Between 1972 and 1974, the Mighty Macs of Immaculata College—a small Catholic women's school outside Philadelphia—made history by winning the first three women's national college basketball championships ever played. A true Cinderella team, this unlikely fifteenth-seeded squad triumphed against enormous odds and four powerhouse state teams to secure the championship title and capture the imaginations of fans and sportswriters across the country. But while they were making a significant contribution to legitimizing women's sports in America, the Mighty Macs were also challenging the traditional roles and obligations that circumscribed their Catholic schoolgirl lives. In this vivid account of Immaculata basketball, Julie Byrne goes beyond the fame to explore these young women's unusual lives, their rare opportunities and pleasures, their religious culture, and the broader ideas of womanhood they inspired and helped redefine.
Julie Byrne is an assistant professor of religion at Duke University. She lives in Durgaham, North Carolina.
Table of Contents
Introduction. Philadelphia Hoop and Catholic Fun 1. Making the Team, Making Identity 2. Practicing Basketball, Practicing Class 3. Bodies in Basketball 4. Praying for the Team 5. Ladies of the Court 6. Championships and Community Postscript. Immaculata Basketball and U.S. Religious History Appendix A. Immaculata College Basketball Survey Appendix B. Surveys, Interviews, Correspondence, and Unpublished Memoirs
What People are Saying About This
Robert Orsi
In this important study of young Catholic women playing their way into American life, Julie Byrne broadens our understanding of the history of religion and sports in the United States. Making it clear that Catholic school life was anything but dour and joyless or that discipline means only restriction and limitation, Byrne's exciting story captures the delight and achievements of young Catholic female athletes.
Robert Orsi
In this important study of young Catholic women playing their way into American life, Julie Byrne broadens our understanding of the history of religion and sports in the United States. Making it clear that Catholic school life was anything but dour and joyless or that discipline means only restriction and limitation, Byrne's exciting story captures the delight and achievements of young Catholic female athletes.
— Robert Orsi, Warren Professor of American Religious History, Harvard University
Jon Butler
O God of Players recaptures the lost world of Catholic women's basketball between 1940 and 1975 where faith, sweat, and even innocence triumphed as America and Catholicism changed uneasily and irrevocably. Julie Byrne describes how a group of remarkable young women transformed their spiritual and secular lives alike through a love of basketball and church. O God of Players is charming, surprising, insightful, and often moving -- wonderfully original and wholly successful.
— Jon Butler, William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History and professor of religious studies, Yale University
Ann D. Braude
Nuns playing basketball in the novice house? Catholic girls having fun in the 1950s? Julie Byrne's delightful book complements studies of a 'culture of suffering' among American Catholic women to show that lived religion also includes pleasure, and lots of it. Her ingenious choice of the Mighty Macs, unlikely national basketball champions, suggests a world of new venues by which to access the religious life of Catholic laity.
— Ann D. Braude, director of the Women's Studies in Religion Program, Harvard University
