Status
Available
Publication
Algonquin Books (2017), 304 pages
Description
"At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream. He shaped the Cardinals into a formidable team, and something extraordinary began to happen: with passion for the game and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, they won every game. Combining exhilarating sports writing and exceptional storytelling, Dust Bowl Girls conveys the intensity of an improbable journey to an epic showdown with the prevailing national champions, helmed by the legendary Babe Didrikson. And it captures a moment in American sports history when a visionary coach helped his young athletes achieve more than a winning season"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
A huge disappointment. I wanted to like DUST BOWL GIRLS. I mean the premise - a winning college women's basketball team during the Great Depression - was certainly intriguing. But the execution - well, it was just flat-out boring. The first hundred pages or more was all background, history about
"... raking fertilizer and straw mulch into the soil of his backyard garden. He removed his wire-framed glasses to clean perspiration off the lenses and then turned his face into the beginning sunrise. A lazy hawk circled overhead searching for the rabbits and mice attracted to the homemade fertilizer that smelled like cow manure and rotten eggs."
Maybe because it WAS manure and rotten eggs? I mean, HUH? What about the girls' basketball team? Or, here's some interesting tidbits of theories of the times on how sports might affect women's bodies -
"... that too much training of the muscles, especially in the abdomen and pelvis, would make the muscle fibers too taut and childbirth difficult if not impossible ... and if the hard play continued, their pelvises would eventually wither and shrink. Even worse than not being able to have babies was the unspoken possibility that the uterus would completely disappear, turning her into a man."
Hmm ... Again, backward old-fashioned theories, and maybe a little interesting, but really adding very little to the momentum of the narrative. Reeder also cites various rules and resolutions governing women's sports that called for enjoyment over winning, or forbidding any participation in sports "during the first three days of menstruation."
It went without saying, of course, that there would be no drugs, alcohol, or interaction between the sexes, but Coach Babb also even forbade any sweets to his team members. So there was this one truly ridiculous scene where several of the girls all secretly indulged in some homemade fudge from home, and suddenly began talking about boyfriends. "The sugar had entered their bloodstreams and loosened their tongues." A 'sugar-high-drunk.' Imagine that. (I couldn't.)
Or here's an example of pumped up b-ball exCITEment, after the team won a game -
"Lucille was beside herself with joy. When she came back down to earth, her heart beating so fast that she thought it might pop through her teeth, she knew without any doubt that basketball was magic."
Mercy me. And the descriptions of the games themselves weren't much better. I don't think the author really knows much about basketball, or, if she does, it doesn't show.
I confess that I finally gave up on the book about 150 pages in. It was just too uninteresting to go on. Maybe the reason for this is summed up on the book's last page (I peeked), when Coach Sam Babb (the author's great-uncle, by the way) described his champion team thusly -
"'They are just a bunch of country girls who like to play basketball.' Every girl, he said, worked her way through college by washing dishes, sweeping, or waiting tables. 'They are a fine group of girls.'"
I'm sure they were. But their story, as presented here, is a real snoozer. Perhaps Reeder's relatives and other descendants of the Babb family might find DUST BOWL GIRLS mildly interesting, but I doubt many others would. The writing is simply not very compelling. Not recommended. (Publication date: January 24, 2017)
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
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Oklahoma, the Choctaw nation (even a little on the famous Trail of Tears), the college (tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College), the city (Durant), the one-legged coach, Sam Babb (and how he lost his leg), the school president - and his pioneer missionary mother, and on and on nearly ad nauseam. And then thumbnail bios of the girls on the team and how they were so dirt poor they never wore shoes in the summer and didn't have much to eat, etc. Which is all relevant, I know. I mean, after all it was the Depression, and in the Dust Bowl, so times were hard. But there was simply too much of all this history and research, especially if you were expecting a good basketball story. It felt like author Lydia Reeder was padding some very thin material with a lot of often unnecessary details, to streeeeech it into book length. Here's a sample of this 'local color,' in a scene of the college prez working in his garden -"... raking fertilizer and straw mulch into the soil of his backyard garden. He removed his wire-framed glasses to clean perspiration off the lenses and then turned his face into the beginning sunrise. A lazy hawk circled overhead searching for the rabbits and mice attracted to the homemade fertilizer that smelled like cow manure and rotten eggs."
