By Diana Narasaki Trujillo
SAN JOSE, CA – Seven women sat around a couch, chatting and laughing as they flipped through old photos from their teenage years in San Francisco during the 1950s. There were snapshots of their days playing on a social basketball team called The Dots, wedding photos, and several reunions from the past that sparked plenty of stories and laughter about the antics they shared along the way.
The San Francisco Dots first met as young girls, most of them growing up near Japantown. They tried Girl Scouts for a while, but as Suzie recalled, “I bought my Girl Scout sash to fill with badges, but it was way too much work to earn them!” Since there wasn’t a middle school basketball team available, the girls started looking for another activity to do together as they entered high school which was either George Washington High or Lowell High Schools. Ricki said that “…all of the boys went to Lowell – that’s why Shiz and Nancy went there,” (Nancy cracked up at that memory).
“We thought maybe we’d join a school team as freshmen, but the Japanese girls were all too short to play school ball,” they joked. “So we formed our own team.”
When it came time to choose a team name, they gathered for a meeting. Suzie recalls, Don Shimizu looked at the group and said, “You girls are so scattered that you look like a bunch of little dots running around.” “More specifically, the black-haired dots!” The name stuck. The Dots took the court wearing pink tops and black shorts, joining the ranks of older San Francisco girls’ teams like The Stinkers and The Lynx. Any girls who didn’t fit into other groups were always welcome to join The Dots. Games were played mostly at the Buchanan YMCA, The Reform Church, or the Buddhist Church in J-town.
Back then, nobody had a car they just took the bus, even on dates. The team rode the bus to games, dances, and social events all over San Francisco. “We never won a single game, but we had fun!” they laughed. Teams from Berkeley and Oakland would travel into San Francisco to play them. “I guess they didn’t mind coming to the city because they knew they would win,” one of the women chuckled.
Girls’ basketball followed different rules in those days. Players were confined to either the front or back half of the court, allowed only two dribbles, and only forwards could shoot. Even with those limitations, The Dots gave it their all.
“We were the lowest team. We never won any games,” Jeanne recalled. “But we had a perfect record—for losses!” Yvonne added, “people asked us, ‘how come you never win?!’” The tableful all laughed. Connie laughingly remembers when “…Suzie and I even bumped into each other at midcourt.” Ricki added, “…and Suzie’s nickname was Sumo, she was a little heavier and when they hit, Connie FLEW and we asked if we should call a doctor.” Speaking of nicknames, Jeanne was given the name, “stringbean” because she was skinny and the tallest at that time. “She played forward” Yvonne said. “And that’s why we always lost”, clarified Jeanne.
They were like The Bad News Bears. When asked who their biggest rival was, Yvonne’s answer came quickly: “None. We never won!” The group remembers that the bleachers were filled with spectators for all of the boys’ teams, The Barons, Troop 58, The Associates, and The Protos.
Their basketball style reflected the era. Rather than attempting the hook shots the boys used, they threw the ball underhand with both hands from between their knees.
One of their favorite stories involved their uniforms. The team had packed them into cases that were sitting in a car parked in front of Nancy’s parents’ house when thieves broke in and stole them all. “Those thieves probably got quite a shock when they found out they’d stolen a bunch of used pink basketball uniforms,” they laughed.
The women also remember gathering at Nancy’s house often because she lived near the Buchanan YMCA gym. Nancy’s mom always had the best snacks for them—cookies and other treats. They also went to Patty’s house because she lived close to the beach. It was there that they had their first sleepover. They made plans to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge the next day, but by morning, no one wanted to get up!
Basketball was only part of the fun. The Dots also organized dances, often once a week. One was the “Gumball Dance,” where admission was a stick of gum or a piece of candy. The collected treats were to be donated to a church in Japan. The Dots hired a band—but nobody showed up. “The band told us, ‘That’s all right, you don’t have to pay us,’” they remembered with a laugh. Ricki recalls going to the beach with Yvonne adding, “remember the fat lady ‘Laffing Sal’ at Playland at the Beach, the animatronic life sized character with arms moving up and down laughing at passerbys”.
The group remembers hanging out at Evergreen Soda Fountain as teens. “The boys gathered there so they could play pinball and us girls hung out at Koga’s (on Sutter and Buchanan Street) but we’d find our way over to Evergreen since the boys were there. We’d enjoy their cherry cokes, chocolate milkshakes, and dancing to songs playing on the jukebox.” Connie shared one of her escapades while pointed to Jeanne , “we cut school to go to Sac park” and Jeanne interjected “to chase birds to put salt on their tails”! The team disbanded mid-way through college years as some went away for school but more than six decades later, the bond remains as strong as ever. “It’s a real sisterhood,” Yvonne said.
The group enjoys getting together to catch up on life and even organized a reunion in Hawaii, where more laughs were created, “Connie left her carry on luggage on the airplane,” noted in their scrapbook.
Looking around the room, it was impossible to miss the truth in those words. More than 65 years after they first met, The Dots are still laughing together, sharing memories, and keeping in touch with Connie adding, “let’s meet up sooner than one year”.
