All American Redheads: | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

(FOX9) – When the Minnesota lynx took on the New York Liberty in game five of the WNBA Championship3.3 million viewers watched, making it the most watched final match of the competition in 25 years.

But long before players like Nepheesa Collier and Courtney Williams took the field, another group of female athletes saw much of America in the red.

Looking back

For Lynnette Sjoquist, leafing through the pages of her scrapbook is like stepping back in time.

“You would think that would make me feel old, but I feel young because I think I still am, but that’s not the case,” Sjoquist said.

Each piece of memorabilia is a reminder of how her love for basketball made her a pioneer of the game.

“I feel like we’re carrying the banner for women’s sports, not just women’s basketball, but all women’s sports,” Sjoquist said.

From 1973 to 1977, Sjoquist played for the first professional women’s basketball team, the All-American Red Heads.

Sjoquist says she and her twin sister decided to try out for the team after watching the Red Heads play in their hometown of Cannon Falls.

“I just thought it was so exciting. It was a great brand of basketball. So I know when coach Ben Oberman was talking to us after the Cannon Falls game and he saw two 6-foot women coming towards him, he thought this would have been possible.” There was some potential here, so we were billed as the Minnesota Twins,” Sjoquist said.

On the road

Over the next few years, Sjoquist and the Red Heads visited small and medium-sized towns around the country, playing men’s games, usually on teams made up of male faculty members from the local high school.

Their exhibition matches also included a halftime show, where the Red Heads would show off their ball-handling skills, kind of like a female version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

“We sold out arenas and gyms to the extent that there was room for that many people at the time. That’s what we saw. It wasn’t a hard sell. The goal, especially from the players’ perspective, was to show people that women can play.” ‘, says Sjoquist.

Sjoquist says the Red Heads played 200 games a year in virtually every state except Hawaii.

What if the players weren’t natural redheads?

“Clairol became your best friend. So Clairol Flame 33 was the specific color to use. So even some young women who had naturally red or strawberry blonde hair also had to turn to the bottle,” she said. Shoquist.

Background

The All American Red Heads were based in southern Missouri and operated from 1936 to 1986.

But after Title IX and the rise of women’s college basketball and the Olympics, the novelty of watching women play the sport faded.

Decades later, the team was honored as pioneers by the Women’s Basketball Hall Of Fame in 2011 and inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame the following year.

“They were women who played in a time that wasn’t very common. They played the way they wanted to. They had flashy costumes. They traveled and showed that they could do it. And I think they had a lot of fun doing it. Besides, ” said Dana Hart, president of the Women’s Basketball Hall Of Fame.

Diane Martinson also played for the Red Heads for a few years in the late 1970s.

She believes she and her teammates showed the world that women can play basketball at a high level and helped lay the foundation for the WNBA.

“I really believe that with all the traveling that those women have done over the years, we’ve made an impact. I feel like we’ve made an impact,” Martinson said.

But as proud as Martinson is to be a part of women’s basketball’s past, she is even more excited about its future.

“I’m just so excited about where the game has come and where it’s going. I mean players like Caitlin Clark, she’s just the beginning. There will be many coming after her like that and that’s what’s exciting. And I’m glad I had a hand in getting it going,” Martinson said.