Hartford Tigerettes
Location: Hartford, Connecticut
Established: Late 1940s
Captain: Lenora Gordon
Coach: Cora Lee Bentley Radcliff
The Hartford Tigerettes, based in Hartford, Connecticut, were an African American women’s basketball team that played from the late-1940s into the mid-1950s.
The Tigerettes were connected with the Hartford Independent Social Center. They began as a touring women’s softball team, but after expanding into basketball, their athleticism quickly translated onto the hardwood court as dominating members of the Connecticut Girls Basketball League. They also claimed the New England Negro Girls Basketball title in 1948.
Their success was not without racial discrimination and challenges from all-White rival teams, some of whom wanted them removed.
According to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, Tigerettes player Florence Kiser Wollaston recalled that the team was taunted with racial epithets. But she said their coach told them, “I don’t want any fighting, I don’t want any arguing, fussing, if you want to put all our energy to use, you put it into playing ball.”
Rivals finally got their way in 1954, when, in a game against the Waterbury Libra Athletic Association, with the score tied 18-18, a Waterbury player intentionally kicked one of the Tigerettes. This caused “fisticuffs” to break out and “a scrap occurred,” according to the Hartford Courant newspaper. Waterbury refused to continue playing, so the referee awarded a forfeit victory to Hartford.
But instead of admonishing the Libras, the league president suspended the Tigerettes, stating that “this was the second time the Hartford team had been involved in a fight and that it would probably be barred from further participation.”
Though they were literally kicked out, this didn’t stop the Hartford squad, which went on the play for several more years while also continuing to tour with their softball team.
During their time, the Tigerettes were an inspiration to the growing populations of African American communities in and around Hartford, such as in New Haven, Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Stamford, popularizing the game in ways that still resonate today.
