Basketball Bibliography Abstracts

AB: This book chronicles the many outstanding athletes from Canada. There is a brief chapter on the Edmonton Commercial Graduates basketball team, along with a photograph and information on the coach, J. Percy Page.

AB: In this source is an article originally written for Maclean's magazine, January 15, 1929. Author Frederick Watt, delves into the impressive 25 year reign of the Edmonton Grads girls' basketball team. In 1914, J. Percy Page began to coach a team of Commercial High School girls in the newly established sport of basketball and, after winning the Alberta championship in 1915, they began their unprecedented winning streak that would last up until their retirement in 1940. Financed only by themselves and public-spirited citizens of Edmonton, they traveled across the globe winning many championships and titles.

AB: "The girls," as the 11 surviving Edmonton Commercial Graduates basketball players still refer to themselves, even though they are all more than 80 years old, remain the best of friends. Margaret Vasheresse, 92, and Edith Sutton during a recent interview described some of the highlights of belonging to a great basketball team from 1923 to 1940.

AB: a few of the surviving team members. Margaret Vasheresse (age 92), and Edith Sutton provide insight to some of their experiences with coach Percy Page, the games, their life and travel.

Availability: Academic Search Complete, (Online access limited to Alberta tertiary students, faculty and staff)

AB: Chronicles the life of teacher and basketball coach J. Percy Page who taught commercial education in the Edmonton school system for 40 years then began coaching an all-girls' basketball team, the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Team in 1914. After the team dissolved in 1940, Page went on to become principal of the commercial section at Victoria Composite High School and also became house leader for the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, later being appointed lieutenant-governor of Alberta in 1959 where he would continue to serve till his retirement in 1966.

AB: This article focuses on the triumphs and legacy of the famous Edmonton Grads basketball team and is organized into two parts. The first section provides a factual account of the team and its biography including how they got started, the coach (J. Percy Page) and his unique coaching methods, their rise to fame and their innumerable accomplishments within the sport. The second section explores the experiences of the Grads from both a feminist and an integrationist historical approach. The author explores the attitudes of society towards an all-female successful athletics team, how the media and press dealt with their fame, and the response of the Grads themselves to their own success and the acclaim they had acquired.

AB: In this Year Book, is a short summary in each year of the Edmonton Grads basketball season plus the scores of each game played. For the 1930 Year Book a longer article is available, entitled, The Girls Take the Floor by Adrian J. Brennan, coach of the Aetna Life Girls. This typical 1930 season included games with the Cleveland Blepp-Knits, the Regina Torrid Zones, Calgary Chinooks, Calgary Centrals, University of Alberta, Seattle Ferry Lines, Vancouver University, Toronto Lakesides, Chicago Taylor-Trunks and the University Summer School. Availability: LA84 Foundation Sports Library (except 1930).

Print edition only. Years:

• 1925, p 127;
• 1926, p 72-73; 75; 77;
• 1927, p 56;
• 1928, p 36;
• 1929, p 55;
• 1930, p 40-41.

AB: In this book which commemorates pinnacle sports moments in Canada's history is an extensive chapter which discusses the impressive twenty-five year reign of the world-champion Edmonton Commercial Graduates all-girls' basketball team during the years 1915 to 1940. In this chapter is information regarding coach J. Percy Page, the domination of the Underwood Trophy, as well as information on funding support from Edmonton sports promoter and coach of the Edmonton Eskimos football team, Deacon Whyte. The chapter provides an overview of the team's basketball career, from their early beginnings at the Commercial High School and throughout the team's evolving line up of girls and many memorable games that would solidify their reputation as Canada's greatest basketball team.

AB: A very brief summary of the Edmonton Commercial Grads basketball team and their 25 years as world champions including an excerpt from Trent Frayne's book, "Great Canadian Sports Stories."

AB: In this book on the female presence in sport is a chapter which details the accomplishments of the Edmonton Grads basketball team and their influence on the sports community as well as their significance in promoting women in sports during a period in which it was still considered a male dominated arena. This article offers journal and newspaper excerpts which exemplified the public's positive perception of the all-girls athletic team and summarizes their impressive accomplishments as well as their role in creating regional unity evident in the Alberta Capital prior to World War II.

Article reprinted from the Proceedings, International Conference of Physical Activity Sciences, Quebec City 1978.

AB: Written in a narrative style, this popular history text recounts James Naismith's invention of basketball interwoven with an account of the Edmonton Grads and Oklahoma Guthrie Redbird 1925 North American Women's Championship game. A brief biography of the team and its coach, 1966 Alberta Hall of Fame inductee Percy Page, is included as well as highlights from the team's amazing successes and a photo of them in 1924.

