A different take on the early days of the Lady Cards...UofL Volleyball the BIG EAST preseason favorite.

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Tuesday C.C:

-Early WBB teams had their struggles

-BIG EAST pegs Kordes' team #1

(We bring you the thoughts and memories of a CARDINAL COUPLE reader who was a pre-1975 Lady Card...she offers some thoughts on women's basketball "back in the day." We've kept her identity anonymous...as she says..."I've got plenty of turmoil in my career...I don't need any additional in my personal life.")

(Editor's note: The opinions expressed below are not necessarily those of CARDINAL COUPLE or our staff...but it's a quite fascinating read.)

The 1975 edition of the Cardinal Bird

Many don't know that the women's basketball team at UofL existed a number of years prior to 1975. It is accepted, though that 1975 was the first year a non-faculty member was named to coach the team (Terry Hall) and the first year that statistics were kept.

I first played in the 1973 season and at that time there were seniors on the team that were in their 4th year of playing. The team was coached by Becky Hudson, who was an assistant athletic director. Some may remember Hudson has being involved in a Title IV suit against the University. Hudson has been pretty much wiped from UofL women's basketball history due to the lawsuit, in my opinion...but she had the courage to try and get UofL basketball rolling and out of the bottom depths of UofL athletics priority.

(Editor's note: Hudson was part of the 1980 suit and is listed as the assistant director of women's sports at UofL at that time.)

Terry Hall was hired by Hudson and Terry had to substitute teach on the side to pay the bills while coaching. Hall lasted several years at UofL before moving on to Kentucky.

(Editor's note....Terry Hall had a 20 year coaching career at Wright State, Eastern Ky, UofL and UK. She's best remembered as coaching UK All-American Valerie Still. Hall passed away from cancer on July, 14th 1997.)

The first basketball uniforms were purchased by Dr. Sue Hall - out of her personal funds- the team was playing in a tournament and Dr. Hall decided that what the girls were wearing was embarrassing. She never took credit for that purchase. She just did it.

Jamie Wadell was the first UofL women's basketball player to receive any sort of scholarship. I remember that she and 2 others in other sports all received a portion of the funds that were passed on playing ability combined with financial hardship. The first year for those scholarships was in the 1974-75 season. For some reason Von Macklin is promoted as having been on that first basketball team and receiving the first scholarship. All that is just made up history. Jamie got the first scholarship.

(Editor's note...Von Macklin's basketball career at UofL is listed from 1974-76 and she is in the UofL Sports hall of fame.)

In that era, Western Kentucky's women's basketball team was handling their women's program as well as anyone and I remember being sorry that I did not go there when I saw what they had compared to us. Our situation was pitiful by standards compared to theirs. The first time the UofL women played in Freedom Hall in 1975-76, the teams had to change in the women's bathrooms as there was no dressing room made available for the women.

We travelled to away games crammed into one or two vans. Becky and a student would drive. I seem to remember Von's husband driving also - whoever was available was good enough and luckily safe enough- we never had any accidents. We did get to go to a tournament at UK in actual UofL cars.

Finding our destination was always interesting - one trip to UK for a multi game situation created the need for a hotel. Becky had to get to a coaches meeting, so we dropped her off on campus and then headed to the hotel to change. The hotel had changed it's name since the reservation was made so we drove around Lexington looking for it and we were almost late for our first game. (So much for warmups being important.) No pre-game morning shoot-arounds. Most road trips involved driving in, playing and driving back to campus.

So when we see today's players acting like the perks they have as being owed to them or whining about something- they need to be reminded that what they have today occurred by riding in on the backs of many others before them who had to fight for those rights-some of which lost jobs out of retaliation to force progress many years after title IX became law. It should be promoted to the players of their duty to 'pay it forward' for the others who will come after them-instead of just being 'takers'.

Obviously, there is more to this, but what I've written is more than enough...I am sure.

(Editor's note. CARDINAL COUPLE'S Paul was on the UofL campus during the seventies but rarely emerged from his fraternity house. He does remember seeing the Lady Cards play before men's games at Freedom Hall and also sauntering across campus to Manual High School to watch games. The popcorn was always pretty good at Manual but you couldn't sneak in "refreshments" like you could past Harry at the Freedom Hall student entrance door. He sometimes wonders whatever happened to that cute, black-haired UofL guard from somewhere on the east coast that played for WBB back then...who could party with the best of them.)

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The Cards will have six games at the KFC YUM!
center this season. Good seats still available...

The Louisville volleyball team received 11 out of 15 first place votes by BIG EAST coaches in a pre-season poll. Coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own teams (which is pretty silly, isn't it?). Notre Dame came in second and defending 2010 regular-season champ Cincinnati was placed third. Marquette rounds out the top four.

Lola Arslanbeckova was voted Pre-season BIG EAST Player of the Year and she, Gwen Rucker and Emily Juhl landed on the BIG EAST first team.

The Cards will play 14 BIG EAST conference games (each team once) and then the top eight finishers head to Marquette for the BIG EAST Tournament in mid-November.

Mid-November...South Florida or here at UofL sounds much better...The Cards did host in 2009 and win the BIG EAST Tournament in 2009 and last season.

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We've learned that UofL has no tickets available for purchase for the volleyball match in Lexington against the Cats. Whether it's a case of UK refusing to send any or not...WE'RE not sure...but WE (and several readers think) that a strong UofL fan base might make the journey. It'd be nice if all the UofL fans could sit together. Ball's in your court, so to speak, UofL. Can you hook the fans up? Or it is another case of UK slighting the Cardinals?

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