The Edmonton GradsThe Edmonton GradsThe Edmonton GradsThe Edmonton GradsBy: Hanna SerhanBy: Hanna SerhanBy: Hanna SerhanBy: Hanna Serhan

““Ladies First Ladies First Basketball Basketball

players second” -players second” -Percy PagPercy Pagee

““You must play basketball, think You must play basketball, think basketball and dream basketball and dream

basketball”-Percy Pagebasketball”-Percy Page

Women in SportsWomen in Sports• At the time women in sports were frowned upon because

they were deemed un “ladylike”

• Women’s sports got second rate equipment

• little or no coaching

• Not only did the women have to compete against an opponent they also had to compete against the public and that is every athletes greatest challenge

The Man who lost the Coin TossThe Man who lost the Coin Toss

Basketball was created by James Naismith

Percy Page came to Edmonton and taught at McDougal Commercial High School

At this school Percy could only coach one team, the boys or the girls so Percy and Ernest Hyde (his assistant) flipped a coin to decide who would coach each team.

Percy lost the coin toss meaning he was to coach the girls basketball team

Little did Percy know that the man who lost the coin toss was going to coach one of the greatest teams in history.

The Grads were BornThe Grads were Born

The Edmonton Grads are an all women’s basketball team

They were started at McDougal High School

They had a very successful season and they wanted to stay as a team when they graduated

Thus The Edmonton Grads were borne!

The Unbeatable The Unbeatable

Little news about the grads

The Grads dominated every team they played. Every 6 points a Grad would score their opponent would score 1

Grads Final Record 526 wins 22 losses in 25 years (better than 96%)

Best record of all time in any sport for both genders

Played 9 men teams and only lost twice

38 lucky women would wear the Grad uniform

Disbanded in 1940 because The Royal Canadian Air Force took over their arena

The QuestionsThe Questions

Why Should they be the greatest Canadians?

What special things did they do?

Why are they important?

The ReasonsThe Reasons

•They helped changed they status of women

•They inspired women all over the globe

•They shined the spotlight on women’s sports

The Grads Over the The Grads Over the YearsYears