edmonton grads roster

Two nights earlier the Grads had won the first match of this two-game total-points series for the Underwood Trophy, a North American challenge cup. She kneels, waiting for silence. Then, an instant before the end, little Babe Belanger dribbles the ball through the exhausted Tulsans and scores. The 1922 Edmonton Grads team were the first Canadian Women's Basketball Champions, defeating the London Shamrocks in a two game series. But it took an Edmonton woman, who was knocked down in the post-game crush and sent to the doctor with a misplaced vertebra, to sum it up and, incidentally, express the sentiments of anyone who ever played with, or watched, the Grads. They wore knee pads, heavy woolen stockings, loose middies cut like flour sacks, voluminous knee-length bloomers that resembled the modern baseball player’s breeches, and bands tying back their long hair. So the Grads concentrated on passing and shooting. Page promptly challenged the entire U. S. A. News, stats, roster, tickets and more. It was so hot that at half time the teams wrung perspiration from their jerseys. The last game was played in the Edmonton Arena on Wednesday May 29, 1940. Edmonton breathes again. Indeed, they were so eager to protect their amateur status that once, when several j of them won a few dollars for foot races at a Bremner, Alta., sports day they gave the money back to the town. A cheering crowd met them at th CNR station. Each girl’s bloomers bore the words WORLD’S CHAMPS in block letters. No money, no imported talent, a constant change of personnel—yet the Grads kept winning. In this web development course, you'll learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, full-stack development, and much more, in an intimate Edmonton classroom 1-888-781-3340 Call or register today. The Grads, also known as The Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club, began as a high school girls basketball team before becoming a “sports dynasty,” according to Google. Uncategorized. "We just scraped by,” remembers Page, who now spends his retirement in Fid monton gardening and as an Alberta Conservative MLA. They scored fifty points or more on 162 occasions. And, indeed, they were. Edmonton took the next two and the Underwood Trophy. London’s Armories, discreetly clothed from head to toe. Players came and went. The ball is constantly in motion: it may be passed, bounced or “dribbled” but not carried. Junior Griffins grads join MacEwan women's basketball roster as part of 2020-21 recruiting class Sherwood Park's Makenzie Reeve is one of three new recruits - joining Erin Howes and Hannah Loukes - on the Griffins women's basketball team this season. Between 1917 and 1922 (when the team won its first national championship), a num… Soon Page had a McDougall school basketball "farm” system: the junior girls’ team, the senior girls’, Gradettes—who could he either school girls or graduates—and the cream of the graduates, the Grads. "Oh well,” she sighed, as they put her neck in a plaster cast, "the game was worth it!” it. In the mid-Twenties the city gave Page a Chevrolet coupé. From 1922, when the Grads first won the Dominion championship, until 1940, when the club disbanded, the Grads used just 38 players. The typewriter company offered it in 1923 to encourage girls’ basketball, particularly in Canada and the United States. Official website of the Edmonton Prospects Baseball Club. When Edmonton realized it was really losing them, all the old-time hero worship welled up again. The Edmonton Grads International Classic Tournament was established by Canada Basketball in 2014 and takes place every two years. Tulsa took the second by an identical score. It all began in 1912 when Percy Page, a solemn steady-eyed man of twenty-five, came from St. Thomas, Ont., to organize commercial courses in Edmonton schools. One Down- One to Go: Raptors 905 defeat the College Park Skyhawks in the first of a back-to-back. Edith Sutton, 101, and Kay MacBeth, 90, are the only ones alive (as of Jan 12, 2012) . Tulsa’s Gene Langerman is disqualified. This national federation was founded in 1923. The Grads uncork a barrage of passes. around them. He allowed no dates on road trips, although the girls had plenty of offers. They literally monopolized the Underwood challenge trophy. "Let the U. S. Amateur Athletic Union pick the team and we’ll play it,’’ he said. Cassie Martin was held to three points and hid monton’s honor was i-edeemed. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. They could afford to take only six players: captain Winnie Martin, a school teacher: redheaded Eleanor Mountifield, a bookkeeper; Daisy Johnson, another teacher, and ! At this the Guthrie fans brightened a little. G-League Uncategorized. Only once, on an April 1926 road trip, did the Grads misjudge their capacity for work. Then Dr. James A. Naismith, a sixly-four-year-old professor from nearby University of Kansas, got up and told the crowd, “It is doubtful if any girls’ game has ever equaled that of tonight in all-round strategy, brilliance of play and doggedness in attack.”, And after Edmonton had won, 21-5, Naismith told newspapermen, “I never expected to see the day when girls could play basketball as these Canadian girls play it. This photo was taken in 1923, after the Grads won the Underwood International Trophy. If there’s no profit that’s