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Chapter 13 The Rise and Decline of Organized

Women’s Sports

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

1930-1932

• Broke 5 separate records for track and field events

• American, Olympic, or world records

Winning 34 of 88 amateur and pro golf tournaments

Reportedly:

• 170 bowling average

• 75 yard football punt

• Close to world records for short distance swimming

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

1932 - Hired as a stenographer at Employers Casualty Company of Dallas

• Dallas-based Golden Cyclones - 1932

• Spot on the company basketball team

• Sent her as a 1-woman team to AAU track and field championship

• 6 Gold Medals in 3 hours, broke 4 world records

• Weeks later at 1932 Olympics (Los Angeles)

• 3 Gold Medals in javelin, 80-meter hurdles, and high jump

• Undoubtedly could have won more

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

Even as a national sensation, she faced growing criticisms….

• Early years kept her distance from conventional femininity

• Cut her hair short

• Refused to wear makeup

• Publicly making statements about her disdain for traditional female activities

“Muscle Moll”

• Image of a disreputable woman focusing on strength rather then conventional female charm

• Public perception was she was unhappy/unfulfilled because she didn’t attract men

• “DON’T BE A MUSCLE MOLL”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=His_0F1bVgY

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

The Midwest and South was more supportive of female athletic activities

• Women’s colleges continued to discourage competition

1930’s explosion in women’s softball teams

• 1934 – Amateur Softball Association

• Championship play for both men and women

Hazel Walker- Born 1914

• Started playing basketball shooting an object into a rain-barrel hoop

• Famously would rise an hour before the school bus came to run a mile and eat/refuel afterwards as training for basketball

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

Tulsa Business College

• Secretarial and Bookkeeping Skills

• Business Colleges frequently sponsored basketball teams

• Tulsa Stenos 1934 AAU Championship

Little Rock, AR

• Worked as a bookkeeper, but helped organize a series of AAU teams sponsored by local companies

• Lion Oil

• Dr. Pepper

• Lewis & Norwood Insurance

• As leader of the Flyers she earned 3 more AAU championships in 1937, 1940, and 1941

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

All American Red Heads – 1946-1949

• Barnstorming

Hazel Walker’s Arkansas Travelers

• 6 ½ months a year

• Double Headers

• 11-12 games a week at times

Combination of showmanship and skill

• Ballhandling tricks, comedic and flirtatious routines

Off the court adhered to the conventional middle-class femininity

• Curl their hair, wear makeup, dress in skirts or tailored slacks

• Everything had to be “perfect”

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMeQ4yRvGrc

Historically Black Colleges Nurture Female Athletes

African American communities were eager to celebrate racial excellence in any form, and often warmly supported women’s athletic accomplishments

• Black colleges were vigilant about their female students reputations

Black Women’s basketball reached its peak with Philadelphia Tribunes

• Semi-Pro team sponsored by Philly’s African American newspaper

Historically Black Colleges Nurture Female Athletes

Ora Washington

• Left Virginia as a teen for Philadelphia

• Found work as a maid, spent much time around the local black YWCA

“Queen Ora”

• A few short years later….

• 1925-1937 (8 national titles & 12 national doubles titles)

• U.S. Lawn Tennis Association would not admit African Americans until 1948

• Could not play Helen Willis “Queen Helen”

• AAU Basketball would not admit African Americans until 1955

All-American Girls WWII bring change to the professional sports world

• 1944 “Sporting News” reported that only 40% of the MLB rosters were in the league in 1941

Philip K. Wrigley

• 1943, All-American Girls Baseball League

• Kenosha, WI

• Racine, WI

• South Bend, IN

• Rockford, IL

• 108-game schedule

• 176,000 fans

$10 fine for ejection/$50 fine for appearing “unkept” in public

The GPBL survived 11 years between 1943-1954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcN392H2jx0

Rah Rah Rah

As women’s sports shrank, a new role for women gained strength

• 1890’s “Yell Captains, Yell Leaders, or Yell Masters”

• 1920’s – wore school sweaters and slacks

• Megaphones and synchronized yells

• Symbolized the carefree undergraduate that lived for campus social events, but not academics

• 1920’s – Females get involved with a familiar cultural reaction

• 1938 – Advocates admit that girls are more magnetic in appearance