HOW IT ALL BEGAN
ven though the present women’s basketball program at Kansas State began intercollegiate play in 1968, the roots go back much further. Julius Terrass Willard, a chemistry professor from 19011944, penned this account shortly after his arrival at the school, explaining how the game took hold at the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. His account states that young women were the first students to begin playing the popular game in the spring of 1901. Willard writes that several hundred people witnessed the first public basketball game at K-State on May 25, 1901 as the “Purples” took on the “Reds.” The Purple team, consisting of team captain Frances McCreary, Gussie Griffing, Bessie Mudge, Cora Baird and Mable Stevens, scored a 9-2 victory over the Red team of captain Anna Summers, Myrtle Toothaker, Esther Hanson, Laura Ware and Olive Dunlap. Gertrude Williams, director of physical training at K-State, refereed the game. Women continued to play basketball in the women’s gymnasium, but it was announced on campus that they would not be allowed to play any more games outdoors. Furthermore, only immediate friends and families of the participants were allowed to attend. Interclass competitions were played, and at one point, the freshman team challenged the female members of the faculty. The freshman team came away with a resounding 46-4 victory over their instructors. In November of 1902, the young women asked for permission to play intercollegiate games, but the faculty turned down their request “on a close vote.” Over the next few years, groups of faculty members continued to use the women’s gymnasium to play basketball, but according
to Willard, “blacked eyes and other casualties and possibly other considerations, prevented any excessive development of the sport in the faculty.” The faculty’s decision did not keep students from continuing to play basketball. Women continued to join intramural teams through the physical education program and compete between classes and sororities for the college championship. In fact, the 1921 Royal Purple reported that the women’s game continued to grow in popularity and “almost 200 tried out for places on class teams. The class games were well attended, and a large amount of interest shown by others than the girls playing.” However, it wasn’t until the 1968-69 season that women’s basketball was added as an intercollegiate sport.
The 1917 women’s basketball team included Hazel (Pierce) Blecha (top right) who is K-State’s oldest living alumni at 108.
1906 Women’s Baskteball Team 182