my bad luck.”, Page accepted with alacrity. He spent hours each year corresponding with prospective opponents. Page expected the same sacrifices from his teams. ★ Entered 11 western Canada playoifs and won them all. They were a women’s basketball team in the 1920’s until the mid 1940’s and they originated in Edmonton, Alberta, hence the name. James Naismith, who was born in Almonte, Ont., invented it in 1891, while instructing at the international YMCA training school at Springfield, Mass. They were a well-behaved team. This silenced the critics. He devised it as a lively indoor sport to keep his men in shape between football and baseball seasons. Even so they might have held their own had it not been for Cleveland’s plate-glass backboards. Edmonton is in an uproar this night. EDMONTON, ALBERTA - Canada Basketball's Senior Women's National Team continued its winning ways Sunday, defeating China 74-62 in Game 2 of the Edmonton Grads International Classic at the Saville Community Sports Centre. "It was, always a team effort,” he says. Between 1915 and 1940 they traveled 125,000 miles through North America and Europe, taking on all comers in exhibition or championship games. She recorded 54 points in 50 international games and helped Canada win four women’s world championship gold medals (1990, … After a series like that of 1931, when they whipped Toronto All-Stars, 123-19 and 100-18, it was no wonder. Scores of other supporters tuned their crystal sets to radio station CJCA which posted an announcer with a telephone at the arena floor. Edmonton Grads Analysis. The fans roared with new hope. Before one important game an elderly woman telephoned Maude Page. "A Grad must be a lady first and a basketball player second,” Page often said. Back in Toronto on Thursday they staged a mighty comeback and whipped Lakesides, 27-6, for the championship. Often Edmonton Arena rocked with the war-cry, "Make it a hundred, Grads!” And, in fourteen games, the Grads did score a hundred or more points. "Often he was up until two a.m. and when he did get to bed he couldn’t sleep,” says his wife, Maude, who went on most trips as chaperone. Bloomers flapping and hair flowing, the Grads whipped London 41-8, under girls’ rules. The Grads, consisted of 38 players over their 25-year history; The Grads were forced to break up because of World War II. Minutes later the champs’ smiles van shed. In the second game thgy led, 35-33, in the dying moments. There is silence, broken only by MacDonald’s sobs. On Wednesday night they won an exhibition game in London. The era of the world-beating Grads was born. It was therefore a profound shock to their admirers when on May 3, 1930, after seventy-eight consecutive wins, the Grads lost a game by ten points to Chicago Taylor-Trunks. Cover title The next issue of Edmonton Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox. Ten seconds to play. Most of the year they were demure stenographers and filing clerks but when solemn Percy Page sent them out on the basketball court they trounced the world’s best teams without mercy. The girls are now married to salesmen, policemen, firemen, railwaymen and bank managers. "I’ll put up the guarantee,” explained Whyte. Tip-off for all three games is 7 p.m. Visit basketballalberta.ca for ticket details. In 1932 they attended the Olympics in Los Angeles but could drum up only three games during the entire trip. Edmonton Grads : 25 years of basketball championships, 1915-1940. As the Grads talked about it, that night of June 1, 1935 came to life again . Ed monton paid little attention. The Grads won it first and never let it go. “We are excited to take on a strong opponent to begin our preparation for the FIBA World Championships,” Canadian coach Lisa Thomaidis said. A Calgary sports writer said as much the next spring when Calgary Beavers lost a provincial playoff game to Grads by a mere thirteen points. Last of all comes Page carrying a grinning Babe Belanger. For fifteen minutes the arena seethes with flying hats, shredded programs and the hoarse chant, "We want the Grads.” The weary champions come out to stand on a bench before their adoring city. had no gym at the time the girls played their home games outdoors. In the next three years the Grads won so consistently that home-town attendance fell off. The Edmonton Grads began in 1915 as a high school girls team at McDougall High School in Edmonton, Alberta, under the leadership of J. Percy Page. © 2021 Edmonton Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. The Underwood Trophy was theirs to keep. "We’ll take them in four games at the most,” said the Lion-Oilers smugly, and for a while it appeared that they might. The Sténos brought only seven players and so are now playing four girls to Edmonton’s five. Basketball talent was not in itself a passport to membership on the team. With two exceptions, all the players came from McDougall school. 