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Women’s History Month Spotlight: All-American Red Heads

Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on the courage of women in past and present generations and to celebrate how their efforts and bravery have helped to move women forward. For this week in March 2023, we commemorate the AAU alumnae, All-American Red Heads

Mar 02, 2023

Women’s History Month Spotlight: All-American Red Heads

By: Troy MacNeill

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 2, 2023) – The All-American Red Heads took over the basketball world and had the eye of the country for the better part of six decades, selling out stands all across the world. A basketball team comprised of all women, playing men’s teams by men’s rules and winning. These women were more than great athletes, they were ground-breakers.
 
Formed in 1936 by owner C.M. “Ole” Olson, the all-female team played against men’s teams and shattered every stereotype about female athletes. They were overcoming social barriers that existed both on and off the court at the time.
 


The All-American Red Heads played more than 200 games in a single season as they toured coast to coast, and eventually around the world. The team began making stops in Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. Owner C.M. Olson would soon bring on Coach Orwell Moore, and together they stacked their roster with some of the best female players available.
 
One of the first professional female basketball teams, the women impressed with their skill, their talen, and their humor. Similar to the Harlem Globetrotters of the early years, the Red Heads played it straight during the early quarters of the games. But come crunch time, the ladies would put on a show with quick and fancy dribbling, amazing trick shots, and rapid-fire passing.
 


The All-American Red Heads were so successful as an exhibition team, they created two more teams that would tour: The Ozark Hillbillies and the Famous Red Heads. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the three teams toured the country, traveling 60,000 miles by car. But they were putting on a show every game they played.
 
The Red Heads was comprised of a host of AAU All-American players. Two of the team’s leaders were twin sisters, Jean and Jo Langerman. The sisters won an AAU National Championship after their high school careers, then joined the All-American Red Heads to be cornerstones of the team. The team also had star players such as Peggy Lawson, Kay Kirkpatrick, and even Coach Orwell Moore’s wife, Lorene “Butch” Moore.
 


Off the basketball court, the team was making a change for the better in the community. During the off-season, the players would teach basketball skills to young girls. Coach Orwell also started Camp Courage, a basketball camp exclusively for girls.
 
The team was amazing. With star players, AAU All-Americans, skills that nobody had seen from women in basketball, the team went on to win 96 consecutive games. The All American Red Heads were trailblazers and remain the longest-running women’s professional franchise in the history of basketball. And their accomplishments did not go unnoticed.
 


In July of 2010, the All-American Red Heads were honored at the Senior Pan-American games in Oregon. During the reunion, the team would lace up their sneakers for one more game, as they played the NBA Portland Trail Blazers alumni team. In 2011, the team was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and recognized as “Trailblazers of the Game” at the ceremony. And in 2012, the All-American Red Heads became the first ever women’s team enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
Watch the Hall of Fame induction speech here.



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The AAU was founded in 1888 to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sports. During its early years, the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the U.S. in the international sports federations. The AAU worked closely with the Olympic movement to prepare athletes for the Olympic Games. After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the AAU has focused its efforts into providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the grass roots level. The philosophy of "Sports for All, Forever," is shared by nearly 800,000 participants and over 150,000 volunteers.   

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