Senior Sports View

BARB McPHERSON

...Granny Basketball Grabs

the Nation's Attention

A few moments with Barbara McPherson, founder of the Lansing,
Iowa, Granny Basketball League lets you know why people genuinely
like being around her. Her laugh is infectious. Her smile is a ray of
sunshine. And at 62, she is helping to revolutionize the way senior
women think about themselves and the game of basketball.

MyBestYears.com Senior SportsView caught up with the vivacious
granny recently to discover what is happening throughout America's
heartland that is bringing 1920s-style women's basketball back...and
why the stands are packed! After meeting the amazing Barb, up-
close-and-personal, the reasons for this quickly-growing trend
becomes much clearer.

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SSV: The big question: Why did you decide to start the Granny
Basketball League?

BM: Mostly because I wanted to get some exercise, and I couldn’t
find anything else that I liked to do as much.

SSV: Is that generally the same reason why many of your
teammates and opponents get involved?

BM: Probably. Most haven’t played basketball for many years,
mostly because the way girls play now and how we played when
I was in high school, for instance, was so different—much more
rough and taxing. Frankly, nobody wanted to get into that good
of physical condition. We mostly wanted something that was fun,
yet also active and competitive.

SSV: Since you played with the more-familiar game with
six-players and a court split in two, with three on offense and
three on defense, how did you learn about the older-style court
split into three sections?

BM: My father, Tommy Tomlinson, saw the old three-court style in 1920, and I learned
about it from a book he authored.

THE GRANNY LEAGUE
SSV: When did you play the first Granny League game?

BM: It wasn’t a league then. We played

the first granny game in August 2005,

Lansing's Fish Days. We got four

teams together, ours from Lansing, one

from Cedar

Rapids, the other two from

other parts of northeast Iowa. We

thought it was a one-time

thing and that

would be it, but the girls wanted to keep

doing it. Here we are.

SSV: Have you been surprised at the

response, especially how widespread

the attention

has been?

BM: Yes. I thought it was pretty much going to be an Iowa-thing.

SSV: Wrong!

BM (laughs) I really had no idea that so many people in other states would be interested in
it.

SSV: What would have done differently if you had known ahead of time that the attention
would be so widespread?

BM: Good question. I guess I would have hired a secretary to help me—someone long-
suffering, patient and efficient.

SSV: Obviously there was no way of knowing how fast it would grow.

BM: And sometimes it’s best if you don’t know what you
are getting into…

SSV: Do you think that some of the appeal is the 1920s-
style middy blouses, black bloomers and long stockings?
It really is an unusual throwback to the old days.

BM: Absolutely. It’s very unique looking. And who would
pay to see a bunch of grannies with their flab hanging out?

SSV: Although there are a lot of older women who play
three-on-three with shorts and all, right?

BM: Yes, but not for me.

SSV: Part of the optional attire is a dust-cap. What is that?

BM: Did you ever see “Little House on the Prairie” and the
little girls wore these floppy little hats when they went to bed? Some of the grannies wear
something more like a maid’s hat. We mostly want to have fun with it.

SSV: Why did you decide to go with the split court?

BM: It was sort of a package deal. Back in the 1920s

these were the uniforms they wore,

and that was the

rules that they used. In the back of my head, I

thought, “Well, people

were so crazy for girls’

basketball back then. If it worked then, maybe it will

work now?”

That was my theory, at least.

SSV: You played when you were in high school,

right?

BM: Yes. Junior high, too. I started out in Lansing,

Iowa. Then we moved to Fenton, and I

graduated

from Sentral High School.

SSV: Do you find that most of the women who play in

the Granny League also played in

school, or do you

have a mix of those who did and those who didn’t?

BM: Many did, but we have at least a third who didn’t play competitively. Some were
cheerleaders or went to large schools that didn’t allow girls’ basketball. We find that those
who weren’t able to play for a school team are thrilled to finally be able to play now.

SSV: At the risk of asking about a woman’s age, what is the oldest age of anyone in the
Granny League?

BM: Our oldest is 81 years young! Her name is Dolores Rawson, and she’s part of team
that includes three more of her younger sisters, all from the Center Point area of Iowa. One
of those sisters just turned 80. The youngest sister is 71, I believe.

SSV: That is amazing. It’s so apparent through everything you do, in addition to getting
great exercise, that you have a true appreciation for the sport and the legacy of women’s
basketball.

BM: We really feel that way. We want to honor those who have gone on before us, as well
as the schools that we all played for.

SSV: Among the rules, one of the best seems to be the continuous clock.

