Basketball recruiting is a big business in North America. For women's basketball it began in 1936 with 'The All American Red Heads' from Missouri. The team was put together by Ole Olson, a basketball player himself, who recruited his players from women's teams in the area. Many of the women worked at Olson's wife's hairdressing salons, and though they did not all have naturally red hair, the colored it to look red.
The team toured the United States and played men's teams, naturally this caused somewhat of an uproar back in the late 1930s. Although women are supposed to be the 'fairer sex' and not made for physical sport, 'The All American Red Heads' showed a few men's teams who was boss.
'The All American red Heads' became the first team to actually entertain their audience and not just play basketball. During half time they put on a show of skills and mastery with the ball and the crowds loved it.
To read more about these legendary pioneers, please visit their web site. They just had a reunion in July 2010 in Oregon where they laced them up one more time to play alumni from the NBA Portland Trailblazers