Prehistory

In the beginning...

"On Saturday, April 4^th, 1896, in Armory Hall, San Francisco, 500 people witnessed a game of basket-ball between teams representing the athletic women of Berkeley and Stanford Universities. The game is an historic one in the development of athletics for women, as it marks the first intercollegiate basket-ball game." Sequoia, vol. 5 April 10, 1896.

It is hard to believe that the first women’s basketball game was played over 100 years ago, yet it took 75 more years for it to become a varsity sport. Women’s basketball seemed to be popular right from the start with 500 people attending the first game, in which Stanford doubled their opponents point total with a score of 2-1. Mrs. Jane Stanford herself sent a "charming note" to the team praising their victory, and a crowd of several hundred cheering students met the team at the Palo Alto train station with a bus decorated with flags and cardinal bunting to escort the victors back to campus. During a reception at Roble Hall, each team members was awarded a Stanford Block "S."

The game was played somewhat differently then (nine players on a team, no backboards, and no dribbling), but still required a great deal of exertion. Society in the 1890’s was still debating whether or not mental activity o the part of women was injurious to their reproductive health and the vigorous and competitive nature of basketball soon proved worrisome to the powers that be. In 1899, the Faculty Athletic Committee at Stanford ruled that women could no longer participate in intercollegiate contests requiring team work. Permission to play other schools was denied until 1904, when Stanford and Berkeley met again in a three-game series. In 1910, the team was once again pulled from intercollegiate contest; faculty were concerned that the women were more interested in defeating Berkeley that in the game’s lessons of exercises, cooperation, and god sportsmanship. Play was limited to class matches and sports days until 1916, when interclass games with other schools were once again permitted.

Basketball remained part of the Stanford experience for female athletes, but the emphasis well into the 1950’s was on intramural matches. Intercollegiate contest began to pick up in the late 1950’s, although the games were strictly regulated and competitive attitudes discouraged. Post-game refreshments were added as one way to reinforce the social and recreational benefits that the games were supposed to provide.

In the 60’s and early 70’s, basketball as well as other women’s sports changed again, with more women participating and demanding tough competition — if not equity. The passage of 1972 and Title IX of the Education Act, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender in all institutions receiving federal funds, marked the beginning of significant changes for women’s sports. In the 1974-75 academic year, women’s basketball at Stanford was made a varsity sport, and the next 25 years become something to celebrate.