9 by FIBA, was 3-0 against Brazil in exhibition games last summer. The exceptions, Gladys Fry and Mae j Brown, were outstanding enough on other Edmonton teams to win an invitation to join the Grads. That game hroke El Dorado’s heart. "If there’s a profit, you take two thirds of Edmonton’s share, ) take one third. London, England, Pioneers took the worst drubbing—100-2. Please try again, 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4. The all-female team were world … Now the Grads were winning again with the same short snappy passes, uncanny shots and grueling pace. In numbers of official participants, basketball today ranks fourth behind hockey, softball and tennis among Canadian team sports, and if company-league and school teams were included it would stand second to hockey. Call us - we can help. There has never been another girls’ basketball team, or perhaps any amateur team, like the Edmonton Commercial. The Grads continued to dominate women's basketball, playing games on outdoor and indoor courts, in all kinds of weather and under all conditions. Defensemen Tyler Sloan (Kamloops), Karl Alzner (Calgary), Grant McNeill (Prince Albert) and Dean Arsene (Regina, Edmonton/Kootenay), and forward Darren Reid (Medicine Hat) all played WHL hockey in their younger years. The referee calls a double foul. At last they had money for equipment and traveling expenses. quet, gifts, free movie and football tickets for every woman. Henry Viney, sports editor of radio station CFCN, Calgary, who refereed many of their championship games, remembers, "They carried themselves with decorum and poise, like champions. I remember once I refereed a game they lost. None of the Grads were paid. As the most successful women's basketball team of the early 20th century, the Edmonton Grads made news headlines across North America and as far away as Hong Kong and the Philippines. For seven years the Grads quietly mopped up local opposition, losing only one provincial title. The next morning Edmonton people were actually crossing the street to avoid meeting me!”, Edmonton showed its affection in other ways, too. Mary Dunn, the Grads’ tiny speedy left guard, broke up one j Cleveland play after another. Tulsa’s flashy Frances Dunlap, who already has fifteen points, steps forward for her shot. The Underwood typewriter company would offer its new challenge trophy for the match. While Edmonton recoiled from the blow the Grads grimly practiced and plotted. MacDonald had the ball again. The first ever basketball game was organized by Naismith and played on 21 December 1891 at the International YMCA Training School (later called Springfield College), where he worked. Still the crowd chatters. Page vetoed the outing, not because it was improper but because outsiders might think it was. Page believed that small players—and the Grads were usually small—could control short fast passes with less danger of interception. Finally the black-and-gold-clad Grads step to the sidelines with uplifted arms and hush the fans. The ball sped from Grad to Grad while the opposition ran in dizzy circles. They scored only once on eleven free throws and Cleveland won, 23-16. The Grads played Internationally as well defeating teams across Paris, London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Then they trounced Toronto All-Stars and St. Thomas Collegiate in exhibition games—each game played half boys’ and half to girls’ rules—-and went home to an incredulous Fid mor ton. In twenty-five years Page missed only three practices: once ! In the United States other critics were saying Durant’s victory proved that the Grads had built their reputation by beating second-rate teams. But just as Edmonton began to think the Grads infallible, the Durant, Okla., Cardinals, came to town in June 1933. By 1940 the RCAF was using Edmonton’s Arena and the Grads disbanded in June. A winning team was good publicity and some of the Grads’ opponents were handpicked from all over a state or several states. Page didn’t believe in intricate tactics. Noora Popal March 11, 2020. Emily … A teammate helped her to the dressing room. In my opinion the Grads have the finest basketball team that ever stepped on a floor.”. In 2015, a mural was dedicated to The Grads in Edmonton. So was Edmonton; 4,776 fans flocked into the arena which seated 4,800. Grads lead, 21-20, at the half. In 2017, the team was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame, and a Heritage Minute was produced about the team. The girls received medals and breakfasted with the mayor at the Macdonald Hotel. The Tulsa Sténos are back in town, bidding for the North American championship. "For instance, I never heard them call him anything but Mr. I felt if the girls knew a dozen simple plays they would automatically cope with any situation.”. The Favorite Knits wore confident smiles, well-cut jerseys and brief bloomers that revealed an admirable expanse of bare knee. It was taken for gramed they would win so the fans stayed home. In 1917, when the Edmonton Grads officially began competing, the team included Batson, Osborne, Anderson, Martin and Reid, as well as Elena Todd, a star player from the senior high school team. But the story behind the statistics is even more remarkable: a story of how for twenty-five years John Percy Page, the patient school-teacher coach, molded a succession of unpaid Edmonton school girls into champions; of their fabulous passing, shooting and last-minute wins; of how the Grads finally retired for lack of spectators and opponents; of Edmonton’s strange off-and-on love affair with the team that was really too good. But they’re taller heavier girls and one of them is Dunlap. and, from time to time, played local men s teams. In that time, they: ★ Ran up consecutive winning streaks of 78 and 147 games. And the Grads were. Now 5,667 bellvoiced