These grannies take it to the hoop
In a throwback to the 1920s, a senior basketball league flourishes in Iowa. It's all about fun, fitness, and the bond of sisterhood.
from the April 3, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
Dozens of other grannies came down from the bleachers, gathered in a circle and held hands. And then they sang the "granny anthem," which began: "Far Across The Fields and Farmlands, And Our Rivers Blue."
It was sweet. And then, game on.
Cedar Rapids was led by a 72-year-old, white-haired spark named Betty Vieman, who enjoys nothing better than warming up for a game by tossing a watermelon-sized medicine ball.
After caring for her ill husband for seven years – he died in 2003 – she needed something to do, to reengage. Ms. Vieman, of Ellsworth High Class of 1953, went back to playing basketball. She broke her nose during an early practice. But she stuck with it.
"This is a hard game," she says. "In the 1920s, the gyms were a lot smaller."
The fourth quarter ended with Cedar Rapids and Des Moines tied at 17-17. Nobody knew what to do. There had never been an overtime period in granny basketball.
So they made one up. Four minutes. The teams traded baskets.
They were tied at 19-19.
"Let someone else play," Vieman says.
Game over. Cedar Rapids forfeited. And everyone left the court with a smile.
No sore losers around here. These are grannies, after all.
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