Early Trafford Girls Basketball Teams
In 1930, the Trafford High school newsletter reported, “The basketball girls ended their season with a game at Cathedral on March 7. We lost with a score of 25 to 18, but that certainly does not alter our hopes for next year‘s team. The game was well played. After the game, we were served cocoa and cake by these kind Cathedral girls. We had a good time on the train. Ask any of the girls who were with us if we didn’t.” How sweet is that reporting?
Thanks to Jon Fresch who shared this 1928 photo of his mom's basketball team (Elizabeth Jenkins Fresch 1909 - 1992). He sent it to us hoping that someone might be able to identify other players in the picture. Interestingly, written in his mom's scrapbook was the statement, "they played half-court, never dribbled."
Did you know that continuous dribbling was not allowed in women’s basketball until 1966? Early women’s basketball did not allow dribbling or guarding another player. It wasn’t until 1913 that a single dribble was allowed if it bounced knee-high. At the time these photos were taken, the girl's court was divided into three sections instead of the current two, and players were required to stay in their assigned areas. The game was played with six girls on each side, three forwards, and three guards, and they were not allowed to cross midcourt. This essentially made it a 3-on-3 game played on two sides of the court. In 1936, the rules changed allowing one guard called a "rover" to play the entire court, and in 1938, the court was changed into two sections.
In a related story, Bill Pulkownik asked us if we had information about his grandmother's team and shared the one photo seen here (creased and taped). He identified his grandmother standing in the back row, far left. The players resembled another photo we had in our collection that identified just one other player, Connie Falco. Now we can identify Sophie Tereletsky Pulkownik (1914 - 2009) in our photo. If Sophie’s last name sounds familiar, you may recall that her brother was a POW in Japan for 3 years during WWII (posted in a previous story).
Please let us know if you can help identify any of the other girls in these photos, and thanks to Jon and Bill for sharing their family photos.
The photo above: Front holding ball Unidentified Unid01. Middle row (L-R) Unid02, Unid03, Unid04, Coach Mary Ann Dennis (1912-1961). Back Row (L-R) Minnie Ferraro (1909-1990) Unid05, Unid06, Unid07, Elizabeth Jenkins (1909-1992). Photo courtesy John Fresch.
The photo above: 1931 Team (L-R) Unid08, Unid09, Unid10, Unid11, Unid12, Unid13, Unid14, Constance Falco (1913-1992), Unid16, Sophia Tereletsky (1914-2009), Unid18, Unid19.
Back row far left Sophia Tereletsky, back row far right Connie Falco. Photo above courtesy Bill Pulkownik.
This Pittsburgh Press newspaper clipping published on Mar 10, 1929, may have had girls that played on one of the teams pictured. Note the 6 player lineup forward, guard, and center, but not sure what "S C" means here.
