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As March Madness revs up, I find myself reflecting on my recent trip to Iowa, and the ways the history of Iowa women's basketball emphasizes the value of female independence – one of the most important themes in American women’s history: shatteringtheglassbook.com/independence... #shatteringtheglass

submitted 12 hours ago • 0 comments

It can seem frivolous to post about women’s basketball at such a perilous time. But stories of players’ strength, joy and determination make vital contributions to full understanding of our nation’s past, especially as powerful leaders seek to roll back women’s gains and to rewrite their history.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Shattering the Glass is as much about women’s history as it is about sports history. Female basketball players have always challenged limits on where women could go, what they could do, and how they could express themselves. A perfect read for March - month of Madness and of women’s history!

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

On this first day of Women's History Month, thanks to Rep. Patsy Mink, Rep Martha Griffiths and the many other dedicated advocates who brought us Title IX. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

The conservatism of the 1950s hit women's basketball hard, and many schools eliminated teams. Although C. Vivian Stringer (left) was one of the best players in her Pennsylvania hometown. the closest she could get to her high school court was as a member of the cheering squad. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Hazel Walker's Arkansas Travelers toured from 1949 to 1965, playing men's teams and usually winning. They loved it. As Walker promised a recruit “I guarantee you will be happy, satisfied, have the best time you will ever have, save money and play all the basketball you want to.” #shatteringtheglass

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Shattering the Glass covers key moments in women's basketball history, but there's always more to learn. We'd love to know more about this picture of teams from Native American schools. How did these young women weave basketball into their challenging lives? #shatteringtheglassbook

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Life on a company team was far from glamorous. The Hanes Hosiery players won three straight AAU titles while working full-time jobs and taking care of their high-maintenance uniforms, even when on the road. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

In 1955, Missouri Arledge became female basketball's first Black All-American. The Supreme Court's Brown decision had heightened pressures to desegregate, and Arledge's college team, Philander Smith, was invited to the AAU tournament. Her stellar play won her the honor. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

So great to visit the Iowa Women's Archives, where women's history–including women's basketball history–is preserved and protected. Its endowment was financed by co-founder Louise Noun, who raised the funds by selling her Frida Kahlo painting, Self-Portrait with Loose Hair. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

It’s publication Day for The Fast Track! This is a look at what is fueling the boom in women’s sports, AND at the historic reluctance and hostility that kept the moment from arriving earlier. Buy now and be the source for your March Madness TM convos!

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

In honor of my arrival in Iowa, a team from Des Moines' American Institute of Business, one of many AAU teams sponsored by "business colleges." AIB was runner-up in the 1943 AAU tournament, losing to another Iowa school, Davenport's American Institute of Commerce. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Nashville Business College was the most successful team in AAU history, winning 10 of 12 championships between 1958 and 1969. John Head (center) put together a stellar group of players, including superstar Nera White (far left) and future coaching great Sue Gunter (center left). #shatteringtheglass

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Gladys Thompson (#36) and her Highland High Ramlettes won North Carolina's Black state championship in 1949. Thompson married classmate Ervin Worthy and had a son named James. Ervin Worthy never played the game; any talent NBA great James Worthy inherited came from his mother. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

The Wayland Flying Queens from Wayland Baptist College won six of eight AAU titles between 1954 and 1961. They were named for their mode of transportation – local enthusiast Claude Hutcherson flew the Queens to games in his fleet of Beechcraft Bonanzas. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

I'll be in Iowa City at the end of this week, doing a talk and book signing, and taking in the Iowa-UCLA game. Looking forward to it! If you know anyone in the area, please spread the word. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Just had a great conversation on the Charlotte Talks radio show about the past and future of women's basketball in Charlotte. We focused on the potential return of the WNBA Charlotte Sting. Worth a listen! Streaming link below. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

With an AAU career that lasted from the mid-1950s through the 1960s, Nera White was widely acknowledged as the best female player ever. "They think some man came up with the first finger-roll layup. Not true. Nera White did that forever." -Margie Hunt #shatteringtheglass

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

The AAU women's basketball tournament often featured a beauty contest. Jimmie Vaughn (crown) added the title of queen to accomplishments that included All-American honors, a free throw championship, and multiple national titles. Cornelia Lineberry (knee pads) was queen in 1947. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Much-needed timeline cleanse. Jenny Pearl.

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

The Hanes Hosiery Girls, who worked at and played for Hanes Hosiery in Winston Salem, won the AAU championship in 1951, 1952, and 1953 #shatteringtheglass

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

"It meant an awful lot to me. We gave up meals—I mean you didn’t have time to eat. A lot of times after work you just ride the bus and go to practice or whatever and it was really wonderful.” -Margaret Sexton, 5-time AAU champion #shatteringtheglass Margaret Sexton, right, at the AAU tournament

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

A modest proposal . . . . #shatteringtheglass www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

"To get that ball off that backboard, knowing that nobody else could jump that high. That was thrilling. If things were as they are now, I probably would be at some university going with the Olympic team in basketball.” -Alice Coachman, 1948 Olympic high jump gold medal #shatteringtheglass

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Just to be clear, "destruction" is never "creative." It's just destruction.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

In 1923, players at Central High School in Charlotte N.C. had the assurance to roll their stockings down below their knees. "We rolled out," Elizabeth Newitt noted decades later. "We wore hose, and if you see this picture, we've got our hose rolled down. You see how we did it." #shatteringtheglass

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

"No one who ever saw her play could forget her, nor could anyone who met her." - a fan describing Ora Washington, the first Black American female athletic star #shatteringtheglass

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

And whose face was on that penny? @edgeofsports.bsky.social does it again.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

"We were ladies. We just played basketball like boys." - Ruth Glover, Bennett college player, 1933-37 Bennett College team, Greensboro, N.C. #shatteringtheglass

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

“Take a tour through the country and you’ll find an old tire rim nailed to the side of a building. These are never rusty. They are kept polished by a constant rain of shots from an aspiring girl and one or two neighbor girls or boys.” - John Schoenfelder, Clutier High School coach, Clutier, Iowa

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

"I would love to be young one more time, just to get to play basketball." - Lavinia Ardrey Kell, Pineville High School, Pineville, N.C. Winchester Avenue High School team, Monroe, N.C.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Sometimes you just need a small chuckle.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

In October of 1904, at the St. Louis World's Fair, the women's basketball team from Montana's Fort Shaw Indian School defeated a Missouri all-star team and claimed the title "World Basket Ball Champions." You can learn more in the book Full Court Press, by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Coverage of the first women's intercollegiate basketball contest in Charlotte, N.C., showcased both the appeal and the controversy surrounding women's growing interest in athletics. Male spectators were barred, but several scaled nearby buildings to see the game. They were promptly arrested.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Thanks Dave. Once again.

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

It wasn’t invented for girls, and there isn’t anything effeminate about it. It was made for men to play indoors and it is a game that would send the physician who thinks the feminine organization "so delicate," into the hysterics he tries so hard to perpetuate. - Mable Craft, 1896 Stanford team

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

The game was clean and ladylike. There was no work for the stretchers or the ambulance. But if there was a dull minute from the call of the whistle to the last biff of the ball, it would be hard to say where it was. The girls were there to win. - Charlotte Observer, 1907 State Normal College, 1900

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

A few words for Black History Month. @sarahspain.com @sallyjenx.bsky.social @thenext.bsky.social @edgeofsports.bsky.social shatteringtheglassbook.com/871-2/

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments