June 9, 2016
For more information or interview requests, contact John A. Molina 860-205-9805 or Charlie Francis 877427-2665
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Upcoming book to feature stories from pioneers of women’s pro hoops
As the U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team prepares to defend its gold medal at the Olympic
Games at Rio de Janeiro in August, a coffee-table book chronicling the early days of women’s professional
basketball is in its final stages of preparation as well.
Author John A. Molina interviewed 88 women in his preparation for Barnstorming America—Stories from
the Pioneers of Women’s Basketball, which is scheduled for release by Acclaim Press this fall. Most of the women
featured were among the first professional basketball players who played on barnstorming teams in the
middle of the 20th century. Also featured are women who were part of the early professional women’s
leagues.
The foreword for the book is written by Donna Orender, who was a star in the Women’s Professional
Basketball League (WBL), former commissioner of the WNBA and sports broadcasting executive.
Ironically, it was Olympic team coach Geno Auriemma’s work as legendary coach of the University of
Connecticut women’s team that got Molina interested in the subject of women’s basketball.
In the introduction to Barnstorming America, Molina tells how watching Auriemma’s UConn teams got
him hooked on women’s hoops.
“When Dr. James Naismith invented the sport of basketball, many felt that it wasn’t a game well-suited
for women to play,” said Molina. “They believed that women couldn’t play a sport that involved teamwork
because they were too selfish. Observing the 1995 UConn team that went undefeated in winning the
national championship, I saw the exact opposite. I saw cooperation. I saw unselfish play. In short, I saw a
team.”
Molina was moved to learn what he could about the early days of women’s basketball and the players
who helped to dispel the misconceptions about women and sports. He has been inducted into the
Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in
recognition of his work as a historian.
The early professional women’s basketball players didn’t play in leagues, but on barnstorming teams
such as the All American Red Heads, the Southern Belles, the Arkansas Lassies and the Texas Cow Girls.
The teams traversed the continent, playing a grueling schedule of one-night stands, playing by men’s rules
against local all-star teams made up of men who didn’t want to lose against a team of women. The women
seldom lost.
“Those barnstorming teams brought women’s basketball to the masses,” Molina said. “Crowds may
have shown up as a matter of curiosity, but they came away convinced that women can play basketball.”
The success of the barnstorming teams led to the first attempts at professional women’s leagues such as
the WBL, the Ladies Professional Basketball Association (LPBA) and the Women’s Basketball Association
(WBA). These leagues all failed but were forerunners of the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Since women’s basketball became an Olympic sport in 1976, the USA team has won seven gold medals,
a silver and a bronze in nine tournaments. The only Olympics the USA women’s team didn’t medal in was
in 1980, when President Carter ordered a boycott of the Moscow games.
During Auriemma’s tenure as coach of the USA National Team the team has a 23-0 record, with a gold
medal at the 2012 Olympics and FIBA World Championships in 2010 and 2014.
Advanced copies of Barnstorming America can be reserved through the publisher’s website
(www.acclaimpress.com) or the author’s website (www.allamericanredheads.com).