BM: (laughs) We didn’t want to prolong
the agony!

SSV: Another rule is that if you shoot a
field goal under-handed, the team is
rewarded three points, and only two for
over-handed. Do you have a lot of
people who actually do the old-style
under-hand shot?

BM: Not as many as I thought we would
have. That kind of shot had pretty well
gone out of style by the time most of
us played basketball. It takes a lot of
practice to learn to do it that way.

SSV: You’re pretty good at it, though…

BM: When I was learning to shoot
free-throws, I was so small that it was
the only way I could get it up to the goal.
That was the way my Dad taught me.
And I remember that it was the way the
great Boston Celtics player Bob Cousy
shot.

SSV: And, of course, the greatest free
throw shooter of all time, Rick Barry, shot his free throws “granny-style.”

BM: That’s true, though he came along a little later. For me, I just always liked the under-
handed style. I did change when I got into high school, but I still liked the under-handed
shot. It always came pretty natural to me.

CHEERLEADERS AND GRANDKIDS
SSV: Now, back in your school days, there were always girls cheerleading the boys teams.
Wouldn’t it be fair today for you to have some of your menfolk to be cheerleaders for your
teams?

BM: (laughs uproariously) Yeah! We have actually tried to recruit some of the men to be
cheerleaders. So far we haven’t gotten any takers.

SSV: Maybe it is the idea of carrying around the pom-poms! Or that they might have to
wear a middie blouse…

BM: Maybe they think it’s beneath them. They’re willing to be referees, but not
cheerleaders. Actually, our best cheering sections are all the grandkids.

SSV: Maybe you need to entice the men a little more…you know, by getting rid of the rules
about players not revealing upper arms or legs.

BM: Maybe so. (again the unmistakable Barb laugh)

GRANNY LEAGUES KEEP GROWING
SSV: Although we would recommend that you keep that rule in effect for the cheerleaders
if any of the men decide to join up…now, on to another subject, how many Granny League
teams do you have in Iowa?

BM: We have eight teams right now and at least four more forming.

SSV: How is this growing in other places?

BM: The teams and leagues are forming so quickly that we can’t keep up. We know of
those that have formed from places as faraway as Pennsylvania and Louisiana. We
received inquiries from the West Coast to the East Coast and every where in-between.
Each is at different stages of forming their own leagues.

SSV: You already have a state tournament in Iowa each year. Obviously the other states
will follow your example. Do you see this someday growing into a national tournament?

BM: We’re hoping to do that someday. It’s certainly something that we can do. We’re trying
to help each of the states to have a central place to get league information and news, and
that will help in someday setting up a national tournament.

SSV: What’s the most frustrating part of it?

BM: I think the most frustrating part isn’t for me, but for the players out there who want to
set up their own Granny League teams. Sometimes they may have a few people who want
to play, but don’t know about other teams. Or if they are in rural areas, sometimes it’s quite
a distance to play other teams. It takes a certain amount of organization to get going.

SSV: What do you tell women who say, “Well, even if we get a team together, who will we
play?”

BM: I tell them to go ahead and get the team together, then play charity events, such as
PTA groups or alumni teams.

SSV: Do you ever recommend playing school varsity teams?

BM: We’ve done that before. One night in
Waverly, Illinois, we played the high school
varsity boys team.

SSV: How did that turn out?

BM: Well, they had to play on our three-
court system and rules.

SSV: Anything else?

BM: Well, okay, we had each of them tie
one arm behind his back.

SSV: And what happened?

BM: They still clobbered us!

SSV: One of your rules is “no physical
contact.” Do you really mean that?

BM: Sure, there’s some contact—a little bit
of bumping around, especially when you
have two people going for a loose ball. We
just try not to have contact. Mainly we want
to avoid injury.

SSV: And no hovering, right?

BM: Right. That’s not one of the rules, but we try to make it equal for both taller and
shorter players. You can’t reach in and touch the ball. We try to have a slower, more
gentle game.

SSV: Do you find interest growing in a Grandpa Basketball League?

BM: There are already so many men’s basketball leagues in just about every town, and
there are many of them already oriented to seniors, so there isn’t quite as much of a
demand, I suppose. We do know about a man in Mississippi who wanted to start a Grandpa
Basketball League, but we haven’t heard what his rules were.

SSV: They don’t wear bloomers or anything, do they?

BM: (laughing) No! I don’t think that would work well with the men.

SSV: What has been the most surprising thing of founding the Granny Basketball League?

BM: All the media attention.

SSV: Like this interview...