Maybe because it WAS manure and rotten eggs? I mean, HUH? What about the girls' basketball team? Or, here's some interesting tidbits of theories of the times on how sports might affect women's bodies -
"... that too much training of the muscles, especially in the abdomen and pelvis, would make the muscle fibers too taut and childbirth difficult if not impossible ... and if the hard play continued, their pelvises would eventually wither and shrink. Even worse than not being able to have babies was the unspoken possibility that the uterus would completely disappear, turning her into a man."
Hmm ... Again, backward old-fashioned theories, and maybe a little interesting, but really adding very little to the momentum of the narrative. Reeder also cites various rules and resolutions governing women's sports that called for enjoyment over winning, or forbidding any participation in sports "during the first three days of menstruation."
It went without saying, of course, that there would be no drugs, alcohol, or interaction between the sexes, but Coach Babb also even forbade any sweets to his team members. So there was this one truly ridiculous scene where several of the girls all secretly indulged in some homemade fudge from home, and suddenly began talking about boyfriends. "The sugar had entered their bloodstreams and loosened their tongues." A 'sugar-high-drunk.' Imagine that. (I couldn't.)
Or here's an example of pumped up b-ball exCITEment, after the team won a game -
"Lucille was beside herself with joy. When she came back down to earth, her heart beating so fast that she thought it might pop through her teeth, she knew without any doubt that basketball was magic."
Mercy me. And the descriptions of the games themselves weren't much better. I don't think the author really knows much about basketball, or, if she does, it doesn't show.
I confess that I finally gave up on the book about 150 pages in. It was just too uninteresting to go on. Maybe the reason for this is summed up on the book's last page (I peeked), when Coach Sam Babb (the author's great-uncle, by the way) described his champion team thusly -
"'They are just a bunch of country girls who like to play basketball.' Every girl, he said, worked her way through college by washing dishes, sweeping, or waiting tables. 'They are a fine group of girls.'"
I'm sure they were. But their story, as presented here, is a real snoozer. Perhaps Reeder's relatives and other descendants of the Babb family might find DUST BOWL GIRLS mildly interesting, but I doubt many others would. The writing is simply not very compelling. Not recommended. (Publication date: January 24, 2017)
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
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LibraryThing member IsolaBlue
DUST BOWL GIRLS is a feel-good story about a time and place that was filled with hard knocks. A true and well-researched book, Lydia Reeder's presentation of the Oklahoma Presbyterian College's undefeated women's basketball team, the Cardinals, is a tribute to some of the true women pioneers in US
Sam Babb loved basketball. He taught psychology at OPC, one of only two male professors on campus, and toured the state watching high-school basketball games in search of girls he could convince to leave their families in order to attend college and play basketball for him and the college. Most of the girls he recruited were farm girls. Some had thought about going to college, but most of them, if not approached by Babb, might have stayed in their small towns, helping out their family on the farm and perhaps eventually marrying a local boy. DUST BOWL GIRLS is set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and most of the young women's families were struggling with poor crops and barely managing to get by financially. It seemed a very high compliment to these families to have their daughter chosen to play basketball for OPC. Babb offered a scholarship to promising basketball players, but they couldn't just play basketball. In addition, they had to be serious about their studies and have a career goal in mind. Many of them went on to become teachers.
Once on campus, the girls did not have an easy life. Because they were on scholarship or because it was the Great Depression or perhaps because it was a college affiliated with a religion, the girls did not seem to have much fun. The most rebellious thing they did was eat candy once in awhile against the rules set forth by their coach. There was no smoking, drinking, or dating. In fact, the Cardinals basketball team seemed so wholesome as to be a bit unreal. Reeder only had old journals, scrapbooks, newspaper articles, and interviews to go on, so it is possible it was her choice to present the girls as the angels they appear to be. But it is also just as probable that when she interviewed the women as senior citizens, they weren't going to indulge any secrets and she was incapable of seeing them as anything other than the pure farm girls they had been at the time.
The girls - some of them part Native American - had interesting names that add color to the narrative: Buena, La Homa, Bo Peep. Reeder does a good job in presenting each girl with a definite personality, so each one is distinguishable from the rest. Their individual personalities rise to the surface and allow the reader to root for her favorite. Interestingly, the one who has the strongest profile and comes across as the most memorable, is the Captain, a young woman named Doll. Since Doll had passed away before Reeder started interviewing for her book, it is interesting that she was able to develop such a strong character for Doll. Obviously the other women who were interviewed must have talked freely about her, and, because of that, Doll comes across as a rather conceited but very talented basketball player who thought highly of herself, almost to her own detriment. She had a heavy crush on Coach Babb and was probably devastated when he married a young woman about Doll's own age.
