Grand Meadow girls teams of the 1930s are headed to the MSHSL Hall of Fame
Published 6:39 pm Tuesday, August 20, 2019
- From left, former Grand Meadow girls basketball players Mae ‘Harvey’ Gross, Beulah ‘Travis’ Ankeny and Hazel ‘Peterson’ Blanchard stopped by GM High School after the Superlark girls basketball program that won 94 games in a row was inducted into the Minnesota Basketball Hall of Fame in March of 2018. Herald File Photo
The Grand Meadow girls basketball teams that ran off 94 straight wins from 1929-1939 will be inducted into the Minnesota State High School League Hall of Fame at the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront Hotel at 1 p.m. on Oct. 20.
GM played in a time where girls played six-on-six, with three players remaining on offense, and three players remaining on defense. During the first season of its winning streak, GM outscored its opponents 591-153 in 14 games.
The players who are still alive from that era are Beulah “Travis” Ankeny, Mae “Harvey” Gross, Hazel “Peterson” Blanchard and June “Wright” Kramer.
The same group of players was inducted in the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. GM’s dynasty ended when girls basketball was outlawed in Minnesota. Girls basketball came back when Title IX brought back girls high school sports in 1972.
“I was mad. They told us we could be cheerleaders for the boys and that’s what made us mad,” Gross said in March of 2018. “I did it, but they didn’t go hog wild on cheerleading then. I would’ve rather played basketball. It was good exercise and we had good coaches.”
