Valley Rewind: 1928 Beacon women's basketball team

This March, the Swannanoa Valley Museum will be publishing weekly photographs showcasing remarkable women throughout the Valley for Women’s History Month. This 1928 photograph from the museum’s collection features the Beacon women’s basketball team posing for a photo op. Up until the mid-1900s in Buncombe County, basketball was considered one of the only “acceptable” team sports for young women to play, making it a popular pastime. The rules for women’s teams looked a lot different in 1928 than it does today. For instance, women could only single dribble with the ball and were only allowed to bounce it knee-high. In the 1920s through the 1940s, competitive women’s basketball teams flourished in rural areas around the country. In Swannanoa, women’s basketball was greatly funded and organized by Beacon Manufacturing as one of the many ways to boost community involvement and morale.