About this item
An expansive and compelling chronicle tracing the rise of modern women's basketball. Elvera "Peps" Neuman got lost in the sounds and rhythms of basketball, dribbling and shooting on a hoop affixed to her family's barn in Eden Valley, Minnesota. In the years preceding Title IX, Neuman's dreams of playing the game professionally meant a life away from home on barnstorming tours and even forming a team of her own, the Arkansas Gems.. Sixty years later, she got to witness what a sold-out Target Center in downtown Minneapolis looked like on the Friday night of the 2022 Women's Final Four. Neuman's cheers joined with a crowd of 18,268 to send a wall of sound toward the Twin Cities' own Paige Bueckers and her Connecticut teammates. The 5'11 Bueckers may have worn her ponytail a little differently than Neuman, but Neuman certainly saw something of herself in the young superstar.
About the Author
Howard Megdal is a journalist and editor who has worked hard over his career to equalize coverage between both men and women's sports. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The IX Newsletter, a daily newsletter covering five different women's sports, and High Post Hoops, a 24/7 women's basketball outlet. He is a freelancer for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight and Forbes.
