Thanks for the article...but for the New Jacks, one must remember that women's sports back in the late '60's, the early '70's was not seen as serious. I remember in the early '70's even the men didn't have great training facilities. The Men's Basketball team practiced in the Field House with these huge curtains around the court (for privacy). Meanwhile the track around the court was used by students & facility to jog, and right off the court many used the Universal Weight machine.
I remember some of the early women's games in the Field House. The teams played while the students & facility used the track around the court and the weight machine. I remember occasionally stopping my workouts to watch a few minutes of their games. It wasn't until UCONN played Central CT. State College (at the time) that I seriously took notice. Central had a Hispanic guard who dribbled and handled the ball as well as any male guard that I had seen. No other woman dribbling the ball dribble the way she did. She was so impressive that I called my friends over and we all sat in the bleachers and watched the entire game. Afterwards I told that that "That is the future of Women's Basketball"....and it has been.
Another issue with that era was the limited budgets, which is why the women's team played a lot of local schools. The Male programs were well established and required the bulk of the revenue. During those years, Freshmen were NOT ALLOWED to play varsity. So, schools had to maintain a Junior Varsity Squad and a Varsity Squad. Schools used their JV Squads to develop their freshmen and that entailed playing other schools, traveling, practicing, etc...
It wasn't right that women were considered not as important as the men, and I'm grateful that things have changed. Many things have changed....I'm old enough to remember when Great football players like Jim Brown, John Mackey and Basketball players like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, KC Jones, and many others were not allowed to stay in White Hotels in the south with their teammates, and they were relegated to "colored motels" or they had to stay with a Black opposing player's family because of racial segregation. So, much has changed....and yet there is still work to do.
Thanks for the article...but for the New Jacks, one must remember that women's sports back in the late '60's, the early '70's was not seen as serious. I remember in the early '70's even the men didn't have great training facilities. The Men's Basketball team practiced in the Field House with these huge curtains around the court (for privacy). Meanwhile the track around the court was used by students & facility to jog, and right off the court many used the Universal Weight machine.
I remember some of the early women's games in the Field House. The teams played while the students & facility used the track around the court and the weight machine. I remember occasionally stopping my workouts to watch a few minutes of their games. It wasn't until UCONN played Central CT. State College (at the time) that I seriously took notice. Central had a Hispanic guard who dribbled and handled the ball as well as any male guard that I had seen. No other woman dribbling the ball dribble the way she did. She was so impressive that I called my friends over and we all sat in the bleachers and watched the entire game. Afterwards I told that that "That is the future of Women's Basketball"....and it has been.
Another issue with that era was the limited budgets, which is why the women's team played a lot of local schools. The Male programs were well established and required the bulk of the revenue. During those years, Freshmen were NOT ALLOWED to play varsity. So, schools had to maintain a Junior Varsity Squad and a Varsity Squad. Schools used their JV Squads to develop their freshmen and that entailed playing other schools, traveling, practicing, etc...
It wasn't right that women were considered not as important as the men, and I'm grateful that things have changed. Many things have changed....I'm old enough to remember when Great football players like Jim Brown, John Mackey and Basketball players like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, KC Jones, and many others were not allowed to stay in White Hotels in the south with their teammates, and they were relegated to "colored motels" or they had to stay with a Black opposing player's family because of racial segregation. So, much has changed....and yet there is still work to do.
Great stuff as always, thanks Dan