AB: In this book that covers important moments in Canadian sport is a chapter on the world champion Edmonton all-girls' basketball team- The Commercial Graduates, known simply as 'the Grads'. The chapter provides an overview of the impressive accomplishments of the team.

AB: In this book on Edmonton's history is a brief chapter with photographs on the most successful basketball team in Canadian sports history- the Edmonton Commercial Graduates. Starting out as a high school basketball team at McDougall Commercial High School, John Percy Page became the team's coach as well as taught the physical education program which included basketball. In the first year the team was created it captured the league championship and after the girls graduated, they wished to continue playing on the team. Convincing Percy Page to remain their coach, the team continued to reign on the basketball court which included Western Canadian, Canadian, international, and world championships, bringing them widespread recognition and increased spectator presence at their games. Over their 25-year history, the girls never received any payment and supported themselves financially through gate receipts. Overall, the Edmonton Grads averaged an unprecedented 96.2 percent wins out of their 522 official games.

AB: This thesis explores the history and analyzes the success of the Edmonton Grads women's basketball team which played from 1912 to 1940. The first portion of the essay focuses on the historical aspect of the team providing context for the second portion which attempts to establish rationales for how they managed to attain such a level of success. The author focuses in on three main factors which she considers to have played the greatest role in the club's achievements: the organization, the players and the single most important factor, as considered by the author, their coach and mentor, J. Percy Page.

AB: Contained in this book on the talented Canadian women in sport is a chapter describing the impressive basketball career of the Edmonton Commercial Graduates all-girls team which included Canadian Sports Hall of Fame inductee Noel MacDonald who captained the team in the late 1930s. Information in this chapter includes the birth of the team, their first series playing under "boys' rules", and their experiences at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angeles in 1932, and Berlin in 1936. (For the French translation see: À la Gloire Canadiennes: Les meillleures athlètes du Canada. by David McDonald and Lauren Drewery.)

AB: This thesis examines the origin of basketball and traces its development in Canada from 1892 until 1936 with its Canadian inventor, James Naismith, who created it at the Young Men's Christian Association Training School in Massachusetts in 1891. The author establishes a parallelism between the development of the game and the growth of Canada in the period preceding the first World War, He attributes expansion in the west, urbanization and increased population as factors in the game's development across Canada and abroad.  Organizations such as churches, schools, athletic clubs and the militia were all instrumental in the successful growth of the sport but none were as influential as the Y.M.C.A. Although the number of participants did decrease with the onset of the war, interest in the game grew and the Y.M.C.A. was important in promoting the game in the various branches of the Armed Forces. Following the war was a period of economic prosperity in Canada and basketball continued to grow in popularity, leading to the formation of the Canadian Amateur Basketball Association as a national administrative body for various competitions. This research paper also discusses the international recognition received from the sport through its introduction into the Olympic Games program in 1936, marking a forty-five year growth of the game from a simple idea to a worldwide celebrated pastime.

AB: In the small town of Raymond, Alberta, high school basketball has been a focus of sport excellence for decades. In this largely Mormon town of 3300 people the Raymond High School basketball and sport program has emphasized healthy living. The Raymond High School senior boys' team, the Comets, has won the provincial title seven times since 1960, more than any other team. The team plays in Alberta's 4A division, against the province's largest schools, even though the school has only 270 to 300 students each year. The Comets are now ranked No. 1 in the province. The high-school girls team is also formidable. In the 1980s, the girls team captured two provincial championships in the 2A division.

AB: Provides a look at the importance of the sport of basketball to the modest community of Raymond. With their amateur High School senior boys team, the Comets, both the level of support from the fans and the quality of the basketball are attributed to the sport's success in the area. The Comets have won the provincial title seven times since 1960 which is more than any other team and they are apart of the Alberta's 4A division which is comprised of the province's largest schools. The article discusses the pressures felt by the players and the school coaches given the high expectations from the town to sustain their success as well as the emphasis placed on early exposure of the sport to the kids of Raymond. Also seen as a factor in basketball's popularity was the warm chinook winds which made it difficult to maintain outdoor hockey rinks like most other Alberta towns. The early Mormon settlers brought the game with them when they first arrived in the area at the turn of the century, building two facilities in order to house the games. Basketball, as well, has long had a strong link with religion and it was not unusual to see churches throughout southern Alberta equipped with a basketball court, as part of the Mormon's emphasis on healthy minds and healthy bodies. Also included in the article are pictures and information on the girls' teams as well as the Union Jacks, an early championship basketball team in the area.

Availability Academic Search Complete, and Canadian Reference Centre online collections, (Online access limited to Alberta tertiary students, faculty and staff). 

Key in Maclean's in the Catalogue search box at University of Alberta's NEOS catalogue http://catalogue.library.ualberta.ca or at the University of Calgary http://library.ucalgary.ca/