Customer Reviews

Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School Basketball Champions of the World

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A find of several arrowheads on our land in western NY sparked my interest in reading Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School: Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. Once the authors introduced me to the players on the basketball team named world champions at the 1904 World's Fair, I found myself immersed in the players' lives as they transitioned from life on reservations and farms with their families to their coming of age at a boarding school, separated from their own cultures.

Because different tribes had been settled in one location at the Fort Shaw Indian School, there existed the potential for conflict, but instead these girls supported one another while negotiating the illnesses that plagued them from time to time, as well as surviving the deaths of parents, siblings, and friends. Starting with a soccer ball and a basket nailed to the wall, they progressed through and over many obstacles to become the "champions of the St. Louis world's fair." Not only did they play two twenty-minute, full-court basketball halves, several times a week and sometimes twice in a day, they also performed pantomime, played musical instruments, and recited poetry as part of their "demonstration" of how Indian girls could become "civilized." They raced up and down the court and through the Northwest exhibiting their talents, recruiting new students, accepting challenges from whites who could barely score against them, showing grace and modesty each time they won.

Even though they were exploited to gain money for their school budgets, these diligent young women put all their efforts into perfecting their performances and heroically presenting a positive view of Native Americans at a time when the whites who lived on their native lands ridiculed, criticized, and denigrated them.

Through newspaper and magazine articles, BIA reports, letters, and oral history from their descendents, the Fort Shaw Girls' Basketball team emerges from the pages as a group of unique individuals, each with her own distinct personality. Numerous photos of the girls and extensive notes add to the details of their lives.

The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, originally intended to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, became the showcase for Native American crafts and lifestyles that were quickly disappearing. The Fort Shaw girls represented the future with their recitations, dance, and exhibition basketball games just as the exhibits represented the past. Their biographers and descendents deserve our praise. Recommended for women's, multicultural, and regional history collections.

by Susan Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I have also read "Shoot Minnie Shoot", it was OK but very disappointing that the author chose to take "artistic license" with the story. The facts are so much better then fiction.




I have been waiting for years for this book and I am not disappointed.

My grandmother played on this team. I learned things about her I never knew.

If all someone is looking for is a girls basketball story, you can find that anywhere.

This is HISTORY.
The history of a bunch of girls that changed they way people viewed Indians at the turn of the century.
The history of our families, our grandmothers, aunts, cousins finally told after over 100 years.

Had enough of football, can't wait for basketball? Full-Court Quest is the perfect gift book for any sports fan who loves inspirational stories this time featuring young women who played full court basketball and won while wearing dresses.

As a Montanan who likes the game of basketball, I found this to be an inspiring, well-written story and one I had never heard. I had no idea! The individuals involved were "fleshed out" so they took on personality and I began rooting for them to overcome and triumph in their game of life. It's also terrific Montana history. I am so impressed with the book that I ordered a copy for each of my children (and their families) and we will use it as the basis for our family book club.

Item was in superb condition. arrived a couple of days too late for birthday but other than that, i was very pleased with transaction.

FULL-COURT QUEST: THE GIRLS FROM FORT SHAW INDIAN SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD tells how ten girls shattered prevailing perceptions towards Indian peoples and women athletes one game at a time, but it's more than a recommendation for sports libraries alone. Included in the assessment of the Fort Shaw Indian School winners is an overview of native politics, life, and women's issues alike, making FULL-COURT QUEST a wide-ranging assessment for any college-level collection strong in women's issues or Native American rights.

I was disappointed as the book was very factual but became very repetitous. The program before the games & and the performances at the World Fair, were itemized each time. The reader got bogged down with these details. I felt the book should have been edited more. Having read "Shoot, Minnie, Shoot" and disappointed that it was a novel and introduced the author's imagination, I was very interested in the "facts", just not that many repeated so often. However, I did enjoy the newspaper articles that were included in "Shoot, Minnie, shoot" rather than the "notes" in Full Court Quest. The book definitely cleared up some misconceptions that I had about the team, including that they did not play any boy's teams or have a championship game as such at the World Fair. It was very interesting that the Government Indian School was presented in such a good light and prepared the young people with skills and confidence. I also enjoyed "The Years Thereafter", a nice follow-up on the members of the team. My expectations may have been a bit high for the book, based on a review in Montana I had read.