Marguerite Evans was presented with an autographed jersey by PCEP Athletic Director Sue Heinzman.

Magnificent
Memories

Plymouth Township resident reflects on playing basketball in the '20s

BY ED WRIGHT
Feb. 2, 2010, 2:15 p.m.

   Babe Ruth was swatting baseballs over the right-field fence at Yankee Stadium, Charles Lindbergh was prepping the Spirit of St. Louis for his historic flight over the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Depression was picking up ominous steam during Plymouth Township resident Marguerite Melow Evans' high school basketball days at the old Plymouth High School.

  Evans, who will turn 100 on March 2, remembers a game that was quite a bit less-sophisticated than today's version of basketball.

  "At that time," she said with a chuckle, "you just wanted to get the ball in the basket. We didn't have any fancy plays or anything and there weren't really positions. There were very few rules."

  The gym Evans and her Plymouth Rocks teammates played in is now the Central Middle School lunchroom.

  "Our biggest rival was Northville, oh yes," she said. "We had some pretty good games with them. It was mostly students who came to our games. We'd get some pretty good crowds.

  "Our coach was Miss Hall. She was strict, but she was nice."

  Evans recalled that the uniforms of the day were T-shirts and skirts.

  "The shorts they wear now are a lot shorter (than the skirts)," she said, smiling.

  Evans said basketball was her No. 1 sport.

  "I didn't do too much else," she said. "Back then, girls didn't do too much with sports."

  Unlike today's daily regimen, the Rocks practiced twice a week.

  "We thought that was a lot at the time," she said.

  Evans was honored prior to the Plymouth girls basketball team's home game against Wayne Memorial on Feb. 2.

  Ed Wright can be reached at (734) 453-1980 or info@plymouthcantonsports.com.