stories

The Past Uncovered

We have uncovered many great historical facts and entertaining stories as we interview the legends of the game. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the stories.

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Brenda VanLengen interviews Valerie Still.

MOKAN Interviews

In November 2023, Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the If Not for Them crew welcomed several highly decorated guests to the beautiful MOKAN Basketball facility in Lenexa, Kan., for three full days of interviews. That list included 1969 CIAW National…

New Opportunities to Join The Team

New Opportunities to Join The Team

After a successful Sneak Preview event at the NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four in Dallas, Texas, Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen has been hard at work preparing for the final fundraising phase of this docuseries project. If you have not…

Celebrating Bessie Stockard

Celebrating Bessie Stockard

Bessie Stockard is turning 90 this weekend and we thought it was the perfect time to tell a little bit more of her incredible story. Stockard is perhaps best known as the first African American woman to serve on a…

Photo of Marian Washington.

Marian Washington Legacy Reunion

The University of Kansas took time this weekend to honor legendary coach Marian Washington and her impact on the Jayhawks that can still be felt decades after her career. If Not For Them Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen was there, serving…

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day Three

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day Three

Belmont University was the host for Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media crew during a day of interviews for subjects from around Nashville and others who traveled in to meet up with us. Thank you to Renee Schultz…

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day Two

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day Two

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame was the perfect site for Executive Producer, Brenda VanLengen, and the Real Media crew to interview several people with ties to the early days of college women’s basketball and the late, great Pat Summitt….

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day One

Atlantic Coast/Southeast Trip Day One

When Patsy Neal was a senior in high school in Georgia, she saw a line in the local newspaper that changed her life forever. “Wayland Baptist Flying Queens win the 1956 AAU national tournament.” That inspired her to find out…

SoCal Day Two

SoCal Day Two

On Day One in Southern California, we collected stories about the Japanese League in Sacramento, the high school programs in the urban core of LA plus the early successful college programs at Cal Poly Pomona, UCLA and Long Beach State. …

SoCal Day One

SoCal Day One

In this docuseries, we are working to preserve the stories of those that built the foundation of college women’s basketball throughout the United States. Our travels this week took us to Southern California to capture stories of how women’s basketball…

Joan and Dixie

Joan and Dixie

Joan Crawford and Dixie Woodall were teammates for two years for the vaunted Nashville Business College program 60 years ago, but they are friends for life and both have had a great influence on women’s basketball.  Crawford was named AAU…

Lady Techsters

Lady Techsters

We spent the day in Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Louisiana Tech, the site of many victories for the Lady Techsters in the early years of their program. The Thomas Assembly Center, where basketball is played now, was built…

LSU and NBC

LSU and NBC

Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media crew made the first stop of the Louisiana road trip in Baton Rouge on the campus of Louisiana State University. There, we were able to see Sue Gunter’s statue inside the Pete…

Brenda VanLengen and Bessie Stockard pose for a photo.

Overland Park Interviews

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to welcome three women who were very involved with the history of women’s basketball into the Real Media studio. Real Media is our filming and production partner.  The day began with Bessie Stockard, who…

Celebrating Title IX with a Legendary Leader

Celebrating Title IX with a Legendary Leader

Celebrating Title IX with a Legendary Leader While the sports world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX on Thursday, Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen spent the morning with Dr. Charlotte West. The same West, who was being honored on the…

Interviews in the Prairie State

Interviews in the Prairie State

On Wednesday, Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen took a pause before walking into Horton Field House at Illinois State University. This storied venue hosted the first AIAW Championship in 1972 and as such, served as a sort of home base for…

Remembering a Century of Basketball in Iowa

Remembering a Century of Basketball in Iowa

Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media team are back on the road! This trip started in Iowa where the history of high school girls basketball dates back more than 100 years.  The first stop was the Iowa Hall…

Alice "Cookie" Barron and the Flying Queens fight for a ball under the basked (left) Alice "Cookie" Barron and Kaye Garms talk to the camera

Alice “Cookie” Barron is a Hall of Famer

On Thursday, Alice “Cookie” Barron of the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. The Flying Queens went undefeated in her career (1955 to 1957), recording 104 consecutive victories and…

Catching up with Donna Lopiano

Catching up with Donna Lopiano

On the final day of our Northeast Trip, Donna Lopiano was gracious enough to host Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media crew in her home.  There, Lopiano shared stories from her own athletic career in which she was…

Lucille Kyvallos and Queens College

Lucille Kyvallos and Queens College

Editor’s Note: Longtime Queens College coach Lucille Kyvallos was named to the 2025 class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be honored in June 2025 at the induction ceremony. Day 4 of our Northeast Trip took Executive…

Walking in West Chester

Walking in West Chester

Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media crew spent Day 3 of the Northeast Trip diving deeper with Yolanda Laney, meeting her high school coach Lurline Jones and connecting with Marian Washington’s daughter Josie Washington-McQuay. Each brought incredible stories…

Immaculata and the Mighty Macs

Immaculata and the Mighty Macs

Day 2 of our Northeast Trip is in the books. Executive Producer Brenda VanLengen and the Real Media Crew spent the day on the campus of Immaculata University interviewing two of the most legendary Mighty Macs of all time. You…

Brenda VanLengen High School Photo

Brenda VanLengen – Why?

Andraya Carter and Brenda VanLengen discuss WHY Brenda chose to begin this documentary series honoring those that built college women’s basketball.

AIAW and Title IX

Andraya Carter and Brenda VanLengen discuss the strong women of the 1970s that formed their own organization, the AIAW, for women’s athletics and the programs that won the AIAW Championships. Learn more at www.ifnotforthem.com

Strong Black Women

Andraya Carter and Brenda VanLengen talk about two of the black women leaders in college women’s basketball that will be featured in “If Not For Them” — C. Vivian Stringer and Marian Washington. There are others we will be highlighting, too. Stay tuned. Learn more at www.ifnotforthem.com

If Not for Them…