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The Immaculata College Mighty Macs, from the tiny Catholic women's school in Malvern, won
their first championship (the first national collegiate tournament for women ever played) in 1972,
when the game was still emerging from the age of "separate spheres." AAU teams had played fullcourt
for years, but college ball had just graduated from archaic "women's rules," which restricted
players to half of the court and three dribbles. Most teams still played in skirts. The national tournament
was such a novel idea that few reporters knew it was happening. One Philadelphia sportswriter
who heard Immaculata had won the first championship told his colleagues, "I didn't even know they
had gone full-court." But in 1974, after two more national trophies, the whole country could follow
the Mighty Macs, as reporters flocked to their games. The team had stars, such as Rene Muth Portland,
now head coach of the Penn State Lady Lions. The Mighty Macs also had 1974 Player of the Year,
Theresa Shank and All-American Marianne Crawford, whom one sportswriter called the best point
guard in Philly, male or female. They had a young, visionary coach, Cathy Rush, who imported men's
game strategies like picks and presses to beat bigger schools with scholarship players and well-funded
programs. The team also had a following. At Mighty Mac games, reporters couldn't get enough of the
Immaculate Heart nuns, the team's biggest fans. Dressed in identical blue habits and veils, the sisters
weren't above cheering or ref-baiting. One reporter was amazed to watch as a sister stood and in her
shrillest falsetto yelled, "Watch the pick and roll!". Observers said the most compelling thing about
the Mighty Macs, though, was that they seemed to love to play.
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