的 Road to Normal: 的 Mighty Macs Celebrate 50th Anniversary of First Championship

“Move over, UCLA, Immaculata Also Flying No. 1国旗.” That was the headline in the March 21, 1972, issue of the 费城每日新闻.

的 《ope官方网站》 stated that the Immaculata team was the real UCLA of the East.

乔治·希斯利普的故事 每日本地新闻 shaped the identity of the Immaculata women’s basketball team with the following 18 words: “One thing, 可以肯定的是. 的y’re going to have to change that nickname. 不再有苹果电脑了.“《ope体育》怎么样?”

这个故事 1972 Immaculata大学’s women’s basketball season is embedded in the history of college sports: a small women’s college in suburban Philadelphia, whose gym burned to the ground years before and with no physical 教育 department. 的 women wore wool tunics and drove themselves to games – and they excelled academically. 当他们到达Normal时, Illinois for the first women’s national collegiate championship tournament, they defeated South Dakota State University (60-47), 印第安纳州立大学(排名第49-46), Mississippi State School for Women (46-43), and finally regional rival West Chester University, 52-48. 的 Mighty Macs finished 24-1—making 70% of their free throws. Never mind that they had to sell toothbrushes to fund the trip and then, only eight of the 11 players could go—flying standby. 的 players crowded four to a room and washed their uniforms in hotel sinks.

的 Mighty Macs won a second national championship in 1973, defeating Queens College and their third consecutive title in 1974, winning against Mississippi College 68-53. 他们继续统治, reaching the Final Four in the following three seasons, 1975年和1976年分列第二, 1977年第四次.

的 Immaculata Mighty Macs played a huge part in the evolution of women’s sports since the 1970s by winning games, 设置业绩记录, garnering media attention usually reserved for men’s sports and becoming role models for young girls across the nation. 的ir contributions didn’t stop after college. Several players continued their love of the game by becoming high-profile professional and collegiate coaches—making their mark from the sidelines. Other players became doctors, teachers, philanthropists and 业务women.

为了表彰他们的成就, the Mighty Macs have received several individual and team accolades. In 2014, the Mighty Macs were enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and they were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, along with individual inductees (Cathy Rush, 特蕾莎·格伦茨和玛丽安·斯坦利). 的ir Cinderella story was made into a Hollywood movie, “的 Mighty Macs,” released in 2011.

今年, 在周五, 3月18日, players from that first championship team and the two ensuing national championship teams, will be back on campus to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Coach Cathy Rush will also reunite with the players she coached to three national titles.

“To think that 11 young women and their equally young coach raised the profile and changed the perception of women’s sports is amazing. And that it happened at Immaculata大学, which supported these students on the court and in the classroom, 令人惊叹,” states President Barbara Lettiere ’72. “I was a senior at Immaculata in 1972 and winning the championship that year is something I will never forget. Immaculata shocked the world of college sports, and the rest is history!”

快速的事实

• First National Women’s Collegiate Basketball Championship (March 19, 1972) – AIAW
• First to win three consecutive national titles (AIAW: 1972, 1973, 1974); placed 2nd in 1975 and 1976 and 4th in 1977
• First women’s team, with the University of Maryland, to appear on national TV (January of 1975)
• First women’s team, with Queens College, to play at Madison Square Garden (February of 1975)
• First women’s college team to play outside the country (Australia in 1974)
• First women’s collegiate double header played in Philadelphia Spectrum (January of 1978). 的 coaches from all four teams (Immaculata, Old Dominion, Rutgers, St. 约瑟夫)都是Immaculata的毕业生
• 的 longest winning streak in the history of organized collegiate basketball for women ended at 35 vs. 1974年皇后学院.
• Cathy Rush’s coaching record at Immaculata was 149-15 (.909)
• Inducted into the following hall of fames: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, 费城体育名人堂, the Delaware County Sports Hall of Fame in addition to the induction of several individual players.