Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First US Women's Olympic Basketball Team

by Andrew Maraniss Narrated by Nicole Lewis

Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of Strong Inside comes the inspirational true story of the birth of women's Olympic basketball at the 1976 Summer Games and the ragtag team that put US women's basketball on the map. Perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown.

A League of Their Own meets Miracle in the inspirational true story of the first US Women's Olympic Basketball team and their unlikely rise to the top.
 
Twenty years before women's soccer became an Olympic sport and two decades before the formation of the WNBA, the '76 US women's basketball team laid the foundation for the incredible rise of women's sports in America at the youth, collegiate, Olympic, and professional levels.
 
Though they were unknowns from small schools such as Delta State, the University of Tennessee at Martin and John F. Kennedy College of Wahoo, Nebraska, at the time of the '76 Olympics, the American team included a roster of players who would go on to become some of the most legendary figures in the history of basketball. From Pat Head, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers, Lusia Harris, coach Billie Moore, and beyond-these women took on the world and proved everyone wrong.  
 
Packed with thoroughly researched details about the beginnings of US women's basketball, Inaugural Ballers is the fascinating story of the women who paved the way for girls everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Nicole Lewis’s absorbing narration of the U.S. Women’s Basketball team’s path to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal creates a courtside experience for listeners. Led by coach Billie Moore, the underdog American team, who would go on to illustrious playing and coaching careers, vied for a medal and a chance to grow their sport. Lewis’s light characterizations of quoted players and coaches, including Pat Head and Lusia Harris, reflect their tenacity and passion on and off the court. Despite the pervasive sexism and racism of the time, the legacy of these trailblazing ballers continues through the WNBA and expanded youth basketball programs of today. Maraniss’s narrative nonfiction combined with Lewis’s vibrant performance creates a compelling production for teen and adult sports fans alike. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

*"Andrew Maraniss, known for his prolific narrative nonfiction writings focused on disenfranchised and often forgotten athletic heroes...now seeks to chronicle the 1976 US National Women’s Basketball team’s triumph in the Montreal Olympics. More than just a history or collection of biographies, this title presents a sociological study about the role of women in US sports...Not only ideal for sports historians or basketball enthusiasts, this book would also make great fodder for read-alouds about underdogs and strong females."—School Library Connection (starred review)

*"The underdog story of America’s first women's Olympic basketball team plays out in this thoughtful exploration of social change...a book that will stick with readers long after they put it down...A winning story full of heart, camaraderie, and power."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

*"An inspiring, comprehensive look at the first U.S. women's Olympic basketball team...A triumphant account for any sports fan."—Booklist (starred review)

*"A winning look at the creation and legacy of a team that went from underdogs to unstoppable....Maraniss, a master of narrative-nonfiction, creates an immersive and emotional story...An inspirational look at remarkable athletes breaking boundaries. An exceptional read and an essential purchase."—School Library Journal (starred review)

School Library Journal

★ 09/01/2022

Gr 8 Up—A winning look at the creation and legacy of a team that went from underdogs to unstoppable. Maraniss places the 1976 groundbreaking first American women's Olympic basketball team firmly in historical and political context, following the rise of basketball from its inception to the fluctuations of its popularity for women throughout the 1900s (corresponding to social norms about what was acceptably "ladylike") to the backlash, detractors, and misogyny that marked the Olympic team's rise to success. He keeps a close eye on the issues of politics and equity, the work and "whiteness" of second-wave feminism, Title IX, and important moments in civil rights movements. Interspersed throughout are biographies of pioneering women's players and visionary coaches working with no road map and big dreams. Most of these players, from small towns with struggling and underfunded basketball teams, faced seemingly insurmountable adversity, both as women and, for many of the players, as Black women. Perceptions and observations about their lives and their travels around the world illustrate these obstacles and the profound impact the players' tenacity would have on women's sports. Maraniss, a master of narrative nonfiction, creates an immersive and emotional story. The book is full of quotes from interviews and contains an abundance of black-and-white photographs. Back matter includes footnotes that add context and details, a list of interviews, bibliography, rosters, scores, a medal table, Olympic jersey numbers, and notable moments in U.S. women's sports history. VERDICT An inspirational look at remarkable athletes breaking boundaries. An exceptional read and an essential purchase.—Amanda MacGregor

NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Nicole Lewis’s absorbing narration of the U.S. Women’s Basketball team’s path to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal creates a courtside experience for listeners. Led by coach Billie Moore, the underdog American team, who would go on to illustrious playing and coaching careers, vied for a medal and a chance to grow their sport. Lewis’s light characterizations of quoted players and coaches, including Pat Head and Lusia Harris, reflect their tenacity and passion on and off the court. Despite the pervasive sexism and racism of the time, the legacy of these trailblazing ballers continues through the WNBA and expanded youth basketball programs of today. Maraniss’s narrative nonfiction combined with Lewis’s vibrant performance creates a compelling production for teen and adult sports fans alike. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-07-13
The underdog story of America’s first women's Olympic basketball team plays out in this thoughtful exploration of social change.

