Girls' Basketball League

	Central Texas All-Star team with fans and tubs of ice used to help cool the Whitney School Fieldhouse

Basketball had been part of Texas school systems for many years, but until 1938 there was no organized girls’ league.  In that year, L. C. McKamie, Superintendent of the Abbott schools, along with two other men, organized a state wide league.  The first state tournament of the High School Girls’ Basketball League of Texas was played in 1938 with 14 schools participating.  Among the charter members of the league were schools from Abbott, Bynum, Irene, and Itasca.

The tournaments were initially held in Waco, but were moved to Hillsboro in 1942.  The town was so receptive that it became known as the "Cradle of Girls Basketball." In 1944, 1945, and 1946, Aquilla won the championships, compiling a record of 92-1.

The league peaked in 1950 with 576 member schools.  The following year, it held its first all-star game and coaching school at the Whitney School Fieldhouse, the same location that four years later held a fundraiser for Lyndon Johnson.  By 1954, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) had recognized the popularity of the sport and begun sponsoring girls’ basketball.  The UIL, which was already sponsoring boys’ football and basketball at most schools,  required schools to participate in only one league, thus forcing the High School Girls’ Basketball League of Texas to close.