Bobby Pope: Mercer women have place in hoops history
There are very few women's basketball programs that have a winning record against Tennessee, but Mercer is one of them, although that record is just 1-0.
Tennessee has been a dominant force on the hardwood since it started its modern program back in 1974, and that is the year Mercer got that win. The "Teddy Bears," as the Mercer team was known then, were Tennessee's first opponent for 22-year-old graduate assistant head coach Pat Head. The contest was played in Tennessee's Alumni gym, with Mercer winning 84-83.
Little did we known at the time that Head, later to become Pat Summit after marrying, would go on to become the all time winningest basketball coach, male or female, in NCAA history. When she stepped down three years ago after being diagnosed with an early onset of Alzheimer's, she had a record of 1,098-208 with eight national championships and 16 SEC championships.
Mercer rode into Knoxville on Dec. 7, 1974, for a noon tipoff with a 4-1 record after losing for the first time that season to Tennessee Tech (66-56) the previous night in Cookeville, Tennessee. Led by the Tennessee twosome of Myrel Huskey and Sybil Blalock, who were from nearby Sevierville, Mercer took a 41-40 lead at intermission and never trailed during the final 20 minutes. Huskey led the way with 30 points, with 18 coming in the second half, while Blalock, who now serves as Mercer's deputy athletics director, contributed 16.
Dawn Baxley, who played high school basketball at Jonesco Academy, added 14, and Hilda Heard had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Mercer, which played a zone defense the entire game, was forced to play three quarters of the contest without its biggest inside threat, Linda Callahan, who was sidelined after having a tooth knocked out with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
Mercer went on to finish the 1974-75 season with a 23-6 record and was invited to play in the Women's NIT in Amarillo, Texas.
Although Mercer and Tennessee have not played since that meeting, Summit got her revenge on the Bears at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. She was a member of the United States "A" team along with Mercer's Cindy Brogdon, who was named to the WBCA/Kodak All-America team in 1976 after averaging 30.3 points per game.
Brogdon is one of the best women's basketball players I have ever seen. I recall a game during her sophomore season when she made a perfect behind-the-back pass from midcourt to the left wing baseline, which resulted in an open shot and a basket for Mercer.
After her sophomore season, Brogdon left Mercer and joined the Tennessee program for her junior and senior years, and she was an All-American both seasons. At Tennessee, she averaged 20.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Brogdon was not the only player to leave another the program for Tennessee. Georgia native Trish Roberts, who will be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in February, was also on that 1976 Olympic team, and she finished her career with Tennessee, where she still holds the record for most points in a single season (952) and in a single game (51). Roberts played her first season at North Georgia before transferring to Emporia State in Kansas and then on to Tennessee.
I'm not saying Summit recruited either player, but it seems kind of fishy to me. Women's teams in the 1970s were not governed by the NCAA, but if they had been, there surely would have been an investigation.
Interestingly, Brogdon and Blalock both played at Mercer but never together as they missed each other by a year. But they were teammates on the New Orleans Pride squad in the Women's Basketball League in 1980.
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com
This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Bobby Pope: Mercer women have place in hoops history ."