Soon after James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, girls and women began enthusiastically playing the sport. However, it wasn’t until the passage of Title IX in 1972 that American schools were required to provide equal opportunities, allowing female athletes to compete at the same level (though not with the same funding) as their male counterparts. In 1973, the International Olympic Committee added women’s basketball to the 1976 Games in Montreal. Building the squad from the 1973 World University Games team and open tryouts, basketball pioneer Mildred Barnes enabled coaches Billie Moore and Sue Gunter to assemble a scrappy team capable of medaling when no one (not even USA Basketball executive director Bill Wall) thought it possible. Maraniss explores decades of misogyny and sexism, generations of systemic racism, and White feminists’ shortcomings when it came to race that surrounded the humble beginnings of what became a true Olympic powerhouse: As of 2021, the U.S. women’s team has won seven straight gold medals. Interviews with athletes from the 1976 Olympics enhance the invigorating narrative, enriching a book that will stick with readers long after they put it down. Weaving women’s basketball into a textured account of a society in flux, Maraniss’ latest will appeal to a broad audience.

A winning story full of heart, camaraderie, and power. (photo credits, source notes, bibliography, rosters, statistics, box scores, timeline) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178560389
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

July 26, 1976
Montreal Forum, Quebec, Canada
Summer Olympics
The locker room shook with music, women singing along with the Natalie Cole tape blasting from the small speakers in the corner.
THIS will be . . . an everlasting love
THIS will be . . . the one I’ve waited for
Someone turned off the tape player, and the room grew quieter. The only thing breaking the silence was the muffled murmur of thousands of spectators from around the world who had traveled to Canada for the eighteenth Olympic Games.
American basketball coach Billie Moore stood before her players in the bowels of the famed Montreal Forum, just minutes before her team was to play Czechoslovakia in a game to determine the winner of the silver medal. The women in front of her would go on to become some of the most legendary names in the history of the sport, but at this moment they were still largely unknown.1 For people who paid attention to women’s basketball, it was a surprise this team had even made it to Montreal, let alone that it was in position to earn medals in the first women’s Olympic basketball tournament ever played. The United States had placed a dismal eighth at the World Championships in Colombia a year earlier, only qualifying for the Olympics in a last-­minute tournament for also-­rans just two weeks before the opening ceremony. Heading into the Olympics, one sportswriter declared that the only positive thing anyone could say about US women’s basketball in the past was that it wasn’t the most inept program in the world. “Maybe the second or third worst,” he wrote, “but not the worst.”
A basketball coach must choose her words carefully in a pregame speech—just enough motivation, not too much pressure. As she scanned the room, locking eyes with the veteran co-captain from rural Tennessee, the brash young redhead from Long Island, and the quietly determined Black center from the Mississippi Delta, Moore sensed her players could handle a message that had been on her mind ever since the team’s training camp in Warrensburg, Missouri, six weeks earlier.
The coach had confidence in this group, and though she didn’t think much about politics, she understood the moment in time in which this team existed. In the summer of 1976, women were demanding rights and opportunities all over the world. The United States had just celebrated its bicentennial on July 4, a time for Americans to ponder whether all citizens were truly free.
Moore knew this game was an important stepping-­stone on the journey to equality. Pat,Lusia, Annie, Nancy L., Nancy D., Mary Anne, Sue, Juliene, Charlotte, Cindy, Trish, and Gail wouldn’t just be playing for themselves but also for the women before them who had been denied opportunities. They would be playing for the little girls who yearned to hoop, and generations of athletes yet to be born.
Rather than calm her players’ nerves by telling them to remember this was just another game, no different than any they’d played before, Billie Moore laid it all on the line.
“Win this game,” she told her team,“and it will change women’s sports in this country for the next twenty-­five years.”

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