Memoir Collection

Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club 1915- 1940

A basketball program was launched in 1915 at MacDougall Commercial School in Edmonton which would entertain and amaze basketball fans in Alberta, Canada, United States and Europe over the subsequent twenty-five years. The Edmonton Grads, which became a women’s club team composed of mostly of graduates of the commercial high school, backed by a development program with a girl’s junior and senior high school teams as feeder teams, and a boys’ team, is the subject of Dr. Ann Hall’s book The Grads Are Playing Tonight. (University of Alberta Press).

The Edmonton Grads accomplished a winning average of 95%, losing 20 of 400 official games. They played locally, nationally and internationally, logging 125,000 miles over their twenty-five year history. They participated in exhibition games held in association with three Olympic Games, at Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris, successfully defending their world title.  As the women on the Grads team were employed full-time in various Edmonton businesses, they accomplished these feats with only two evening practices a week. Much of their success is attributed to J. Percy Page, a teacher at MacDougall Commercial School who was their coach, mentor and team manager for twenty-five years.

“Although the team began in 1915, those considered “official’ Grads – thirty-eight in all - begin with the members of the 1922 Dominion championship team and includes those who played until the team disbanded in 1940.” (Hall, 2011, 85)  This collection of biographies of the thirty- eight women who played for the GRADS over the twenty –five years, and accompanying pictures, tell part of the Grads story. We are grateful to Dr. Ann Hall for sharing some of her research on these remarkable athletes. We encourage you to read Dr. Hall’s book for the full story. 

Photo - 1940

Student & Academic Services for The Alberta Women's Memory Project - Last Updated January 04, 2016