Posted: 3/21/07
NBHS grad remembers early days of women's sports
 Lorraine Olson is one of the last living players from the 1932 North Branch girls basketball team. After her sophomore season, she was not allowed to play varsity because it was said to be unsafe for girls to play sports. |
By Steve Morris
When you talk to her on the phone she sounds like a women half her age. With gray hair a slow walk it's hard to visualize her 75 years ago dribbling up a basketball court in North Branch.
The fact of the matter is Lorriane Olson, 89, is one of the last living members of the 1932 North Branch girls varsity basketball team. Olson, who lives in the Uptown Maple Commons in North Branch, didn't get to play basketball after her sophomore year because they said it was unsafe for girls to play sports.
"After that [the 1932 season] they thought girls should not be playing basketball," Olson said. "It was a disappointment."
For nearly four decades girls varsity sports were not allowed. It wasn't until the early 1970s that girls were allowed to play varsity sports again thanks to Title IX legislation. Olson's two daughters, 1967 and 1971 North Branch graduates, could only play intramurals. In Olson's high school days, the boys teams took all the glory while the girls took a backseat.
"We didn't have the schedule the boys had," Olson said. "Girls sports were at the bottom of the barrel. We'd practiced only after the boys were done ... we didn't know any different," she said.
In comparison, girls in North Branch today have access to every sporting opportunity the boys do.
When North Branch Activities Director Beck Leuer arrived in North Branch in 1975, the school had varsity basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and track. Soon afterwards, they added softball. Leuer said North Branch has been great at providing equal opportunities to both genders since she arrived here.
Leuer said Olson was a great resource on the history of girls basketball at North Branch. Leuer interviewed Olson for a book on the history of women's basketball in Minnesota.
"I learned a lot from her," Leuer said.
According to the book, "Daughters of the Game: The first era of Minnesota Girls High School Basketball" the girls practiced on the second floor of the old school on the corner of 7th Ave. and Maple St. The school has since been torn down.
Not everything has changed with the time. The 1932 girls team, just like today's girls, played Chisago Lakes. Olson said when she played they did not have nearly as many games as girls currently have.
Sitting at the kitchen table in her third floor apartment, Olson recalled the memories from her days as basketball player at North Branch. One of the things she remembered, were the jerseys. She said the school colors were blue and gold, not the current red and white.
At 89, she still hasn't lost her fire for sports or for girls basketball. She enjoys watching games on TV and getting to local games when she is able.
For the games she can't attend, she catches all the action in local paper.
A couple times this last season she went to watch her alma mater play. Olson does have ties to the current team; her daughter's nephew, Gab Olson, has been a standout guard for the Vikings the last four years. But, she admits, it's a different style of play than what she grew up.
"There's such a difference," she said. "They play so more aggressive and are phenomenal players. "
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