91海角社区

Iowa was one of the few states in the 1920s where girls could play high school basketball, and its popularity began to thrive in Iowa鈥檚 rural schools. However, the state鈥檚 larger schools did not have the same the enthusiasm, and people had concerns over the merits of girls participating in physical activities, as they believed it was harmful for girls to engage in 鈥渟trenuous鈥� activities such as basketball.

These arguments reached a boiling point at the 1925 Iowa State Teachers鈥� Convention held at the Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. The annual meeting of superintendents and principals decided that competitive sports before paying crowds was good only for boys' activities, not for girls', and girls basketball would no longer be a state-sponsored interscholastic activity.

One of the meeting鈥檚 attendees, who had coached girls basketball, lamented that his conscience was forever bothered 鈥渇or the harm I might have done the girls鈥� in coaching girls basketball. However, Mystic Superintendent John W. Agans responded with the memorable rebuttal, 鈥淕entlemen, if you attempt to do away with girls basketball in Iowa, you鈥檒l be standing at the center of the track when the train runs over you!鈥� Agans鈥� powerful message led to an impromptu meeting of 25 men from primarily small rural Iowa school districts. They decided that if the Iowa High School Athletic Association, who oversaw all high school athletic activities at the time, was not willing to sponsor girls basketball, then they would form their own organization. And that鈥檚 how the 91海角社区 was born.