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- The Edmonton Grads Started as a High School Girls Basketball Team. The full name of the Edmonton Grads is the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club, also called “The Grads.”
- The Last Surviving Member Died in 2018 & an Author Described Them as a ‘Group of Ordinary Women Who Did the Extraordinary’ The last surviving member of the Edmonton Grads was Kay MacBeth.
- The Edmonton Grads Dominated Their Sport, Sometimes Playing Men’s Teams But World War II Intervened. According to Globe and Mail, the Grads were known as Canada’s “most successful team in history,” winning 17 world titles.
- The Grads Paved the Way for Women in Sport But They Faced Discrimination at the Time. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the 1920s were a golden era for women in sports in Canada.
- The Beginning
- Commercial Graduates Basketball Club
- Team History and Record
- Edmonton Grads Players
- The End of A Dynasty
- Significance
Basketball was a relatively young game when the Edmonton Grads formed in 1915. The sport had been invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian working at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Like most other sports, it was originally intended for male players, but it wasn’t long before females began playing as well...
In addition to the Grads, the Commercial Graduates Basketball Club included the junior and senior high school teams, a junior ladies’ team (the Cubs) for those still at school or recently graduated, and an intermediate team (the Gradettes) for talented players who could move up to the Grads once a vacancy opened. This “feeder” system ensured contin...
In 1922, the Edmonton Grads won their first national championship, defeating the London Shamrocks, the eastern champions from London, Ontario, in two games with a combined score of 49–29. The first game was played according to women’s rules (six players), while the second game was played according to men’s rules (five players). Until this point, th...
The first McDougall Commercial High School team (1914) comprised forwards Nellie Batson and Ella Osborne, centres Ethel Anderson and Mary Bremner, and guards Geraldine Reid and Iola Mitchell. Late in 1915, Winnie Martin joined them. In 1917, when the Edmonton Grads officially began competing, the team included Batson, Osborne, Anderson, Martin and ...
In 1940, the Edmonton Grads disbanded. There were several reasons for this decision, including the loss of their arena, which had been taken over by the government for the Air Force Commonwealth Training Program. Wartime conditions made travel difficult and led to the cancellation of many competitions in Canada, the United States and in Europe; mor...
The Edmonton Grads were the dominant women’s basketball team of the early 20th century, with a record that most teams today would envy. They played to capacity crowds, attracting thousands of spectators and brought fame to the city, as their victories were reported in newspapers across the country and overseas. In 1923, for example, the story of th...
Sep 12, 2020 · After making his mark in history, Naismith founded the University of Kansas basketball program in 1898 and basketball became an Official Olympic Sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Naismith died, 1939, the same year the first NCAA Basketball Tournament began.
By playing and winning tournaments throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, the Grads introduced and represented Edmonton to the world. Consistently, the Grads were noted for their winning record, their exceptional sportspersonship and record of clean play.
Mar 7, 2018 · Could you give us some history into the formation of the Edmonton Grads? PM: Actually, Lacombe holds claim to having the first girls’ high school basketball team in 1904. High schools in Edmonton had a basketball league for girls’ teams by 1914, and McDougall Commercial School had a team.
Oct 4, 2023 · Beginning in 1915, a basketball team made up almost exclusively of graduates and students of McDougall Commercial School in Edmonton, the Edmonton Grads, achieved world recognition.
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The uniforms that the Edmonton Grads wore to play basketball evolved over time, from large middy blouses and bloomers in their first years, to the sleeveless shirts and shorts that don’t look much different from a women’s basketball uniform today.