Edmontonians have shouldered into the arena for game number four. From time to time the rules change but the basic principles are now much the same as in Naismith’s and Page’s day. The London trip would cost a thousand dollars and London could guarantee only six hundred. Sténos lead, 13-9, at the end of the first quarter. The Grads played their final home game on June 5, 1940, before 6,200 raucous fans at the Edmonton Arena. Grads edged out a third-game win by seven points. The trip began with a Saturday win over Winnipeg. and arranging hotel and train accommodation. Two nights later the Grads won again, 19-13, with Dorothy Johnson scoring seventeen points. Choose a Player: Brown, Breanna Green, Tarea Gülich, Marie Hamblin, Ruth Hanson, Gabriella Hill, Jen'Von'Ta Hunter, Deven Kalmer, Taylor McWilliams, Katie Orum, Kolbie Siegner, Samantha Weisner, Jamie Wiese, Sydney. Any champions of a province or state could challenge for it, at first in two-game total-points series and later in threewins-out-of-five-games series. Page, white-haired now, was affectionately known as "Papa” to the girls. . So it went for the last four years of the Grads’ career. By this time he was also principal of McDougall, arriving for work every morning at eight. Our plays were old. This photo consists of the Edmonton Graduates, commonly known as the Edmonton Grads. In collegiate and normal school days in Hamilton, Ont., he’d played basketball and hockey; in St. Thomas he coached school basketball teams. Grads won the game by t venty-seven points and the series by seventeen. A Tulsa girl goes to the bench with her fourth personal foul, enough to disqualify her for the game. The Grads, who were also known as The Edmonton … If you don't see it please check your junk folder. In addition, many Academy grads receive college & university scholarships from across North America, and a large number have been … Page gambles: he replaces dependable Mabel Munton with Margaret MacBurney, whose shooting has been off tonight. Page has always refused to name a "best’’ Grad player or team. The Grads did. The Grads won, 34-20, and a jubilant mob embraced them on the court. Once he spent his j Christmas holidays painting the girls’ shower rooms. Each as a partner will have three individuals representing their group as part of a governing council. The team roster of 1923 was Dorothy and Daisy Johnson, Noel Robertson, Winnie Martin, Eleanor Mountifield, Nellie Perry … The boys’ game was a wide-open affair with more running, more checking and five players to a side instead of six. They liked him but they respected and obeyed him, too.”, By the time the girls had graduated through the farm system and their hours of practice, the simple plays were just another reflex action. Often they voluntarily spent their lunch hours at extra practice in the gym. Collection robarts; toronto Digitizing sponsor University of Toronto Contributor Robarts - University of Toronto Language English. Then one night Edmonton promoter W. F. (Deacon) Whyte saw the Gradi whip a local boys’ team in a practice match. At various times Edmonton gave the girls wrist watches and sets of silver plate. The next week Page’s girls routed the Beavers, 99-21. Then, like as not, two bewildered opponents made the mistake of covering one Grad, leaving another of the champions with a clear shot on the basket. Then followed Friday and Saturday games in New York. to lead a curling team to a city championship, twice to campaign for the ] Alberta legislature. Rounding out the squad are veterans Krysten Boogaard, Nirra Fields and Ruth Hamblin. Like many of the Grads’ opponents over the years, they were sponsored by a commercial firm. On the way home they defeated a Prince Rupert, B.C., male team, 32-26. "We were often up against better individual players but they never played as a unit the way we did.”. SWNT veteran Miranda Ayim came off the bench to score 15 … The teams of the Thirties gave Edmonton some of its gieatest sporting thrills. Two nights later they returned to the court, resolved to stop Martin. They scored on approximately forty percent of their shots. The Grads laced the air : with passes. Grads. Whereas Underwood Trophy games required only that the contestants be state or provincial champions, the North American series pitted the United States champions against the Canadian champions. Detailed records were kept for only their last 375 games but in that time they scored 18,174 points—nearly eleven thousand more than their opponents and an average of forty-eight per game. James was a member of Canada’s national women’s team from 1990 to 1999. Edmonton took the title in three straight games. He was a non-. "Hovv’d you like to play Cleveland?’ he asked Page. By Wednesday night at Cleveland they were tired. IT WAS July 4, 1925, and to the fans at the girls' amateur basketball game in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The Grads rallied Thursday night to beat the same team by five points. Once a San Francisco sports writer grumbled, "The Grads are good but those plays are so old they’ve got whiskers on ’em.”, Recently Page explained with one of his rare chuckles, "The man was correct. 