One of the highlights of my mom's life was playing guard for Bode High School's team for the last few minutes of the team's state tournament appearance. In those days, girls were allowed just one dribble.
In the years I was a working journalist in Iowa -- and nearly every working journalist in Iowa covers high school sports at some time -- the forwards tended to get all the ink. I knew Lynne Lorenzen when she was an 8th-grader at Ventura. By the time she reached high school, she was such a phenom that, for all the importance of teamwork in a team's success, the fact was, one hot-shooting forward like her could carry a team all the way to Veterans' Auditorium. But by the time Lynne was in high school, I had moved on from covering her for the Clear Lake paper to covering the undefeated Vikettes for the Vinton paper. Vinton won the state championship in 1984 on the strength of a true team effort -- but the leader of the team was a GUARD, Roxanne Wellner, who was named Ms. Iowa Basketball that year.
Nice piece, Jane. I always thought the beauty of the six-player game was the two-dribble limit. Dribbling is one of the more difficult basketball skills to master and the six-player rules took that off the table. The rule put a premium on great passing, which done well is far more interesting than watching time-killing dribbling.
Thanks, Mike. Three of my favorite teams to watch in women's basketball are Drake, Iowa and Oklahoma (hmmm, a lot of synergy there) and not just for homer reasons. They all feature exquisite passing and I think all three were among if not the top teams in assists this season. (UConn also plays beautiful basketball that way, too.)
Jane, I attended Valley High School in the mid-60s. Unlike the metro and other big schools, Valley had 6-player. The reason I bring this up is that Valley had a player named Colleen Bowser, who had Caitlin Clark-type skills. She had transferred from Wichita, where she had been on the same playgrounds as the Stallworths. She was one of the few probably limited by the two-dribble rule. I know she played on some international teams, but if you have the time, interest and resources to find out more about her post-high school career I know I, and other VHS alums, would be interested. Thanks.
https://www.vintontoday.com/articles/news/article102892.html
One of the highlights of my mom's life was playing guard for Bode High School's team for the last few minutes of the team's state tournament appearance. In those days, girls were allowed just one dribble.
In the years I was a working journalist in Iowa -- and nearly every working journalist in Iowa covers high school sports at some time -- the forwards tended to get all the ink. I knew Lynne Lorenzen when she was an 8th-grader at Ventura. By the time she reached high school, she was such a phenom that, for all the importance of teamwork in a team's success, the fact was, one hot-shooting forward like her could carry a team all the way to Veterans' Auditorium. But by the time Lynne was in high school, I had moved on from covering her for the Clear Lake paper to covering the undefeated Vikettes for the Vinton paper. Vinton won the state championship in 1984 on the strength of a true team effort -- but the leader of the team was a GUARD, Roxanne Wellner, who was named Ms. Iowa Basketball that year.
Hey! Just stumbled upon this! This is Roxanne (Wellner) Rolland and I remember this like it was yesterday! So happy to read this post.
I love love love that a guard got that honor, I didn't know that had ever happened!
It was very memorable for sure!! Roxanne (Wellner) Rolland
Thanks for commenting!
Nice piece, Jane. I always thought the beauty of the six-player game was the two-dribble limit. Dribbling is one of the more difficult basketball skills to master and the six-player rules took that off the table. The rule put a premium on great passing, which done well is far more interesting than watching time-killing dribbling.
Thanks, Mike. Three of my favorite teams to watch in women's basketball are Drake, Iowa and Oklahoma (hmmm, a lot of synergy there) and not just for homer reasons. They all feature exquisite passing and I think all three were among if not the top teams in assists this season. (UConn also plays beautiful basketball that way, too.)
Jane, I attended Valley High School in the mid-60s. Unlike the metro and other big schools, Valley had 6-player. The reason I bring this up is that Valley had a player named Colleen Bowser, who had Caitlin Clark-type skills. She had transferred from Wichita, where she had been on the same playgrounds as the Stallworths. She was one of the few probably limited by the two-dribble rule. I know she played on some international teams, but if you have the time, interest and resources to find out more about her post-high school career I know I, and other VHS alums, would be interested. Thanks.
Great article, and brings to mind a photo of my grandmother in pigtails and a black, baggy uniform playing basketball in Fairfield, Iowa.
What a great image!