SU’s first women’s scholarship player

[Cheriehoop]

Women's basketball seems like it is a couple decades behind the men. The lack of money has kept it a lot purer.

Most of the players seem to care primarily about the team, not themselves.

Hope it (the team orientation) stays that way for a while longer.

The first scholarship at least in NYS didn’t occur till the early-mid 70’s. I played on a team with the first SU scholarship player, Sheila Nash, in the mid 70’s. She was also the first and last women’s player I ever saw dunk a basketball in person. She was so graceful and fluid, her real passion at the time was in high fashion, she was beautiful, elegant and moved to NYC to become a model. She had a twin sister, Reba, who also played but at Ithaca College, wasn’t as heralded as Sheila. Tom’s post made me think of the Nash twins ( their parents were house parents at a Cornell sorority I believe) and how little people are aware of the beginnings and real struggles of women’s basketball, even at SU. Found this old article when I googled her name.

Ebony

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.

books.google.com

I moved my response from the men’s basketball NIL thread to here. Hope it’s okay.

 

[sutomcat]

The first scholarship at least in NYS didn’t occur till the early-mid 70’s. I played on a team with the first SU scholarship player, Sheila Nash, in the mid 70’s. She was also the first and last women’s player I ever saw dunk a basketball in person. She was so graceful and fluid, her real passion at the time was in high fashion, she was beautiful, elegant and moved to NYC to become a model. She had a twin sister, Reba, who also played but at Ithaca College, wasn’t as heralded as Sheila. Tom’s post made me think of the Nash twins ( their parents were house parents at a Cornell sorority I believe) and how little people are aware of the beginnings and real struggles of women’s basketball, even at SU. Found this old article when I googled her name.

Ebony

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.

books.google.com

I moved my response from the men’s basketball NIL thread to here. Hope it’s okay.

The move is good by me.

There is a good documentary on the USC women's basketball program I happened upon a few weeks ago.

It was on HBO. Called Women of Troy.

It was mostly about the McGee twins, Cheryl Miller, and Cynthia Cooper but it touched briefly on earlier pioneers like Carol Blazejowski, Nancy Lieberman and Dawn Staley. It was pretty well done (there was a lot on the USC-Louisiana Tech rivalry) but for me anyway, I wanted to know more about women's basketball history in general and less about USC specifically.

Agree this is a largely forgotten, perhaps never known chapter in SU athletics that needs more attention.

44 films would do well to do something on the pioneers of the Syracuse women's basketball program. With Coach FLJ back home, they have a great resource to build from.

 

[dollarbill44]

I don't remember a whole lot of women's hoops from the 70s, but I do remember a little school, Immaculata, being quite good and wondering where that school was.