is a work in progress. It is a continous effort to help preserve and promote the history of the game and present it to the public for your enjoyment.
A commentary side-note. A $8,000,000.00 museum has just been open and dedicated to that wonderful food called SPAM.
If there is enough interest to generate a museum to SPAM for that amount money, shouldn't the history of womens basketball have at least the same venue?
There is a Womens Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. What there is not, is a museum dedicated soley to the history. Not just the stars. Rather, how the game started, developed and evolved over the past 110+ years. The uniforms, rules, the women and girls that made up these teams. From YWCA to industrial teams, barnstorming and early professional leagues. a focus on some of the great stories of the past 110+ years
Please check out the other sites dedicated to various portions of the history of women's basketball listed below, as well as
Women's Sports Information: Site dedicated to helping women athletes play their sport better, (our favorite being basketball!) with teams and Leagues for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Womens Hoops Blog by Sara and Ted
Vacation Rentals 411 Directory
Selection of private vacation rentals worldwide from the owners
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