In 1970 Immaculata, a 400-student girls college, decided to begin a basketball program. They offered the job to Cathy Rush, a 22-year-old who had only moderate coaching experience. She accepted the job as a way to occupy her time since her husband was often away on work. She was paid $450 a year to coach the team.
To say that this was a challenge was an understatement on steroids. The school had no gym, so all games would need to be played on the other team’s court. The school only had one basketball. All of the players were commuters, but they did have some talent. There was no transportation for traveling to the games so the players had to drive themselves to the games.
In spite of their challenges, the Macs began the season with an 8-0 record. Then their center was hurt and out for the remaining games. They finished with a 10-2 record.
The next year, a gym was built on campus but it contained only one row for seats. The Macs went undefeated that year and were invited to a regional tournament at the end of the season. They played four games in three days and lost in the final.
Even though they lost, they were invited to the national tournament featuring 16 women’s teams from around the country. They only had enough money for eight players to travel stand-by. They had very little money for food and all eight players slept in two rooms. They won the national championship. From that point on, they became known as the Mighty Macs.
They repeated the national championship for the next three seasons. Sadly, the Mighty Macs could no longer compete at a national level when Title IX opened up college sports to women. Immaculata College could not afford scholarships.
The Mighty Macs are little known today but they were groundbreaking for women’s basketball. They played in the first nationally televised women’s basketball game. They were the first women’s team to play in Madison Square Garden. They became the first women’s team to play outside the U.S., and they became the first college basketball team (men or women) to go undefeated for an entire season.
Compare the story of the Mighty Macs to the championship teams in college sports today. What lessons can we learn from the Mighty Macs to inspire us? Now what might those lessons be that we learn from championship teams today? Have college sports lost its why? Have we let college sports become a mirror of society where only the elite can ever have a chance? And has the concept of student-athlete become a mockery? Finally, does the phrase sportsman-like conduct still have meaning?
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“Don’t be disappointed when you lose.” – Ed Rush (Cathy Rush’s husband prior to their first national championship)