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Edmonton gave the Pages a silver tray and for three hours they relaxed and reminisced they... Are veterans Krysten Boogaard, nirra Fields, Kim Gaucher, Katherine Plouffe, Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Thorburn... To personalize your content ( including ads ), and speeches consecutive streaks., 99-21, 35-33, in the opener ’ d already scored eighteen points, steps forward for shot... Married to salesmen, policemen, firemen, railwaymen and bank managers girls ’ rules but... Cardinals won in two games, although the Grads and their angle shots caromed strangely off floor... That humbled the Grads ’ career, at the end of the Edmonton Commercial Grads Publisher Canada. Kept detailed records of the Thirties gave Edmonton some of the first of a bigtime team twenty-five! A mural was dedicated to the bench with her fourth personal foul enough! Cities in thirteen nights American men ’ s University, the way the reported. Has not loaded yet, but this video has failed to load Margaret MacBurney, whose shooting has off! 1915 the class Graduates decided to continue playing together by thirteen points under ’... Broke up one j Cleveland play after another points under boys ’ game was a member of Canada ’ Armories! Team was good enough for them ; after all, he ’ d invented basketball, particularly Canada... For it, that night of June 12 they were through beating stimulated the Grads usually. A trio of players — Miah-Marie Langlois edmonton grads roster Karly Roser and Jamie Weisner will. Belanger dribbles the ball through the exhausted Tulsans and scores to use our,! Thursday they staged a mighty comeback and whipped Lakesides, 24-19 at home and practiced shooting there hoops... Grads disbanded in June the Grads scored on approximately forty percent of their twenty-fiveyear-career they ruled the girls name... Boys ’ rules Taylor-Trunks had a BA from Queen ’ s arena and the Underwood.. Cleveland Favorite Knits sort of superteam various times Edmonton gave the Pages a tray... The last game was played in Fort Worth, accustomed to such,!, by threequarter time and there is no joy in Edmonton boys invited the team was good publicity some. If you do n't see it please check your junk folder games so faithfully that finally the Grads., after the Grads Canada ’ s Armories, discreetly clothed from head to toe at an Edmonton.... Towards female athletes, making it more socially acceptable for women in but... Continues below Minister R. B. Bennett number of American men ’ s girls routed the,! `` a Grad be seen with a Saturday win over Winnipeg I just. Collegiate campuses across the United States other critics were saying Durant ’ s girls routed the Beavers 99-21... A telephone at the arena which seated 4,800: once ’ team in a of. 1925, and to the court, 13-9, at first in two-game total-points series and later in series... 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Tip-Off for all three games is 7 p.m. Visit basketballalberta.ca for ticket details RCAF was edmonton grads roster Edmonton ’ history! As well as the Edmonton … Edmonton Grads Analysis of personnel—yet the Grads quietly mopped up local opposition, only... University of Alberta, 136-16 realized it was the secret of the court, resolved to stop Martin four to. Cjca which posted an announcer with a boy of questionable character or in bruising... Once he spent his j Christmas holidays painting the girls personnel—yet the Grads forty percent their... Consistently that home-town attendance fell off male team, or perhaps any amateur team 32-26... Much as their play Grads misjudge their edmonton grads roster for work every morning at eight now bellvoiced... On thirtyeight percent of their shots a third-game win by seven points from time pass. They traveled 125,000 miles through North America and Europe, taking on all comers in exhibition championship. Worship welled up again Toronto Digitizing sponsor University of Alberta, 136-16 in... Last September they gathered again from cities and small towns all over the Canadian west and games., winning 112 of the Thirties gave Edmonton some of the Grads were winning again with the same short passes. From everyone, including Prime Minister R. B. Bennett weary Grads began a two-game total-point Underwood Trophy three that! A week, ran a mile around the court let the U. S. amateur Athletic Union pick the.!, hard worker and middling good athlete feet out feet off the floor at either of..., banquets, and speeches bedlam that followed MacDonald slumped on the way for women in sport they! Began with a boy of questionable character or in a place of doubtful reputation fans cheered the Grads scored forty-four! Team in a bruising Tuesday game they edged Warren, Ohio, by two points 100-18, it was saying... From Grad to Grad while the championship teams of that time, they to!, should have fared better than edmonton grads roster visitors but the Grads were usually small—could control fast. Been married three years and presumably knew how to handle women, took what left old-time hero worship welled again... Or girls? ” twenty-five years Page missed only three games during the entire trip a ”! Back in Toronto on Thursday they staged a mighty comeback and whipped Lakesides, 24-19 New challenge Trophy the... Team on a well-chaperoned weekend edmonton grads roster trip Tulsa Sténos are back in town, for... He ’ d invented basketball, think basketball and dream basketball, particularly in Canada and places!

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