A personable player named Lucille left a journal which Reeder depended on quite a bit. Almost any reader will feel as though she knows Lucille best of all the players, and may even favor her. This is all possible due to Lucille's own writings. We are left feeling grateful that Lucille took the time (when did she find any?) to write about her college and basketball life. It would have been hard for Reeder to summon up the atmosphere at OPC which sounds unlike most colleges, even considering the time period that the girls were there.
DUST BOWL GIRLS covers just one year in the life of a basketball team. Reeder is a good sports writer, so those who know basketball won't be disappointed by her play-by-play descriptions of the games. Perhaps more entertaining is her attention to the old bus that the team rode around on during their barnstorming tour. It was driven by Bo Peep, one of the team members, and Bo Peep's talent for driving and fixing vehicles is a highlight of the book.
Most of all, anyone reading about the Cardinals basketball team will be struck by how difficult it was to be a woman athlete during the 1930s (and, indeed, for several decades beyond that), and how lucky young women are today who have the backing and protection of the law when participating in athletics. Even the athletic associations in the 1930s were torn about a woman's role in sports. Women were expected to be athletic, but feminine. Much emphasis was put on appearance. This was during the time that the famous Babe Didrikson was playing basketball next door in Texas. Didrikson was known for looking and acting the tomboy role, and athletic associations were horrified and trying their hardest to "feminize" the other players lest women's sports became synonymous with "tomboy-ism" or, even worse at the time, the unmentionable "lesbianism."
Is DUST BOWL GIRLS a great book? No. Is it a good book? Yes. For anyone who is interested in the history of women's athletics, it is a must read. Basketball lovers will appreciate it, and those interested in life during the Great Depression will as well. It should be popular with Oklahomans as it does present a sense of place. A better book on women's basketball is FULL-COURT QUEST by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. This is the true story of Native American girls from seven different tribes who attended the Fort Shaw Indian School, had a winning basketball team, and played at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The books have much in common, but FULL-COURT QUEST is meatier. That said, DUST BOWL GIRLS is a good attempt at recreating a time in US history that most of us couldn't imagine without Reeder's help.
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women's athletics. Sam Babb, the team's coach, was Lydia's Reeder's great uncle. If she had not had the fortune to be related to this intriguing gentleman, the story of the winning Cardinal team may have been lost to all of us forever. Reeder knew she had a good story, but the material her family held was only part of it. Tracking down the members of the team still living, and being given the journal of one who had passed on, enabled the author to develop a narrative that lets the reader feel as though she is there on the campus of Oklahoma Presbyterian (OPC) in the 1930s, going to practice in the early hours before dawn, worrying about family members at home, and trying to attend class, study, practice basketball, and attend church (the latter required by the school) all while coming of age as a young woman at a time when sportswriters were free to write about a female athlete's good (or bad) looks.Sam Babb loved basketball. He taught psychology at OPC, one of only two male professors on campus, and toured the state watching high-school basketball games in search of girls he could convince to leave their families in order to attend college and play basketball for him and the college. Most of the girls he recruited were farm girls. Some had thought about going to college, but most of them, if not approached by Babb, might have stayed in their small towns, helping out their family on the farm and perhaps eventually marrying a local boy. DUST BOWL GIRLS is set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and most of the young women's families were struggling with poor crops and barely managing to get by financially. It seemed a very high compliment to these families to have their daughter chosen to play basketball for OPC. Babb offered a scholarship to promising basketball players, but they couldn't just play basketball. In addition, they had to be serious about their studies and have a career goal in mind. Many of them went on to become teachers.
Once on campus, the girls did not have an easy life. Because they were on scholarship or because it was the Great Depression or perhaps because it was a college affiliated with a religion, the girls did not seem to have much fun. The most rebellious thing they did was eat candy once in awhile against the rules set forth by their coach. There was no smoking, drinking, or dating. In fact, the Cardinals basketball team seemed so wholesome as to be a bit unreal. Reeder only had old journals, scrapbooks, newspaper articles, and interviews to go on, so it is possible it was her choice to present the girls as the angels they appear to be. But it is also just as probable that when she interviewed the women as senior citizens, they weren't going to indulge any secrets and she was incapable of seeing them as anything other than the pure farm girls they had been at the time.
