By Liam Reilly
“SHAME, SHAME, HALL OF FAME,” read one of the signs held in the protest outside the Springfield Civic Center on an October night in 1984. One sign read “It’s the Hall of Shame until Women are in it.” Another pointed out that Senda Berenson Abbott, who wrote the rules in 1893 for the first women’s basketball game, wasn’t enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “Biggest shutout in basketball history, 143-0,” another sign read, commenting that 143 men had been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but no women were.
Two of these signs were held by someone who is a significant figure at Springfield College – and in women’s history: Mimi Murray. Women’s rights have been a passion for Murray ever since she arrived on Springfield’s campus as a student in 1957.
Murray’s fight for equality started not long after she arrived on Alden Street. She decided to pursue an undergraduate degree at Springfield because she had heard that it was the best school for physical education. Another activity that was on her mind was field hockey. Murray played in high school and couldn’t wait to play it at college.
Her excitement swiftly gave way to disappointment. Murray met with Ruth Evans, Springfield’s Head of Education, and immediately asked her when field hockey started. Murray vividly remembers what Evans said next.
“‘Oh dear, we don’t have that here,’” Murray recalls Evans saying. “‘We don’t have things like the men do.’”
Murray called her mother back in New Jersey and pleaded with her to let her come home. Her mother shut the idea down and told Murray that she had to stay. Once she realized that leaving wasn’t an option, Murray set out to make change happen herself.
“I came from a progressive high school in New Jersey where [women] were able to play those sports, so that made me say to myself, ‘Okay, you have to do something about that,’” Murray said. “The more I started working on that and was into women’s sports, I realized that most high schools had better programs than colleges did.”
After earning her bachelor’s (in 1961) and master’s (1967) degrees from Springfield College, Murray returned to campus to coach the school’s women’s gymnastics team, which she led to three Division I national championships and an undefeated record in dual meet competition. After earning her doctorate in Sports Psychology from the University of Connecticut, Murray came back to Springfield in 1976 and was told by Springfield’s director of athletics, Edward S. Steitz, that if she didn’t coach Springfield’s women’s track and field team, it would be dropped.
“Drop a women’s sport? Over my dead body,” Murray said. “I didn’t know much about track and field but I didn’t want them to drop it.”
Not long after that, Murray was asked to coach the women’s volleyball team instead and was given the same ultimatum: coach the team or it gets cut. Murray didn’t hesitate.
“I coached [volleyball] for two or three years, and they were a very good team,” Murray said. “I was very pleased and happy to have that opportunity. Each little little step along the way it seemed like women didn’t have the things that would be even fair. They didn’t have to equal the men’s team but they deserved a chance.”
Years later, Murray fought for that very chance at the Basketball Hall of Fame. On Oct. 23, 1984, Murray was a part of a protest that called out the Hall of Fame’s lack of representation of women. Murray was there with the National Organization for Women (NOW), whose purpose was to lobby for equal rights.
During her time with NOW, Murray took on a media relations role. She was in charge of getting television support, and often made trips to New York City. She would get recognized by reporters and asked to talk about women’s sports. It got to the point where if someone called NBC or ABC about women’s athletics, Murray was the first person they were directed to.
Murray learned of the plan to protest at the Hall of Fame when the president of NOW, Judy Goldsmith, called her. Goldsmith read an article in a local Springfield newspaper that mentioned there were no women in the Hall of Fame. She called Murray and asked her if there was anything she could do to help women get involved – and inducted.
“I’ll do anything,” Murray replied.
Murray reached out to anyone she could think of – including the women directors of athletics she had met during her time as a coach.
“I met with them the day before the [protest],” Murray said, “And they said, ‘We need to identify women in the Hall of Fame so that young girls have role models.’”
NOW knew it was the right time to make its voices heard. The NBA was hosting an exhibition game between the Boston Celtics and the Utah Jazz. With the local Celtics coming into town, the Civic Center would be filled with fans.
Murray and 24 other NOW members took their places at the front gates of the Civic Center two hours before the game started. They chose the entrance strategically.
“We went to every game [there], and people had to walk past us to get to the front door,” Murray said. “The [Basketball Hall of Fame] board of directors were furious.”
The board of directors weren’t the only ones who were angry. Fans threw an onslaught of insults at the protestors, such as “Women can’t dribble” or “Get your own hall of fame.” One fan specifically told Murray to “Wear your bra tighter.”
“I was so angry,” Murray said. “It hurt my feelings, and I kept thinking that I didn’t like it, but somebody has to do it.”
Times were different back then. Fans weren’t as progressive about women’s sports, and they weren’t widely supported like they are now.
“They only knew basketball in terms of men’s play,” Murray said. “That’s why it was so important to get women’s sports on television. They automatically thought of the stereotypes of women and said, ‘They can’t play basketball.’”
Murray and NOW went to every home game at the Civic Center that Fall. One of their goals was to see Senda Berenson Abbott – also known as the "mother of women's basketball” – be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Berenson organized and refereed the first public women’s basketball game, took on the role of as the national editor of the women’s basketball rulebook and chaired the Women’s Basketball Committee for 12 years.
Despite the adversity they faced that October night, it proved to be worthwhile. Five months later, three women – Berenson Abbott, Margaret Wade and Bertha Teague – were inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 1985.
“They elected a woman into the Hall of Fame,” Murray said. “Little girls could go to the Basketball Hall of Fame with their family to go see Bill Russell and see women there.”
Forty years later, a total of 40 women have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches, contributors or players.
“There were a lot of people who weren’t aware women deserve to be in the Hall of Fame and that they weren't even in it,” Murray said. “So I think it worked in that regard. We educated a lot of people coming into the Hall of Fame about what Title IX was about.”
Murray played a key role in helping women get elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and was a trailblazer in the fight for equal rights. She was recognized for her efforts in 1985 when she was named a Pioneer in Women’s Athletics by the Women’s Sports Foundation.
“It meant a lot to be known for doing work for women’s rights and lobbying for Title IX,” Murray said.
A lot of inspiration came from her mother, Gerda. Murray’s family used to call Gerda the “Poison Pen.” Whenever Gerda saw something she thought was discriminatory, whether it was sexist or racist, she’d write a letter to whoever the boss was.
The world of women’s sports has seen massive growth since Murray took to the steps of the Hall of Fame. However, she knows there’s still room for improvement.