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Cover Story
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With a minute to go before the basketball
game begins, players make final adjustments to their tennis shoes, head
bands and . . . bloomers. Then Betty Viernan, a rmm- who sands 5 feet
call on tiptoes, asks the coach the question on everyone's mind.
“So, what is the game plan?” /PjjfJ
Coach Jane Stirler doesn't hesitate. “We want to wear them
down," she tells 72-year-old Viernan, of Cedar Rapids, lowa. “Let's
get fired up, girls. Let's go!”
Clapping and whooping, the team of gung-ho grannies runs
onto the court with black bloomers billowing and sailor collars
flapping. They re smiling and so are the spectators during
an exhibition game in a Cedar Rapids school gymnasium.
Since the inaugural game of the Granny Basketball League
last August in Lansing, lowa (pop. 1,012), hoop-shooting
seniors have been popping up like corn across lowa to play 4
19205-sryle girls' basketball.
Its something to do with your arms besides reach V
into the cupboards,” says founder Barb McPherson, 62, - *
who organized the first game as a one-time fund-raiser
for Lansing s Old Stone School renovation.
Then something unexpected happened to the
women who had played girls basketball in high school f
decades earlier. The basketball in their hands felt so
natural. The rhythm of the ball bouncing on the
hardwood floor made hearts quicken. They
in lived tor
teens—and didnt want the game to end.
its very energizing. The instant you're on the
your brain chinks, I'm says
Linda Toerper, 63, coach for the Cedar Rapids
Sizzlers. "It’s like being a kid again.”
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Uniforms resemble clothes worn by girts’ teams of the 19205.
In the game
Out on the hardwood, Lois Reisner, 68, of Hiawatha,
waggles her arms above lier head co block a pass from Barb
Smythe, 62, of Cedar Rapids, to Jane Hawes, 61, of Lan
sing. No jumping or running is allowed by 1920 s rules,
but the grannies stretch and hurry aplenty.
In the old-fashioned six-on-six game, the basket
s ball court is divided into thirds. Each team has cwo
guards, two forwards and two centers who play in
their designated zones.
Players pass the ball back and forth, working
their way close enough to the basket to cake a
s l ll >t—underhanded is |ust tine. In an overen
thusiastic defensive burst during the exhibi-
tlon game, Reisner nudges Smythe and a toui
is called. Reisner sticks her arms upright,
c- gracefully accepting blame.
The gym is quiet as Smythe steps to
the free-throw line. She sinks the ball, then
lets loose a long, audible sigh.
Page 4
•American Profile