Long before the AIAW, NCAA or WNBA, for some, women's basketball was a way of life. John Molina takes us on a tour of women's basketball's origins, depicting the lives of the traveling All American Red Heads, who made a living playing basketball.
By John Molina
The season schedule for a WNBA player is demanding -- 40 games in four months. Plane rides, bus trips, practices and autographs. But how about playing more than 200 games during a seven-month season, traveling 20,000 miles by car? Playing against men's teams only and performing a halftime show while the men rested, and then having to wash your own uniforms in a bathtub back at a hotel.
This is the story of the All American Red Heads. The professional women's basketball team that traveled to small towns all across America for 50 years, entertaining hundreds of thousands of fans and becoming role models for many young girls and boys.
Once Upon a TimeIt was 1936, long before Title IX or the WNBA. Women had been playing basketball for almost 50 years, since the Senda Berenson Abbott brought the game of basket-ball (as it was known) to her physical education class at Smith College in 1892. It was typical for women all over the country to get together for fun and play the game in industrial leagues.
C.M. Olson (Ole), from Cassville Missouri had a famous traveling basketball team called The Terrible Sweedes. His wife, Doyle, owned a hair salon, and several of her employees played basketball at night. Legend has it that one night her employees dyed their hair red and played against a local men's team. It was an instant hit, and Ole decided to book the team in games against men's teams. Women were still playing the six-on-six, half-court game at the time, but the Red Heads would play full court and by men's rules. The team was originally known as the Cassville Red Heads, but would change their name to “All American” when AAU All Americans like Peggy Lawson and Kay Kirkpatrick joined the team.
World War IIFive years before the attack at Pearl Harbor, these women were getting paid for what they loved to do, play basketball. The early teams traveled all over the country, played in front of thousands of fans, including Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. In the early years, the teams traveled by station wagon but would move up to limousines in the early 1960s.Along with playing against men, they performed special ball handling routines and trick shots to entertain the fans as well. The Red Heads were featured in magazines such as Life, Colliers and Pic and became so popular that they created a second team called the Ozark Hillbillies.
With the onset of World War II, the team found themselves in the Philippines. Just prior to the country being invaded, the team was evacuated at night out of the country. The team went on a hiatus during World War II due to rationing of items such as tires and gas. After World War II, two teams were on the road at the same time – the second was called The Famous Red Heads. It was during this time that 11-time All American Hazel Walker joined the team for three years prior to starting her own barnstorming team, The Arkansas Travelers.
During the next decade, the teams signed their greatest players. Names like Willa “Red” Mason and Johnny Farley would appear in newspapers around the country. The most successful player in the Red Heads' history from a scoring perspective was owner Orwell Moore's wife, Lorene “Butch” Moore. She was an outstanding player, scoring 35,426 points in 11 seasons.
Becoming a Red HeadThere was no draft, like in the WNBA today. Many times, a coach would hear that the Red Heads would be playing at a nearby town in the future. They would contact the owner of the team. The player would meet the coach at the game and be given a tryout on the spot. Such was the case for Cheryl Clark. Clark played for two and a half years with the The Texas Cowgirls. When the team came to a town near her, she traveled to the game and tried out. She was hired on the spot. She put her luggage in the stretch limousine and left with a team that day. Clark went on to play for 12 seasons and coached the team as well. During this career, she scored more than 26,000 points.
When a person was offered to become an All American Red Head, they must have been willing to become just that. They must have red hair, either naturally or dyed. In the early days, this was accomplished by using henna. The later years, they used Miss Clairol “Flame 33.” Along with the playing of games, travel, practices and other daily duties, an occasional adjustment to the hair color was also needed.
The Later YearsAs the years went on into the 1960s and '70s, three teams traveled the countryside, and players such as Charlotte Adams, Glenda Hall, Kay O'Bryan and Jolene Ammons became player coaches. Orwell Moore would even start a basketball camp for girls called Camp Courage. This allowed his players to stay involved in basketball during the off-season and make a living at what they loved, while helping teach middle and high school girls the fundamentals of basketball. Some of the girls that attended this camp while in high school would eventually go on to play for the Red Heads.
The Red Heads played until 1986 and continue to have reunions to this day. The most recent was in Little Rock, Ark., in June of 2005. Fifty players from all over the country, spanning more than 40 years, attended. Many of the team's artifacts are on display at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., including a 30-foot limousine they toured America in.