BM: (laughs) …like this interview. I still find it hard to believe that people in so many places
are interested in what a bunch of older ladies are doing up here in Iowa.

SSV: We keep coming back to the question…why are people so interested?

BM: Again, I think lots of women our age are looking for something that is fun that they can
do together. And, just like the 1920s, I think the time is right. It was an era when women
were finally getting the right to vote and do more things. I don’t pretend to know all the
reasons, but there is something about timing in all this.

SSV: This goes a bit deeper, perhaps, but what response to you get from your spouses
and children. Are they gung-ho, or are they more concerned that you will embarrass them?

BM: Most are pretty supportive. As I mentioned earlier, our grandkids are usually the most
vocal cheerleaders, but the rest seem to like it, too. They come and help keep score, work
as announcers, and do various other things.

SSV: So do you get much negative response from family?

BM: I guess there have been a few whose husbands have been concerned. Sometimes it’s
simply because they don’t want them to get hurt. And I’m sure there are a few whose
husbands don’t want them to leave the house, too!

SSV: Some things never change, right?

BM: You’re right. But for the most part, we’ve found that our families are very supportive.
And I can’t say this about other areas where I don’t have any experience, but I can truly
say that it has always been that way in Iowa where everyone has supported girls’
basketball through the years.

SSV: Do you have any players on your teams that played during their younger years on
famous teams such as the All-American Red H eads, the Edmonton Grads or the Wayland
Baptist Hutcherson Flying Queens or anything like that?

BM: None for those two teams that you mentioned, but we do have some women who
played AAU ball for some of the large companies. We really don’t have any “big name”
players, though. We’re mostly just grannies who enjoy basketball.

SSV: Do you find that there is a large drop-out rate of women who get involved, then quit
because of the physical activity required?

BM: Actually, it’s just the opposite. This isn’t generally something that you do once and
stop. It’s pretty addictive. We have a very low drop-out rate.

SSV: How do you do all this while still keeping your home and career going?

BM: I was actually supposed to be retired by now. I retired from nursing a couple of years
ago and moved back to my hometown of Lansing, and I work part-time in a real estate
office here. My husband is also retired, but he drives a school bus. We stay busy.

SSV: The stereotype of someone who reaches retirement age is kicking back, sitting on a
rocking chair and taking it easy. That doesn’t seem to true of you. What excites you and
keeps you going strong?

BM: There are so many possibilities out there. When you are young you have so many
responsibilities, you are often worried about what people will think of you, and your
experience is limited. When you get my age, you don’t have all those hang-ups anymore, I
don’t think. I truly believe that you can do whatever you want to do and not worry about
what anyone says.

SSV: The only limitations are you, right?

BM: Well, that and an older body!

SSV: You obviously don’t see that as a
limitation.

BM: Even if the body is getting older and
the muscles get sorer sometimes, I still
feel sixteen on the inside, and that’s what
keeps me going.

SSV: We’re circling back to that big question: Is this part of the appeal of the Granny
Basketball League?

BM: It’s definitely a part of it. You do feel younger. It’s nostalgic. It feels great going into the
gymnasium, carrying the gym bag, and it brings back a lot of good memories for all of us. A
part of it is feeling like you are back in high school, I suppose, at least until the game is
over and your body reminds you that you aren’t a teenager any more!

SSV: For our money, since the NCAA and professional women’s league has trouble filling
seats, perhaps what they need to do is bring back the three-court style, middy blouses,
bloomers, and dustcaps!

BM: There you go! Maybe they’ll let us come and help them attract some attention.

SSV: Or not?

BM: Right...I don’t think so. The girls today, from middle school to college and
professionals, all play at such a high level of competition. We’d have to have them all tie
both of their arms behind their backs! They are awesome today.

SSV: So...what’s the future of the Granny Basketball League?

BM: I think it is unlimited as more and more women become aware of it. One of the best
parts of appearing at some of the really big places, such as half-times of major college
games, is that a lot of older women see it for the first time and say, “Hey, I could do that!”
Until you see it played, you think you’re going to have to be running up and down the court
like today’s girls teams. The more exposure we have, the more it helps women our age to
get involved in something that is so fun and life-changing.

Barb McPherson and the Granny League girls play real basketball, though they
use rules similar to when Herbert Hoover was U. S. President, a strange-looking
three-court game. These days they not only play at the local gyms, but they also
appear for half-time exhibition games at top universities, as well as on national
network news and the famed pages of the New York Times.

The Granny Basketball League is here to say for many reasons, the least of which
is one of Barb’s favorite quotes: “Life is not a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid
in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow!
What a ride!’”