Granny Basketball Fundraiser
Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/20/2022
2:00 pm
Location
Columbia Elementary School
Categories
Fundraiser basketball game to benefit the Women Veterans’ Memorial
The Women Veterans’ Memorial Advisory Committee is looking for senior women basketball players to help raise money for the Memorial which will be built on Fuller Drive in Twain Harte next to the Local Press Café, across the street from the Rock Café. The Memorial project is being led by the Twain Harte Chamber of Commerce.
The women’s group has been challenged to a basketball game by the local Granny Basketball team, The Gold Diggers, according to Project Manager, Frank M. Smart.
“The lady vets have accepted the challenge but need some help. We are hoping some local ladies who have played the game in the past will help us put together a team to compete against the Gold Diggers,” Smart continued.
The game is scheduled for Sunday, November 20th at the Columbia Elementary School gym starting at 2 pm. There will be two games that afternoon; the opponent of the second game has not yet been decided. Admission is by donation, all of which will be contributed to the Memorial fund.
The Granny Basketball League was founded in 2005 in Iowa “to provide fun, competitive exercise for women age 50 and older”, according to Columbia resident Barbara Trammell, coach of the Gold Diggers. The League adopted women’s basketball rules from the 1920s, which include no running, jumping, or physical contact. Players wear 1920s-style uniform bloomers, middy blouses, and long stockings. The Gold Diggers team, which was formed earlier this year, is comprised of 17 area women who range in age from 52 to 78, all of whom agree that in addition to exercise, the antique game provides great fun, exceptional camaraderie, and stress relief”
The Memorial Committee members are Jennifer Serpa Brewster who served as a Chaplin’s Assistant in the Army and was stationed in Korea; Susan Escallier, (Army, Brig. Gen. Retired) who served as an Army lawyer; Retired Air Force Colonel Debbie Esque, a Medical Flight specialist who is currently the Tuolumne County Veterans Service Officer; Jill Main, a retired Army Staff Sergeant who served as a gunner on an armored Humvee in Afghanistan; Carol Scamara, a Navy yeoman who was on prisoner escort duty during the Vietnam era and Krysta Haigh Wolken, a 7th generation Tuolumne County native who served in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier and was a Plane Captain for an F-18 fighter aircraft.
“This Women Veterans’ Memorial Advisory Committee has done a great job of designing this Memorial with help from Columbia native, Roy Lane, an architect and artist John Sharum, President of the Mother Lode Art Association,” Smart noted.
For more information about the game or the Memorial contact Frank Smart, fsmart@rocketmail.com or call 209.559.1908.
