LITTLE ROCK — Ben and Pat Overman traveled to every state except Hawaii during their combined 23 years as a coach and player with the All-American Red Heads women’s professional basketball team.
One trip took them to Point Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point of the United States, where members of the team rode dog sleds while interacting with the locals.
“They told us if there was a whale killed while we were up there, we might as well forget our ballgame,” said Ben Overman of Jonesboro. “That’s because all the Eskimos would go out to where the whale was killed. We were told to be sure and eat some of the whale blubber or we’d be offending the Eskimos.
“Luckily, they didn’t kill a whale while we were there and we didn’t have to eat any of the blubber.”
The menu promises to be more enticing today in Springfield, Mass., when the All-American Red Heads will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2012. The Red Heads, who toured the country from 1936-1986 playing exhibitions against men’s teams, will be the first women’s team inducted into the Hall of Fame and only the ninth team overall.
“We traveled so much that I used to tell friends if they threw me out of an airplane and gave me 45 minutes, I could find someone I knew who had been associated with the Red Heads,” said Overman, who coached the team from 1960-1973.
The Red Heads had a strong Arkansas presence, beginning with the late Orville Moore, who bought the team from C.M. Olsen of Cassville, Mo., in 1955 and moved it to his hometown of Caraway (population 1,200) in eastern Craighead County.
The Red Heads flourished under Moore’s leadership in the 1960s and 1970s when he had as many as three teams barnstorming across the country in stretch limousines to entertain fans with their red hair (mostly dyed) and colorful red, white and blue uniforms. The Red Heads played about 200 games each year from October to April and won 90 percent of their games, including 96 consecutive during one season.
“Orville was a P.T. Barnum type,” said Overman, who also grew up in Caraway. “He was a visionary who saw things before they happened. No one loved the Red Heads more than he did, and he’d be the happiest guy in the world right now with the team’s induction into the Hall of Fame.”
The Red Heads have been described as a female version of the Harlem Globetrotters, mixing in comedy sketches during their games to entertain the crowds, but the Red Heads were no joke when it came to their basketball skills.
The Red Heads played against men’s teams, including a group of Boston Patriots football players headed by halfback and former Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino in the 1960s. Although the men generally went along with the Red Heads’ routines, they didn’t always react well when the serious basketball resumed and they ended up on the losing end.
“I had my nose broke twice, mostly by accident,” said Pat Overman, who played 10 years with the Red Heads and celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary with Ben earlier this summer. “Sometimes, we had local stars who wanted to shine in front of their fans, and it would get a little rough, but we didn’t make a big deal about it. We mostly let them do their thing because we didn’t want to ruin it for the audience.”
More than 50 former team members are expected to attend the induction ceremony for the Red Heads, who helped open the door for the growth of women’s sports when opportunities for them were limited. That began to change in 1972 when Congress passed Title IX guidelines that require colleges and universities to provide separate sports and athletic scholarships for women in proportion to men’s teams.
Now thousands of women receive athletic scholarships each year, with some moving on to play professionally in the WNBA or overseas.
“There wasn’t any opportunity for me in sports after high school, except the All-American Red Heads,” Pat Overman said. “We let people know women could play sports, could play basketball, and it’s pretty exciting for me to be a part of that.”
Sports, Pages 21 on 09/07/2012