When people think of Utah and "pioneers," the image of a 1935 women's softball team is not the first that comes to mind.
But when it comes to trailblazing and groundbreaking, the Utah Shamrocks did more than their share. For years they were billed as the oldest organized amateur team in Utah sports and the second oldest softball organization in the world.The team's gone now. It disbanded in 1978 when funds and enthusiasm started to dry up. But for more than 40 years, the "Girls in Green" were the dominant force in regional softball.
"People would show up at the games just hoping to see us lose," says former second baseman Mildred Blackman Lavender.
Adds infielder Donna Poll: "And it's amazing how many fans we had. People still recognize me on the street after all these years. We really loved to get out and play."
Miriam Murphy of the Utah State Historical Society will offer a retrospective on the team at the USHS annual meeting on Friday, July 12. Through interviews and research she's found lavish newspaper accounts of the Shamrock games dating back to 1935. That was when a group of employees at Auerbach's approached the store's firebrand personnel manager, D.J. Murphy, about forming a woman's basketball team. He not only formed the team, he took over as coach. The next year the team turned to softball and soon took on the name Shamrocks in honor of Murphy's deep Irish roots.
"It is astonishing to see how much press was devoted to the Shamrocks back then," says historian Murphy. "They were big news. After the '40s, however, interest seems to follow a descending curve."
Over the years the team won more than 30 state softball titles, finished runner-up to the national champion in 1953 and placed fourth in the nation in '67. They traveled 10,000 miles a summer - usually by car. They visited 44 states, Canada and Mexico, and played in places as diverse as the San Francisco World's Fair and Soldier Field in Chicago, home of the Chicago Bears football team.
When coach Murphy died in 1962, Don Beck took over. In 1971 Fern Gardner and Joy Peterson Wood, two local legends, grabbed the helm. Wood coached until 1978 when the team finally hung them up.
And why did they disband?
Beck feels the reason was that much of the athletic talent was being drained away by university athletic programs, but Joy Peterson Wood has a different idea."Joy seems to think the team went under because the dedication of the players was missing," Murphy says. "The newer players saw the game as recreation - a trendy activity like jogging or golf. When the intensity died, so did the team.
"I do know that all the former players from the golden era that I've spoken with - Jerry Smith, Faye Tazoi Toma, Joy Peterson - still have that intensity about them. They wanted to play ball, play hard and be the best. It wasn't a game to fill in the odd hours. It wasn't a `wouldn't it be nice to have a hobby' kind of team. This was a great team with a tremendous amount of commitment and enthusiasm. They didn't just fool around with it."
Yet if the team was known for its drive and determination, the women also knew how to let their hair down, soften the edge.
"The group of girls that I played with enjoyed ourselves," says Jerry Smith. "We used to short-sheet beds, play all the tricks that athletes play. The older players - the ones who weren't 15 or 16 and had to be curfewed - would go out dancing at night. In Chicago we visited the broadcasting studios and did a lot of tourist things.
"But as a general rule we played ball and tried to rest. We'd play a game one night, travel through the night, then play a game the next night. We didn't have a lot of time."
But to a person, the players feel the time and energy were worth it. And a peek into the Deseret News clip files shows that the Shamrocks were also good for the state, a great point of local pride. Joy Peterson alone has been the subject of at least three full-length feature stories in the News, and several columnists have set aside space to praise the team.
Says a Shamrocks press release from 1970: "During the golden era of softball over 20 years ago, the Shamrocks played to thousands of loyal fans who would line up outside the park hours before the game in order to claim a seat at the Old White Park in Salt Lake City."
And that admiration was mutual.
"It has meant an awful lot to me," says Lavender.
Adds Smith: "What can I say? Softball was my life. It was my love."