The girls - some of them part Native American - had interesting names that add color to the narrative: Buena, La Homa, Bo Peep. Reeder does a good job in presenting each girl with a definite personality, so each one is distinguishable from the rest. Their individual personalities rise to the surface and allow the reader to root for her favorite. Interestingly, the one who has the strongest profile and comes across as the most memorable, is the Captain, a young woman named Doll. Since Doll had passed away before Reeder started interviewing for her book, it is interesting that she was able to develop such a strong character for Doll. Obviously the other women who were interviewed must have talked freely about her, and, because of that, Doll comes across as a rather conceited but very talented basketball player who thought highly of herself, almost to her own detriment. She had a heavy crush on Coach Babb and was probably devastated when he married a young woman about Doll's own age.
A personable player named Lucille left a journal which Reeder depended on quite a bit. Almost any reader will feel as though she knows Lucille best of all the players, and may even favor her. This is all possible due to Lucille's own writings. We are left feeling grateful that Lucille took the time (when did she find any?) to write about her college and basketball life. It would have been hard for Reeder to summon up the atmosphere at OPC which sounds unlike most colleges, even considering the time period that the girls were there.
DUST BOWL GIRLS covers just one year in the life of a basketball team. Reeder is a good sports writer, so those who know basketball won't be disappointed by her play-by-play descriptions of the games. Perhaps more entertaining is her attention to the old bus that the team rode around on during their barnstorming tour. It was driven by Bo Peep, one of the team members, and Bo Peep's talent for driving and fixing vehicles is a highlight of the book.
Most of all, anyone reading about the Cardinals basketball team will be struck by how difficult it was to be a woman athlete during the 1930s (and, indeed, for several decades beyond that), and how lucky young women are today who have the backing and protection of the law when participating in athletics. Even the athletic associations in the 1930s were torn about a woman's role in sports. Women were expected to be athletic, but feminine. Much emphasis was put on appearance. This was during the time that the famous Babe Didrikson was playing basketball next door in Texas. Didrikson was known for looking and acting the tomboy role, and athletic associations were horrified and trying their hardest to "feminize" the other players lest women's sports became synonymous with "tomboy-ism" or, even worse at the time, the unmentionable "lesbianism."
Is DUST BOWL GIRLS a great book? No. Is it a good book? Yes. For anyone who is interested in the history of women's athletics, it is a must read. Basketball lovers will appreciate it, and those interested in life during the Great Depression will as well. It should be popular with Oklahomans as it does present a sense of place. A better book on women's basketball is FULL-COURT QUEST by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. This is the true story of Native American girls from seven different tribes who attended the Fort Shaw Indian School, had a winning basketball team, and played at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The books have much in common, but FULL-COURT QUEST is meatier. That said, DUST BOWL GIRLS is a good attempt at recreating a time in US history that most of us couldn't imagine without Reeder's help.
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LibraryThing member PMelchior
What a wonderful book. Not a slam dunk (sorry), but a graceful, arching jump shot. I actually played basketball by a late iteration of the rules forced on female athletes, so I was at least aware of the limitations facing these young women when it came to the game itself, as well as the more broad
Good read.
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reaching frustrations being a girl or a woman who loved sports in a decisively masculine world.Good read.
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LibraryThing member hifiny
Overall I really enjoyed this book, despite not being a sports fan. The story was so empowering it kept me interested and I really enjoyed learning of the women working to break barriers in the world of basketball. Despite having grown up in the Midwest, I had never heard of the Oklahoma
The narrative was very conversational and avoided falling into the dry storytelling that can occur in non fiction books. I also enjoyed having the photos sprinkled throughout, it kept me focused on the present narrative instead of flipping back and forth to a picture section. This is a must read for fans of sports, basketball, underdogs, or A League of Their Own.
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Presbyterian College Cardinals and their success. The players on this team came from all walks of life, but they were all united by the sport. The book covered their story, but author Lydia Reeder paid special attention to pepper chapters with history of the midwest and basketball. This additional history help provide context for their success. The narrative was very conversational and avoided falling into the dry storytelling that can occur in non fiction books. I also enjoyed having the photos sprinkled throughout, it kept me focused on the present narrative instead of flipping back and forth to a picture section. This is a must read for fans of sports, basketball, underdogs, or A League of Their Own.
