Annex Gymnasium Marks 50th Year As Basketball, Bowling Top Sports

Fifty years ago, in the days of bloomers and tin bath tube, Radcliffe cheered the addition of a permanent brick gymnasium to the cluster of building up Garden Street. Mrs. Augustus Hemenway, wife of the donor of the University's Hemenway gymnasium dedicated the now structure in June, 1898.

No regrets were felt over the loss of the rickety gray building with the low ceiling and the one cold water spigot that had previously passed for a gymnasium. "Chemical laboratory bottles upstairs juggled dangerously when anything more violent than Swedish movements was done," a reminiscence in the 1900 Yearbook reads. One member of the class of 1897 donated a large tin tub from home for the girls to bathe in after exercising.

Open-Air Courts Razed

The outdoor basketball and tennis courts also made way for the new gym. Harvard men could no longer climb the high wooden fence surrounding the basketball area to snicker at the female athletes in their white middles, red bloomers, and black stockings.

Spectators for the tennis matches, who used to sit in the old apple tree in the Annex Yard, moved up to the new courts on Berkeley Street with the coming of the new era.

Gym Left Them Cold

Yet for all its primitive quaintness, from the time that the first Radcliffe athletic class met in October, 1898 until Mrs. Hemenway's gymnasium opened its doors five years later, only a handful of bloomered lasses turned out for sports classes each term.

By the end of the first year of gymnastics, the inadequacy of facilities became apparent. The continuous cry for a sports center was finally answered by Mrs. Hemenway, and a wave of sports enthusiasm immediately overran the Annex.

Over 220 girls registered for athletic classes. Students, eager to use the empty swimming pool in the basement, collected $1500 to supply the missing plumbing. The pool was filled and 48 girls learned to swim that first year.

R.A.A. Blooms

Class teams were formed, captains chosen, and intramural meets held. Radcliffe's Athletic Association, then in its incipient stages, suddenly became the most active 'Cliffe organization as the gymnasium became the center of student activities. Class Day dances were permitted in the new building.

As the first thrills wore off, a split occurred in the student body on the issue of the value of athletics. Half remained convinced that "naught but study should enter into a student's curriculum," and looked with disdain upon the gym fiends who went merrily on their athletic way. It was not until 1925 that athletics became a school requirement, and only in 1942 was it extended to its present two 1 year requirement.

Variety Spices Sports

Variety has been the keynote throughout fifty-odd years of Annex sports. Tennis, basketball, and swimming are the old standbys. Field hockey and lacrosse have had their ups and downs. Tumbling, a grand old favorite, made its return as a regularly-scheduled activity three years ago.

On horseback, Radcliffe turned its back on the rough polo games of earlier times and now trots sedately at Good's Riding School in Medford. Crew went out two years ago when University facilities were no longer available for the female oarsmen. Sailing came in its stead, although only a limited number can enjoy the sport.

Badminton and fencing entered a decade ago, although the former has suffered from a decline in enthusiasts. Bowling and basketball top the modern Radcliffe girls' list of favorite sports.

Some sports ran out their popularity, while others recurred in a cycle. But the streamlined look of the girl playing the sports has continually progressed. By 1928 the red serge bloomers were well above the knee, and a few years later red pleated shorts trimmed the players' figures. At present simple white tennis dresses gives a clean, crisp look to the gym classes.

They've come a long way from tin bath tubs.