Category Archives: Amateur Women’s Softball

Joanne Winter: Hall of Fame Pitcher in Two Top Women Leagues of the 1940s and 1950s and Who Excelled as a Multi-Sports Star; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Robert Pruter

Joanne Winter competing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1943-1950, and the National Girls Baseball League, 1951-1954, Built a Hall of Fame Career as One of the Great Pitchers in Softball and Baseball.
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Shirley Jameson: Diminutive Chicago Star Athlete of the 1930s and 1940s in Speed Skating, Softball, and Baseball; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Robert Pruter

Shirley Jameson was one of the premier Chicago premier athletes between World War I and World War II, building nationally recognized careers in three sports–first in speed skating and softball in the late 1930s and then in AAGPBL baseball (“A League of Our Own”) in the mid-1940s. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Speed Skating, Amateur Women's Sports, High School Girls' Sports | Tagged "A League of Our Own, AAGPBL, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Ann Harnett, Chicago athletes, Chicago sports, Chocolate Shop Girls, Claire Schillace, Dorothy Boots Klupping, Down Draft Furnace Girls, Edythe Perlick, Elaine Bogna, Eleanor Thiel, Garden City Maids, Hydrox Beverage Girls, Industrial Girls Basketball League, Kenosha Comets, Kenosha High School, Metal Parts Girls, Northwest Skating Club, Parichy Bloomer Girls, Phillip K. Wrigley, Proviso High School, Proviso Township High School, Racine Belles, Shirley Jameson, Silver Skates, Sleipner Derby, Superior State Teachers College, Vogel Bloomer Girls, women athletes, women in sports, women's athletics, women's softball | 5 Comments

The Complex Story of the Barnstorming Chocolate Co-Eds of Chicago: Exemplification of Black Achievement or Circus Side Show?; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Robert Pruter

The Chocolate Co-Eds were a female African-American team from Chicago that barnstormed throughout the Midwestern and Western states to primarily white rural audiences as a novelty team from 1934 to 1950. They played mostly boys’ and men’s teams under modified rules and added colorful antics to their game. The Chocolate Co-Eds for a couple of years in the early 1950s also toured and competed in softball against women teams, black and white.
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Posted in African American Women, Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball | Tagged All-American Red Heads, Andy Frain Usherettes, Bernice Marshall, Bivin Van Lines, Bivins All Stars, Chocolate Co-Eds, Club Store Co-eds, Dick Hudson, Dixie Coeds, Elvira Casey, Harlem Globe Trotterettes, Harlem Queens, Helen "Streamline" Smith, Helen Barr, Hottontots, Katie Bard, Louise Hill, Lulu Porter, Matthew Bivins, Naomi Stokes, Norman Walker, Philadelphia Tribunes, Pilgrim Church, Platt Co-Eds, Roamer girls, Ruth Reese, Sara Reese, Savoy Big Five, Spencer Coals, Wabash YMCA, Zadie Lloyd | Leave a comment

Harry Wilson and Dena Schaper: Chicago Husband and Wife Team, A Driving Force For Women’s Basketball, Women’s Softball, and other Amateur Sports, 1921-1954; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Robert Pruter

The married couple of Harry Wilson and Dena Schaper were significant contributors to the development of amateur and women sports during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. With Harry Wilson coaching and Dena Schaper playing, the two made the Taylor Trunks the greatest amateur team playing men’s rules basketball in the country. Harry Wilson went on to become a huge promoter and contributor of amateur and women sports in Chicago, particularly in basketball and softball. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Men's Sports, Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Sports | Tagged American Tournament, Broadway Armory, Central AAU, Chicago All-Stars, Cleveland Aces, Cleveland Allertons, Collegians, Colligians, Commercial Grads, Dena Schaper, Elizabeth Falbisaner, Federated Seminary Avenue Church, Follies Five, Harry Wilson, Interstate League, Jarvis and White Girls, Kenneth Anderson, Kitty Miller, Lake View Community Girls, Lake View Community House, Lew Fonseca, Marie Curtin, Martin Jewels, Middle States Girls' Basketball League, National Girls' Baseball League, Percy Page, Queen Anne Aces, Red Devils, Rickett's Restaurant Girls, Six Point Co-eds, Spencer Coals, Taylor Trunks, Tri Chi Girls, Underwood Trophy, Uptown Brownies, Violet Krubaeck, William F. Kruse, Wilson-Jones Bloomer Girls, World Professional Basketball Tournament, Young People's Socialist League, YPSL | 4 Comments

