Roamer Girls
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Manager: Grace Presbyterian Church
Established: 1921
The Roamer Athletic Club women’s basketball team, known as the Roamer Girls, was formed in Chicago in 1921.
Originally affiliated with the city’s Grace Presbyterian Church’s Sunday School, the all-Black squad played home games at the Bronzeville’s famed Eighth Regiment Armory and featured stars such as 6-foot 7-inch center Helen Smith, Kate Bard, Lula Porter, and Isadore “Izzy” Channels.
Channels was a superb athlete and may have been Chicago’s first trash-talker, pre-dating Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan by more than 50 years.
“Scoring and passing at will and even at times joking,” the Chicago Defender reported after one of her games in 1925, “she played a game far above the heads of her opponents and far in advance of her colleagues, registering 19 of the points scored by her team.”
When the Roamer Girls joined the women’s division of the Chicago City Basketball League in 1925, competing against White and African American teams throughout the city, they captivated fans across race and gender lines.
This momentum continued well into the 1930s with their barnstorming strips throughout the Midwest and West, inspiring new generations of female ballers for years to come.
Roamer Girls™ is a trademark of the Black Fives Foundation. All rights reserved.
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