The Only Dance in Iowa: A History of Six-Player Girls' Basketball

by David (Max) McElwain

Iowa six-player girls’ basketball was the most successful sporting activity for girls in American history, at its zenith involving more than 70 percent of the girls in the state. The state tournament was so popular—regularly drawing fifteen thousand fans, more than the boys’ tourney—that officials declined a lucrative broadcasting offer from ABC’s Wide World of Sports rather than forfeit the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union’s control of the game. The Only Dance in Iowa chronicles the one-hundred-year history of this Iowa tradition, long a symbol of the state’s independence and the people’s rural pride. Max McElwain shows how, well before the passage of Title IX in 1972, Iowa six-player girls’ basketball was, as Sports Illustrated gushed, “a utopia for girls’ athletics.” He also demonstrates how, ironically enough, the fallout from Title IX in many ways led to six-girl basketball’s demise.

 

Through interviews, careful ethnography, and detailed historical analysis, McElwain exposes the intricate political, sociological, and historical dynamics of this cultural phenomenon. His book reveals how six-girl basketball, flourishing with the passionate support of Iowa’s small towns, school districts, and media, came to represent the state’s strong traditional beliefs and the public school system’s determination to maintain its identity in the face of national educational trends. The Only Dance in Iowa is as much a study of this disappearing culture as of the game it claimed as its own.

265 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Chip Rickard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a history of six player girls basketball in Iowa. To those unfamiliar with this version, there's 3 forwards and 3 guards. The guards couldn't score and had to stay on their side of the half line as did the forwards. Also, a girl could only dribble twice. Iowa switched to five player basketball in the 1990s.

It was wildly popular during its time in the small towns of Iowa. City schools didn't have it till the 70s. Even playing 6 player ball, Iowa girls were head and shoulders above the other states for girls athletics. But the girls - especially the guards - had problems transitioning to college basketball.

The book started with anecdotes about girls in the author's home town transitioning to 5 player ball. More anecdotes follow in the next chapters about certain players and certain teams. Not until chapter 6 did the author really get into the history of 6 player ball. The author does compare and contrast the styles of play and why the small towns loved it so much. The end notes were outstanding and provided almost as much information as the book itself. I would look elsewhere for a truer history of 6 player basketball.