Description:
This is the remarkable story of the first stars of women's basketball. In the early 1970s, few women participated in organized athletics, but in Catholic Philadelphia, women's basketball was already a well-established, thirty-year tradition. In this vivid account of Immaculata basketball, Julie Byrne explores the unusual lives of these young women, the rare opportunities and pleasures they were allowed, their religious culture, and the broader ideas of womanhood that they inspired and helped redefine.
Review Quotes: The sports-religion connection is examined in fascinating depth, as Byrne probes the traditional Catholic position on sports, effectively building the case that basketball allowed young women the opportunity to be expressive without sacrificing their Catholic beliefs... In an era when athletes' values are routinely under attack, this is perhaps the most unusual sports book of the season.--Mary Frances Wilkens "Booklist"