The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-08-13
Billings Girls Were Basketball
Pioneers at Turn of Century,;
SISSY Slant Changed by Boys

~ ASkEIBALL in Billings at the
turn Of the century was con-
side1ed a,r 2 sissy game, suitable
Dick and Tom Logan came back
from Chicago with their parents ia
1905 with different ideas on the sub
ject.
had seen the male of the species ac-
quire a taste for the court game at the
Chicago Y. M. c. A.
They soon convinced a group of
friends that the sport could be given q
masculine tinge and it was not long
before Billings first team was organized
ond infantry, Montana national guard.
It took several seasons for the mems
popularity to equal that of the girls
team. which had started tossing hoops
in 1908 and in the three years following
captured two state championships.
ba In s dsss; f1 far fame n Of # t 4sbS S5iTtsd , fix
the Billings Gazette proudly printed
that There is not a girls team in the
west that can show an equally fine
record, So the spalding people of Chi
When the men organized a quintet,
the local citizenry was well acquainted
with the rules and regulations of the
sport but it took some time to convince
them that the game could be just as
exciting without the presence of girls in
Z During that same winter, 1so5-1sos,
a group Of boys noting the fast growing
popularity Of the mems team, formed
Billings high schools initial cage quin-
tet.
I. E. Terrence, later city clerk of
Billings and now deceased, was man.
ager of the Co. K five, which was the
forerunner of the famous Triple B
basketball team.
In the Co. K ranks were Dick Logan,
now manager Of the Billings municipal
ceased; Ralph Morris. Billings Times
publisher: Albert Clanton, now q far
me on Blue creek; Clifford Chase, now
in the auto business at Wenatchee,
Wash; Charles Hoe, now a bricklayer
at Billings, and Will Parker, residing
now in California.
Lost to Sheridan
only played a single game that season.
lost to Sheridan, Wyo., 6-1-had Or its
squad Will Mckenzie, now a Billings
police officer; Phil SavareSy, present
assistant county attorney; Arthur
"Slick" Hansard, now in business in
Minneapolis, and Lila Camp, Ray Van
Houten and Edwin Shannon, all of
whom now live in other parts of the
country.
Edith Everett, now in California,
coached the girls team after a Miss
Straub had done the initial menIoring
in 1903-1904.
On that team were Edythe Lavigne.
Billings, and her sister, Josephine. with
whom she lives; Orilla Whitney, now
Mrs. Winford Griffing of Billings; Neva
Todd, now Mrs. Arthur Rowland, Bill
lings; Pattie Allen, a teacher now at
the Roosevelt school, Billings; Mabel
Hoe, now Mrs. H. j. Coleman, Billings.
me 9sh9 noT on M the g. fqq 8. w TsFs Esi Bili Snm;
Minda Mowre, now the wife of a Uni
versity of Minnesota professor; Alice
Radcliff, now in Sheridan, Wyo.; Vim
ME Burton, now Mrs. L. c. Piper of Alb
sarokee; Lulu Railsback, deceased:
Kathryn Williams, now married; Ethel
Kate Matheson, both married and re-
siding in California. Mrs. Ann Kahn
P1att of Billings was mascot of the
1908 team.
The mems club in its first season
played but four games but on the basis
of victories in each instance, placed
claim on the Montana and wyoming
Championship chang ? which went unchal-
Under the headline, Billings Can't
Lose, Boys as Well as Girls Play Win
ming Basketball" the Billings Gazette
reported the first mems cage game.
which was staged on the top floor of
the Gruwell block, now the Clark block.
Feb. S, 1906.
Those who have never witnessed a
game Of basketball played by young
men, and failed to take advantage Of
the opportunity last evening, have GER
tainly missed something worth seeing"
the paper commented.
Billings defeated Red Lodge that
night, 25-16, and followed with victor
les over the hitherto unbeaten Glen
dive team, TIA; Red Lodge again, 16-
Is, and Sheridan, Wyo.. 35-17.
Girls Win Title
Billings that winter was q proud bas-
ketball town, as the girls also took the
! state championship, ending the season
u~ndefeated and with a record of II
victories in - games played over a
~three-year period.
When the first girls team was organ
lied, practice was held in the old Wash
ington school building and yard on the
eason was limited for want of opposi-
ton but the group participated in
enough games to claim the state title
Co. Z, In searching for a site in which
to play its first game with Red Lodge,
was donated a large room by Oscar
Gruwell, owner of the building bearing
his name. Phil Grein lent the team a
number Of empty beer kegs across which
planks donated from the H. M. Allen
Lumber Co. were placed for seats. Suits
for the team had been brought from
Chicago by the Logan brothers.
A good sized crowd turned out fol
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