Golden_Cyclones

Golden Cyclones

Golden Cyclones

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The Golden Cyclones were a 1930s group of women athletes who played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) softball, basketball and track-and-field. Based in Dallas, Texas they were sponsored by the Employers Casualty Insurance Company (ECC) and coached by "Colonel" Melvin J. McCombs, manager of the ECC athletic program in Dallas.[1]

Babe Zaharias was their star team member from 1930 to 1932, leading the Golden Cyclone Basketball team to the AAU women's basketball championship|AAU Women's Basketball Championship in 1931.[2]

The Golden Cyclones were one of the dominant AAU teams of the era. In addition to the National Championship in 1931, they finished as the national runner-up in 1929, 1932 and 1933, while finishing fourth in 1930.[3] They held the offensive record for scoring the most points ever in a National Tournament game (97) as well as the defensive record for the fewest points ever allowed (4).[4]

In 1934, the Golden Cyclones were enrolled en masse into Dallas's new college, Dixie University, to become the college's women's basketball team known as the Dixie Rebels. Dixie instantly had a national championship-contending team in time for the 1934 national tournament. After winning its early games, the Rebels were trounced by the two-time defending champion Oklahoma City Cardinals in the quarter-finals. It appears that the Cyclones/Rebels never played another game.[5][6]

Notes

  1. [1]
    Hult & Trekell 1991, pp. 160–164
  2. [2]
    Ikard 2005, p. 33
  3. [3]
    Ikard 2005, p. 215
  4. [4]
    Hult & Trekell 1991, p. 161
  5. [5]
    "Oklahoma City Cardinals Defend National Crown in Girls' Court Tourney". The Dallas Morning News. March 25, 1934. p. 4 – via NewsBank Open access icon.
  6. [6]
    "Oklahoma City Cagers Gain Women's Semifinal". The Nebraska State Journal. May 29, 1934. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.

References

  • Hult, Joan S.; Trekell, Marianna (1991). A Century of women's basketball : From Frailty to Final Four. Reston, Virginia: National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. ISBN 9780883144909.
  • Ikard, Robert W. (2005). Just for Fun: The Story of AAU Women's Basketball. The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1557288899.


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