Before helping the All-American Red Heads put men in their place on a nightly basis, Connie Howe struck a few blows for gender equality much closer to home.

Howe vividly remembers squaring off against her older brother, Mike, in the Breezy Acres subdivision in Rock Falls. She stood 5-foot-3, a full foot shorter than her big brother.

“That didn’t stop me,” Howe said. “I was like, ‘I can beat you.’ I think that kind of made me tough. We played every minute we could.”

This evening, Rock Falls' very own will be one of about 60 All-American Red Heads in Springfield, Mass., for the team's induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The team's pending induction was announced April 2.

“It’s a very exciting feeling,” Howe said. “It will be the thrill of a lifetime.”

The Red Heads were founded in 1936 by C.M. Olson and helped spearhead the progression of women in sports until the team folded in 1986.

Higher education

There were no girls high school sports when Howe graduated from Rock Falls in 1970.

Needless to say, pursuing a physical education degree at Southern Illinois University was a game-changer.

"That was really when my eyes became open that girls could play sports,” Howe said.

Her timing couldn't have been better, as the the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971, resulting in national tournaments and the golden goose of a national championship.

During Howe's tenure, the Salukis' best regional finish was fourth, but Howe was thrilled to see the movement picking up speed.

“In the 30s, 40s and 50s, it was really unheard of for women to be playing basketball,” she said.

In addition to playing hoops for 4 years, serving as captain the final three, Howe also played field hockey and volleyball. She captained the field hockey team to an undefeated season in 1974.

Howe graduated after the summer section in 1974 and was unable to land a teaching job, perhaps a blessing in disguise. While she had a blast delivering mail at Northwestern Steel & Wire, a higher calling arrived when she was recruited by the Red Heads.

After gaining approval from her parents, she attended a camp in Arkansas, setting off three seasons of relentless travel and equally interminable success.

Style and substance

On the road about 7 months of the year, the Red Heads either played a game or performed a halftime show every night of the week in a different town.

But they were never really off the clock. When the bus stopped, out came the basketballs. It was precious time to practice juggling and spinning. Howe spent that time refining her sleight-of-hand dribbling routine.

“You worked on it every single day. You’d live, eat, sleep breathe basketball,” Howe said. “They say the Harlem Globetrotters got their start from watching the Red Heads back in the 30s.

"That’s what the Red Heads say, the older ones.”

Upon arrival at the game's venue, much of their warmup reflected that of a men's team. But they also put some last-second polish on trick shots and other flair.

“I did a pretty extensive dribbling routine and juggling,” Howe said. “I’d be juggling three basketballs, and another gal comes out and she’s juggling three and we’d kind of trade off, juggling four together, side-by-side.”

But like the Globetrotters, the Red Heads were a lot more than tricksters. They played men's teams, by men's rules and, more often than not, they won. In fact, during the 1976-77 season, they visited 35 states and went 128-18.

“We were out to win every game, no doubt about that, and we won most of our games,” Howe said. “If we weren’t good at basketball, I don’t think it would’ve mattered how many tricks we could do.

“We could play intense, play rough, and we could win. 75 percent of the time was about hardcore basketball, and the rest of the time was for having fun.”

'Like being in the service'

While young men got buzzcuts, uniformity was also mandatory for the Red Heads who weren't … well … redheads.

In the team's earlier days, not only was red hair obligatory. Players were also given the same cut.

"That wasn't the case when I played," Howe said.

Was she a natural redhead?

“Only my hairdresser knows for sure,” Howe said. “That used to be our line.”

She wasn't. Nothing a little red hair dye can't fix, though. After that, hilarity often ensued.

“We'd go to restaurants, and people would ask if we were all sisters,” Howe said. “even though we didn’t really look much like each other.”

The snickers often continued right up until tipoff that night.

“You found a lot of people who, at the beginning of the game, they’d sort of giggle and not really think it was going to be much of a game,” Howe said. “Until they saw us play. You still run into that today, sadly enough, people who think sports are just for men."

That perception was often expedited by the media. After her time with the Red Heads, Howe played in the first women's pro league, the Women's Basketball League. After making the team for the Minnesota Fillies, she was traded to the New York Stars, who often played in front of sparse crowds at Madison Square Garden.

Reporters told them they'd get coverage once they were more popular.

“That was kind of a Catch 22,” Howe said. “How could people come see us when they didn’t even know a game was going on.”

But the Red Heads were undaunted by doubters and detractors. After all, there was strength in numbers.

“You had to learn how to get along with each other,” Howe said. “It was almost like being in the service, where you’re a team, you’re around each other all the time. It was like family. We found ways to have fun together, and we got to see a lot of sights.”

More than a game

Beyond basketball, Howe and the gang were afforded many unique opportunities. She remembers meeting Sally Ride during a stop in California, long before she became the first woman to enter space.

Ride was working her way through Stanford as a photographer for womenSports Magazine. Also working for the magazine was former Red Head Karen Logan, who famously beat Jerry West during a Battle of the Sexes on the ABC program "Superstars."

“It wasn’t quite Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs, but it was pretty impressive,” Howe said.

Howe fondly remembers Orwell Moore, who bought the team in 1948. Over the next three decades, he had as many as three teams on the road at once. Coach Moore passed May 19, 2009, but his legend survives.

“He was a character,” she said. “He was a great guy who had a great vision, always a positive guy. He put his heart and soul into his work. He had a classic Southern way about him, and was like a father figure."

Howe gets particularly gooey inside when she talks about her former teammates. One could only imagine what it will be like to not only be enshrined in the Naismith, but to go in with the closest friends you ever made.

“It’s hard to tell what you’re most excited for,” Howe said. “It’s a lot of great people with great big personalities. You could imagine when you get that many entertainers together, it will be a lot of fun.”

A moment made for TV

What: All-American Red Heads' enshrinement in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

When: Today – Red Carpet Show, 5:30 p.m.; enshrinement, 6:30 p.m.

See it all on NBATV. The Red Heads will be inducted by Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Teresa Edwards