Lurlyne Greer
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| Born | December 15, 1928 | ||||||||||||||
| Died | February 16, 2001 (aged 72) Heber Springs, Arkansas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| Career AAU statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Women's Basketball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Lurlyne Ann Greer (later Lurlyne Greer Mealhouse[1] and Lurlyne Greer Rogers) (15 December 1928 - 16 February 2001) was an American basketball player, active during the pre-professional era of women's basketball from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s.[2] Greer set records for the most points in a single game and tournament, captained the US women's national basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1955 Pan American Games and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.
Early life
[edit]Greer was born on December 15, 1928, and grew up in Des Arc, Arkansas.[1]
Career
[edit]Greer played n the AAU All-American league from 1947 to 1954. She played for Cook's Goldblumes, 1948–9. In the 1951–52 season, when Greer played with team Hanes Hosiery, she made forty-one points in one game, which set an AAU tournament record in scoring thirty-five points against the Jackson (Mississippi) Magnolia Whips. As a result, Greer's team-mates called her "the Rock", and the coach Virgil Yow described her as a player who made the team of Hanes Hosiery "great".[3]
In 1952, she received the Lewis E. Teague Memorial Trophy from the Carolinas AAU and was voted Most Valuable Player at the AAU National Championships in 1952, 1953 and 1954.
In 1955, Greer captained the women's basketball team that went to the Mexico City Pan American Games and featured members such as Lometa Odom. She averaged 18.3 points per game and set records for the most points in a single game and in the tournament.[4] She also set several marks for free throws.[4] This was the first time that women's basketball was included in the Pan American Games and the team won the gold medal.[5]
Greer later played for the Arkansas Travellers during the 1956–1957 season led by the coach Hazel Walker. Goose Garroute, a friend of Hazel Walker, thought that Greer "neither fast nor tough enough for their game" and after the season, Walker had to "let her go".[6]
Life after basketball
[edit]Following her retirement from basketball, Greer moved to Philadelphia and learned how to run a cemetery business. In the early 1960s, Greer met and married Frank W. Rogers (1921-1991) and the couple developed a cemetery as a retirement and vacation area in Heber Springs, Arkansas. They occasionally hosted old AAU team-mates in the premises. As a habitual smoker, Greer died of pulmonary malignancy on February 16, 2001.[7]
Recognition
[edit]Greer was elected into the first Helm's Hall class of women basketball honorees in 1967, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) in the Class of 2004.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Mealhouse Called Cage 'Ben Hogan'". St. Joseph Gazette. Associated Press. March 21, 1955. p. 13. Retrieved June 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Porter, David L. (2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press. p. 405. ISBN 0-313-30952-3. OCLC 261199758.
- ^ Ikard, Robert W. (2005). Just for Fun: the Story of AAU Women's Basketball. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 84. ISBN 1-55728-783-X.
- ^ a b c "Lurlyne Greer Rogers". Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ "USA Basketball: SECOND PAN AMERICAN GAMES -- 1955". 2014-08-08. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ Ikard, Robert W. (2005). Just for Fun: the Story of AAU Women's Basketball. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 1-55728-783-X.
- ^ Ikard, Robert W. (2005). Just for Fun: the Story of AAU Women's Basketball. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 86. ISBN 1-55728-783-X.
External links
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