Women's basketball pioneers to return

When IU women’s basketball was created in 1971, there was not much glamour for women’s college athletics.

There were no scholarships. Coaches piled players into vans and drove to games. Recruiting, in the modern sense, did not exist. Instead, fliers were placed around campus announcing there would be open tryouts for the team.

But despite teams’ trials, IU women’s basketball became one of the nation’s elite programs during its first years as a program.

Shortly after legislature enacted Title IX in 1973, which required schools receiving federal funds to provide men and women with equal opportunity to compete in sports, IU went 16-3.

IU qualified for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Final Four before losing to Immaculata, the eventual champion, 49-46.

The Hoosiers’ Final Four appearance came in a stretch that saw two other Elite Eight appearances in 1972 and 1974. But because those were not NCAA sanctioned events, those accomplishments were never properly recognized — until this weekend.

Those teams will be honored both Saturday and Sunday as about 25 players and coaches from 1971-75 are expected to return to Bloomington.

The team members will receive Final Four rings and watch as a 1973 AIAW Final Four banner is raised to the rafters of Assembly Hall.

“I’m just thrilled for the team,” Bea Gorton, IU’s head coach from 1971-1976, said. “It’s a special recognition — very special. They deserve it.”

Under Gorton, IU went 62-15 during the first four years of women’s basketball being a varsity sport at IU. The Hoosiers outscored opponents by more that 14 points per game during that stretch.

Forty years later, what many throughout the program consider “the greatest era of women’s basketball” will finally earn public recognition during halftime of IU’s game against Minnesota.

“They were pioneers,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “They played for the love of the game, and truly that’s a cliché, but truly they played for the love of the game.”

Miller explained on his weekly WHCC 105.1 FM radio interview from the Holiday Inn in Bloomington on Monday that Assistant Athletic Director for Broadcast Services Jeremy Gray brought up the idea of recognizing the team.

Other programs like Tennessee women’s basketball have banners recognizing AIAW accomplishments, which led to the idea of recognizing IU’s 1973 Final Four appearance.

Players and coaches were contacted and invited to come this weekend to be honored at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Northwestern. They will be present when the banner is unveiled during the women’s game Sunday.

“That says a lot,” Gorton said of the team returning. “I think it says a lot about the kinds of friendships that were formed by the players. In sports, the kinds of friendships that are formed are long lasting.”

Gorton said she was excited to be able to get back together with the team.
She stressed the importance of remembering all that the team went through.
When the program began, the team practiced and played in the women’s physical education building on courts that were used for teaching.

The layout of the courts were not even regulation sized until the team began practicing on the second floor of the student recreation center.

“We played on what we had,” Gorton said.

Eventually, the team moved to play within the track and field facility on a court that had to be enclosed by curtains to protect it from dirt and dust kicked up by the track and field athletes. But after playing on those courts, the team would finally be allowed to play at Assembly Hall and use the visiting team’s locker room.

Miller said it was important to remember the accomplishments of these early teams and remember what the players and coaches went through.

“There’s a history that a lot of people don’t realize,” Miller said. “It’s something we should talk about. It’s really exciting to honor that group and well deserved.”

As the current IU women’s basketball team (14-1, 1-1) is just beginning its Big Ten season in a year that saw the team begin a program best 14-0, Gorton said she thought it was only appropriate to reflect back on the teams that made it possible.

“Our teams paved the way for our program,” Gorton said. “That was the beginning of an avenue for a college career and education for women, and I think that’s important to know. There’s a history there.”

“Athletes today, I think ought to say thank you to those former athletes that paved the road for them,” she said. “I’m just so thrilled for this team and excited. It’s very, very special.”

Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @SamBeishuizen.