With the annual hoopla surrounding the beginning of March Madness and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, many forget that the NCAA women’s tournament occurs simultaneously. The inventor of basketball, Dr. James George Naismith, envisioned basketball as a sport for men and women. In fact, women’s high school and college basketball teams played an important role in promoting the game and coincided with the earliest men’s basketball teams at the beginning of the 20th century. So with this, Florida Memory highlights women’s basketball in Florida from its earliest days.
Stetson University women’s basketball team: Deland, Florida (1907)
Florida State College for Women’s basketball team sitting atop Westcott gate on College Avenue: Tallahassee, Florida (ca. 1920)
Florida A & M College women’s basketball team: Tallahassee, Florida (1929)
Pierce Junior High School women’s basketball team: Polk County, Florida (1937)
Lincoln High School’s women’s basketball team: Tallahassee, Florida (1950s)
Tags: basketball, DeLand, Florda State, Florida A & M, Polk County, Stetson University, Tallahassee
I bet these ladies would shut down Griner and the Baylor Bears!
You said it! I hope all these gals will be watching the final tonite! Go.. Basketball!
I love the second picture! I had a friend give a speech on the origins of basketball and how it started with peach baskets and soccer balls at the Y.
I grew up 45 minutes from Stetson, yet i have never seen that picture. It is amazing to see that picture and look at how the uniforms have changed so drastically over the years
Wow these photos are amazing. I myself play basketball and it is really great to see that women played in the early 20th century.