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LibraryThing member Jillian_Kay
Dust Bowl Girls was the story of a group of girls who played basketball during the depression. It seems like there have been many of these types of books written over the past five years, but this is the first one I've read about women. It was interesting to see how far we've come with women's
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sports since then. I enjoyed this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrApple
Dust Bowl Girls by Lydia Reeder is a great story. An underdog team from a tiny Oklahoma college challenges the national champions. It's much more than that, however. Dust Bowl Girls gives the reader a snapshot of life during the Depression in the dust bowl. It shows us what limitations were put on
I really loved this book. The places the author was discussing were places I have lived or visited. The women seemed like someone who could be a relative. Reeder does a great job of bring to life the individuals in the story and the events. She does not, however, do a great job of writing. The book reads more like a really long newspaper account than a work of nonfiction. In spite of this, the power of the story itself compelled me to give it 4 stars.
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women, and it gives an idea of the hard work it took to get by during this period. I really loved this book. The places the author was discussing were places I have lived or visited. The women seemed like someone who could be a relative. Reeder does a great job of bring to life the individuals in the story and the events. She does not, however, do a great job of writing. The book reads more like a really long newspaper account than a work of nonfiction. In spite of this, the power of the story itself compelled me to give it 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member lvmygrdn
Thank you LibraryThing for the advance copy of this book. I know nothing about basketball and didn't know there women teams back then. I wasn't sure if I would like it but I really enjoyed the book. It's a true story, an inspiring but it reads like fiction if that makes sense. Sam Babb the coach
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traveled all over to recruit women for this team. He offered them an education and back then times were hard. This is at the height of the great depression. Not many people were able to continue their education. Funding for the team was sparse but they managed to get by and raise money. The story takes you from the early days of getting a team together and their journey as an excellent basketball team. Show Less
LibraryThing member hifiny
Overall I really enjoyed this book, despite not being a sports fan. The story was so empowering it kept me interested and I really enjoyed learning of the women working to break barriers in the world of basketball. Despite having grown up in the Midwest, I had never heard of the Oklahoma
The narrative was very conversational and avoided falling into the dry storytelling that can occur in non fiction books. I also enjoyed having the photos sprinkled throughout, it kept me focused on the present narrative instead of flipping back and forth to a picture section. This is a must read for fans of sports, basketball, underdogs, or A League of Their Own.
Show More
Presbyterian College Cardinals and their success. The players on this team came from all walks of life, but they were all united by the sport. The book covered their story, but author Lydia Reeder paid special attention to pepper chapters with history of the midwest and basketball. This additional history help provide context for their success. The narrative was very conversational and avoided falling into the dry storytelling that can occur in non fiction books. I also enjoyed having the photos sprinkled throughout, it kept me focused on the present narrative instead of flipping back and forth to a picture section. This is a must read for fans of sports, basketball, underdogs, or A League of Their Own.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Merryann
Well-written and properly researched, oftentimes drawing upon the words of the players themselves, Dust Bowl Girls grabbed my interest from the first page. Prior to reading this book, my Dust Bowl images were all in black and white, as if the times were so hard they removed the very color from the
Not only did I learn a lot, it was a surprisingly cheerful read. The photographs were great; I loved seeing what the players looked like as I got to know them. As the suspense builds toward the championship game, the author took me on little side trips that really helped me see both the game of basketball and these young women in the right context for their times. This would make a fantastic movie, educational and entertaining.
Some friends and I were discussing world history recently, a conversation that at a certain point led right to a discussion of this book and the courage and strength of Sam Babb and his women’s basketball team. We talked about how events weave themselves together, one thing leading to another, and because of them the world changes. These events eventually become history. History in turn, itself shapes change and growth. I wonder whether the young women who played basketball for OPC during the Great Depression knew that their actions, courage, and perseverance would still be making a positive impact today. Lydia Reeder did a great job bringing this story to light. I look forward to reading more by her.
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world. Basketball did not figure in my images of the Great Depression at all, all, much less female college students playing basketball! This book brought color and life to my knowledge of this time in American history. Not only did I learn a lot, it was a surprisingly cheerful read. The photographs were great; I loved seeing what the players looked like as I got to know them. As the suspense builds toward the championship game, the author took me on little side trips that really helped me see both the game of basketball and these young women in the right context for their times. This would make a fantastic movie, educational and entertaining.