Violet Krubaeck: A Remarkable Chicago Athlete in Basketball, Softball, and Track and Field; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Robert Pruter

Violet Krubaeck’s stellar amateur career exemplifies how the sport institutions of the Chicago–the churches, the parks, and the clubs–together helped develop her into a great basketball, softball, and track champion. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Sports, Amateur Women's Track & Field | Tagged Alamo Theater Co-eds, Chicago athletes, Chicago sports, Evangelical Lutheran Athletic Association, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Queen Anne Aces, Rickett's Restaurant Girls, Six Point Co-eds, T. J. Courtney Girls, Taylor Trunks, Underwood Trophy, Welles Park, women athletes, women's athletics, women's basketball, women's softball, women's track and field | 4 Comments

Nan Gindele: Chicago’s Star of Track and Field and Softball; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Robert Pruter

Nan Gindele was an Olympian, a national javelin throw champion and three time baseball throw champion, and a member of two national championship softball teams. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Sports, Amateur Women's Track & Field, Chicago Olympians, High School Girls' Sports | Tagged Annette Rogers, Babe Didrikson, Belding Playground, Betty Robinson, Catherine Rutherford, Central AAU, Chicago athletics, Chicago Park District, Chicago Park District Hurricanes, Chicago sports, Dorothy Ogren, Down Draft Furnace Girls, Dvorak Park, Dyche Stadium, Ella Smith, Evelyn Farrara, Great Northern Laundry Girls, Hart Motor Girls, IWAC, Leo Fischer, Lincoln Park District, Montgomery Vee-Eights, Nan Gindele, Olympic Games, Schurz High School, South Park District, women athletes, women in sports, women's athletics, women's softball, women's sports, women's track and field | 4 Comments

Dorothy “Boots” Klupping: The Face of Early Chicago Women’s Softball; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Robert Pruter

Dorothy Klupping, an ace pitcher in the Chicago women softball leagues, was a nationally famous star in the early years of women’s softball. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Sports, Amateur Women's Track & Field, High School Girls' Sports | Tagged All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Chicago athletes, Chicago sports, Dorothy Boots Klupping, Dorothy Ortman, Down Draft Furnace Girls, Fred J. Ortman, Montgomery Vee-Eights, National Girls Basketball League, Parichy Bloomer Girls, Parichy-Ford Roofers, Proviso High School, Racine Belles, Shirley Jameson, women athletes, women in sports, women's athletics, women's softball, women's softball pitchers | 2 Comments

Catherine Fellmeth: An Unknown Great Multi-Sports Athlete; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Robert Pruter

Unheralded sportswoman Catherine Fellmuth probably surpassed the great Babe Didrikson in all-around athletic achievement. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Speed Skating, Amateur Women's Track & Field | Tagged Bill Rand GIrls, Catherine Fellmuth, Catherine Rutherford, Chicago athletes, Chicago Hurricanes, Chicago sports, Cornell Square Park, Fellmeth Girls, Fellmeth Paints, Garden City Maids, Hart Motor Girls, Illiinois Club for Catholic Women, Illinois Women's Athletic Club, Logan Square Buicks, Match Maids, Queen Anne Aces, Windy City League, women athletes, women in sports, women's basketball, women's bowling, women's softball, women's speedskating, women's track and field | 7 Comments

Anne Goldstein: Chicago’s Most Outstanding Jewish Woman Athlete Between the Wars; Essay by Robert Pruter

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Robert Pruter

Anne Goldstein’s many athletic triumphs, particularly in basketball and softball, represents one of the grand achievements of Jewish-American culture in modern urban Chicago. Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Women's Basketball, Amateur Women's Softball, Amateur Women's Sports, Jewish American Women | Tagged Alvernia High School, Bill Rand GIrls, Chicago athletes, Chicago sports, Down Draft Furnace Girls, Down Drafts, Jewish athletes, Jewish sports women, Marshall High School, McCabe Boosters, Spencer Coals, T. J. Bowlers, women athletes, women in sports, women's basketball, women's softball, women's volleyball | 7 Comments