Starred Review Just in time to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX comes this inspiring, comprehensive look at the first U.S. women's Olympic basketball team. Heading into the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, no one had high hopes for the underdog team. To help set the scene, Maraniss, an award-winning sportswriter, takes readers back to the early days of sports for women, when female athletes were deemed too delicate to run a full court length. This history is explained within a broader context of cultural attitudes toward women and women's limited rights. After the 1972 passage of Title IX, which required equal opportunities for women and men in federally funded schools, the International Olympic Committee added women's basketball to the 1976 games. Through many first-person stories, Maraniss offers detailed profiles of the relatively unknown players and coaches who would go on to become the heroic faces of women's basketball and their training for the international stage, once again placing their feats in the context of systemic racism and sexism. Following exciting coverage of the Olympic competition, the author considers the team's legacy and how their silver medals paved the way for more success in all women's sports. Complementing the narrative nonfiction are period photos, extensive chapter notes, and a plethora of women's basketball statistics. A triumphant account for any sports fan.

The underdog story of America's first women's Olympic basketball team plays out in this thoughtful exploration of social change.Soon after James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, girls and women began enthusiastically playing the sport. However, it wasn't until the passage of Title IX in 1972 that American schools were required to provide equal opportunities, allowing female athletes to compete at the same level (though not with the same funding) as their male counterparts. In 1973, the International Olympic Committee added women's basketball to the 1976 Games in Montreal. Building the squad from the 1973 World University Games team and open tryouts, basketball pioneer Mildred Barnes enabled coaches Billie Moore and Sue Gunter to assemble a scrappy team capable of medaling when no one (not even USA Basketball executive director Bill Wall) thought it possible. Maraniss explores decades of misogyny and sexism, generations of systemic racism, and White feminists' shortcomings when it came to race that surrounded the humble beginnings of what became a true Olympic powerhouse: As of 2021, the U.S. women's team has won seven straight gold medals. Interviews with athletes from the 1976 Olympics enhance the invigorating narrative, enriching a book that will stick with readers long after they put it down. Weaving women's basketball into a textured account of a society in flux, Maraniss' latest will appeal to a broad audience.A winning story full of heart, camaraderie, and power. (photo credits, source notes, bibliography, rosters, statistics, box scores, timeline) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

The underdog story of America's first women's Olympic basketball team plays out in this thoughtful exploration of social change.Soon after James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, girls and women began enthusiastically playing the sport. However, it wasn't until the passage of Title IX in 1972 that American schools were required to provide equal opportunities, allowing female athletes to compete at the same level (though not with the same funding) as their male counterparts. In 1973, the International Olympic Committee added women's basketball to the 1976 Games in Montreal. Building the squad from the 1973 World University Games team and open tryouts, basketball pioneer Mildred Barnes enabled coaches Billie Moore and Sue Gunter to assemble a scrappy team capable of medaling when no one (not even USA Basketball executive director Bill Wall) thought it possible. Maraniss explores decades of misogyny and sexism, generations of systemic racism, and White feminists' shortcomings when it came to race that surrounded the humble beginnings of what became a true Olympic powerhouse: As of 2021, the U.S. women's team has won seven straight gold medals. Interviews with athletes from the 1976 Olympics enhance the invigorating narrative, enriching a book that will stick with readers long after they put it down. Weaving women's basketball into a textured account of a society in flux, Maraniss' latest will appeal to a broad audience.A winning story full of heart, camaraderie, and power. (photo credits, source notes, bibliography, rosters, statistics, box scores, timeline) (Nonfiction. 12-18)