Some friends and I were discussing world history recently, a conversation that at a certain point led right to a discussion of this book and the courage and strength of Sam Babb and his women’s basketball team. We talked about how events weave themselves together, one thing leading to another, and because of them the world changes. These events eventually become history. History in turn, itself shapes change and growth. I wonder whether the young women who played basketball for OPC during the Great Depression knew that their actions, courage, and perseverance would still be making a positive impact today. Lydia Reeder did a great job bringing this story to light. I look forward to reading more by her.
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LibraryThing member teeth
Thank you to Librarything for a copy of this book from their giveaway program. This was a great story and I enjoyed reading about these women who were an inspiration to many during the depression and gave hope to people who were struggling during this time period. I did struggle at times to connect
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with all the storylines. I did learn about the history of women's basketball and the struggles they faced. Many factions thought women should not be playing the sport or any sport for competition. After reading this book I had a better understanding about the development of women's athletics as well as the life people faced in the 1930's. Show Less
LibraryThing member book58lover
I was drawn to this book because of the cover photo and the topic of the dust bowl, which I found interesting after reading "Worst hard time" by Timothy Egan. An additional draw is the author's personal interest; the coach of the basketball team is her great uncle. She was able to share personal
The tension experienced by the young women, students at Oklahoma Presbyterian College, in leaving home particularly during the depression with the Dust Bowl raging, studying in college full time and playing against teams which include Babe Didrikson is felt in the writing and makes the book entertaining. The author includes an epilogue that updates us on the team today but there is no index and the notes are not in bibliographic style.
All in all a wonderful book that I would recommend.
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information that another author might not have.The tension experienced by the young women, students at Oklahoma Presbyterian College, in leaving home particularly during the depression with the Dust Bowl raging, studying in college full time and playing against teams which include Babe Didrikson is felt in the writing and makes the book entertaining. The author includes an epilogue that updates us on the team today but there is no index and the notes are not in bibliographic style.
All in all a wonderful book that I would recommend.
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LibraryThing member NancyNo5
I won this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is Lydia Reeder's attempt at an all female version of The Boys in the Boat. Add a bit of A League of Their Own and you have a story of the unsung heroes of an all girl basketball team and their challenges with gender specific rules and
This is Lydia Reeder's attempt at an all female version of The Boys in the Boat. Add a bit of A League of Their Own and you have a story of the unsung heroes of an all girl basketball team and their challenges with gender specific rules and
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regulations. It didn't have the same excitement as The Boys in the Boat but it was enjoyable all the same. Show Less
LibraryThing member marshapetry
Fun and interesting story of women's basketball, something pretty much previously ignored by historians. Recommend
LibraryThing member hikatie
Enjoyable but could have used a sturdy edit, perhaps? The story of the team is absolutely worth telling, but I didn't find the historical context of the region combined very gracefully with the stories of the players or the coach. I'd love if a movie was made of the story that could distill the
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essence a little better. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dannadee
This is a true story during WWII and the great depression about a small women's college in Durant OK whose ladies' basketball team was organized and coached by Sam Babb. He recruited girls he saw had talent on the basketball court and gave them all scholarships to the Oklahoma Presbyterian College.
The was interesting to learn about women's rules of basketball back then. There were 9 players on each team (so 18 women on the court during the game), but only the 3 (4?) forwards could go past the halfway into the opponents side. The defense had to stay under their basket. And since this game was not a 'lady-like' sport, the uniforms and the rules were archaic in terms of today's teams.
The writing was a little dry, but the book had pictures of Sam, the coach and the players. Learning new stories about our history is always a good thing, thus the 4 stars.
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His coaching was unique in that he taught them to focus, not only on what they were doing on that court but also to anticipate what their teammates were doing, And what their opponents were going to do. And practice, lots and lots of practice. They win games and go on to play against the bigger schools in tournaments. The was interesting to learn about women's rules of basketball back then. There were 9 players on each team (so 18 women on the court during the game), but only the 3 (4?) forwards could go past the halfway into the opponents side. The defense had to stay under their basket. And since this game was not a 'lady-like' sport, the uniforms and the rules were archaic in terms of today's teams.
The writing was a little dry, but the book had pictures of Sam, the coach and the players. Learning new stories about our history is always a good thing, thus the 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member tornadox
It's probably a fine oral history, but i was expecting something different.
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
304 p.
ISBN
1616204664 / 9781616204662
Local notes
sports
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