Golden Cyclones
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The Golden Cyclones were a 1930s group of women athletes who played
Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
(AAU)
softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and track-and-field. Based in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
they were sponsored by the Employers Casualty Insurance Company (ECC) and coached by "Colonel" Melvin J. McCombs, manager of the ECC athletic program in Dallas.
Babe Zaharias Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field. She won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the ...
was their star team member from 1930 to 1932, leading the Golden Cyclone Basketball team to the AAU women's basketball championship, AAU Women's Basketball Championship in 1931. The Golden Cyclones were one of the dominant AAU teams of the era. In addition to the National Championship in 1931, they finished as the national runner-up in 1929, 1932 and 1933, while finishing fourth in 1930. They held the offensive record for scoring the most points ever in a National Tournament game (97) as well as the defensive record for the fewest points ever allowed (4). In 1934, the Golden Cyclones were enrolled ''en masse'' into Dallas's new college, Dixie University, to become the college's women's basketball team known as the Dixie Rebels. Dixie instantly had a national championship-contending team in time for the 1934 national tournament. After winning its early games, the Rebels were trounced by the two-time defending champion Oklahoma City Cardinals in the quarter-finals. It appears that the Cyclones/Rebels never played another game.


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References

* * Softball teams in Texas Athletics clubs in the United States Sports in Dallas Defunct women's basketball teams in the United States 1920s establishments in Texas Sports clubs and teams established in the 1920s Women's sports in Texas {{Dallas-stub