Me and Drake women's basketball: A love story
The Bulldogs celebrated the 50th anniversary of their program Saturday and my memories covering the team are filled with joy.
The photo is black and white with pushpin holes in the ragged corners.
It shows the 13 members of the 1996-97 Drake women’s basketball team gathered at center court of the Knapp Center.
Then huddle together, arms around each other’s shoulders, with broad grins.
I was standing not far away when it was taken in October 1996. I was the editor of the campus newspaper. I had asked the photographer to take a standard team photo.
Then I told the team to take one like it was for their high school yearbook. The resulting portrait is one of my most prized mementos from the years I covered the Bulldogs from 1994-97.
Drake celebrated the 50th anniversary of women’s basketball Saturday in Des Moines. I planned to go, but a health issue sidelined me.
But I thought of those halcyon days of yesteryear throughout the weekend.
Those women, coaches and players alike, mean so much to me.
I covered them as Lisa Bluder had the program on the rise. Kristi Kinne from Jefferson-Scranton baffled defenders with her cross-over dribble.
Julie Rittgers of West Des Moines Valley swished three-pointers.
Tricia Wakely from suburban Minneapolis shimmied and shook for baskets in the paint.
Lisa Brinkmeyer from Hubbard-Radcliffe played shut-down defense and led the league in diving for loose balls. She was the last Miss Iowa Basketball for the 6-on-6 game, which ended in 1993.
The 1993 5-on-5 Miss Iowa Basketball, Karen Schulte was on the team. Karen was a smooth-shooting 6-footer from Cedar Rapids who I would still bet next month’s rent to beat anybody a game of horse.
Deha Peyton of Linn-Mar handled the point, dishing to her teammates and releasing her rotation-less shot which floated through the air like a knuckleball and landed more than it missed.
I covered the team for the Times-Delphic, Drake’s student newspaper. I was the paper’s editor and the best story in campus sports was the women’s basketball team.
Kiersten Miller kneels in the front of the picture. She was another suburban Minneapolis product. She had a deft touch with the three-point shot and as a left-hander, snuck her arm around players and popped out the ball for steals like a viper strike.
The picture includes Tammi Blackstone, who was a 6-foot-4 freshman from Cherokee who could dunk, an absolute force of nature in the paint, and a tremendous shot-blocker.
Blackstone played in the post with Haley Sames, the toughest athlete I ever covered. Haley once got cut on her forehead during a game. She went into the locker room to have it sticked. Sames refused a local anesthetic because she wanted to get back in the game.
Also in the picture, was Missy Lange of Rock Valley. She crouched with her head leaning on the back of her hand and elbow resting on Miller’s shoulder.
Missy swatted away opponents’ shots and spelled Wakely. She had one of the quirkiest personalities of any person I ever met.
I once described her thinking process like trying to follow a song on a record that randomly slipped grooves yet somehow rocked.
Missy stood teller than 6 feet with long brown hair and soulful eyes. She worked as a model for a time. She died in 2007 during a minor knee surgery.
Brinkmeyer died of brain cancer last year. But the big grin on her face in that old photo is always how I picture her in my mind — full of life and mirth.
Not many days go by that I don’t think of them. It always jars me to think the world goes on without such wonderful people.
The only problem with covering Drake women’s basketball is that it was so much fun that ever beat or job I had after it was in a way a disappointment.
Lisa Bluder coached the Bulldogs then alongside Drake alumni superstars Jan Jensen and Jenni Fitzgerald.
I’ve long said that if you’re making a list of the most positive people in Iowa, you must start at No. 4, because the three are tied for the No. 1 spot.
I was just a kid learning my craft on the campus newspaper, but the coaches always took my questions and never condescended to me. That was not always true for coaches on the men’s side of the basketball court.
As I learned to be a reporter, I sat next to one of my best teachers — fellow Drake alum Jane Burns.
Jane fiercely reported stories and wrote with grace and humor. She became like my journalism big sister. To this day, I am jealous of just how damn good she is.
I am sad that I couldn’t attend the celebration. I’m sadder that Lisa and Missy couldn’t be there, at least not in the way we can see.
But all I need to do is look at that old black-and-white photo and my heart fills with joy and love.
They were the best of people. They were the best of times.
And if any of them still read these ramshackle paragraphs stacks, I’ve got just one thing to say:
I love you guys.
Daniel P. Finney is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, but don’t hold that against them. Please visit their page to view a full roster of writers and consider subscribing to their columns. Writing is hard work; people ought to get paid for it. If you enjoy it, throw them a couple of bucks. They earned it.
Thanks so much! I really enjoyed this.