Sun Cage Stairs Were AAU National Champs in 1930
SUN'S GIRLS of the Dallas Office were the best lady basketball players in the land thirty years ago. Three of the players. Kathryn Haden Florence Lippman, and Carrie MacElroy, were first string All-Americans. Shown in the photograph, from left, back row, are Coach Howard Allen, Lady Grace Stuckey, Vee Synott Randall, Anna Bernstein, Kathryn Haden, Gypsy Williams, Virginia Jackson, Kate Carragher, and Sponsor Jno. G. Pew; front row, Bertha Neederman, Carrie MacElroy, Lura McElreath Calhoun, Effie Cell MacEroy. Florence Lippman, Julie Wise, and Claire Heilig.
Dallas Sun Oilers Were Best Lady Basketball Players In U.S.
Most Sun people who have worked in the Dallas Office know of the well-rounded sports program there. But how many know that thirty years ago the Dallas Office boasted the best girls basketball team in the nation?
An unbeatable combination, the lady cage stars who played for the Sun Oilers in 1930 went undefeated through 32 games to take first the championship of a local league, then the city championship and the Southern A.A.U. title. Then, during the spring of 1930 the girls were invited to compete in the National A.A.U. tournament against the top teams in the United States.
In the early rounds the Sun girls massacred the Whitewater, Kan., team (51-5), the Kansas City Elliots (26-16), and the Monticello, Ark., cagers (59-21). They edged by the Employers Casualty team of Dallas (29-28) and went into the finals against a team of girls from Sparkman, Ark.
The final game was a see-saw battle that saw the Sun Oilers gain and keep a lead in the fourth quarter on the strength of Carrie MacElory's eleven free throws out of thirteen attempts.
When the cheering was over, the Dallas girls could look back on a record that was almost unbelievable. In 32 games, they had been undefeated, had scored 1,645 points to their opponents' 547, had won four championships, and had placed five players on the All-American teams. Three of the girls were awarded spots on the first team and two were chosen for the second team.
Of the first team honorees, Kathryn (Babe) Haden was famous for her leadership of the high-scoring Sun forwards. OUR SUN sports writer A. F. Altenau (now of Dallas Operating Department) reports that Carrie MacElory's "uncanny ability" to make free throws made her a unanimous choice for the first team. The remaining first-team All-American honor went to Co-captain Florence Lippman, who was a converted forward playing guard for the first time during the championship year.
Picked for the second unit was Gypsie Williams, whose brilliant play placed her "on a par with any forward in the country." She is now the wife of V. T. Butcher, who heads the Insurance Department, Dallas Office.
A stellar player at guard was Co-Captain Lady Grace Stuckey. Her playing skill and leadership ability won her a spot on the second All-American team. She was later married to James F. Faulk of the Dallas Office. Mrs. Faulk passed away recently.
Another star of the team was Laura McElreath Calhoun, a chip-shot specialist, who is today a member of the staff at Sun's Kilgore Office.
Claire Heilig, a new Sun employee during the season, was a member of the second string defensive unit. In summing up the victorious season, Reporter Altenau noted that this unit "covered themselves with glory whenever the occasion demanded . . . Their marvelous fighting spirit was the deciding factor in winning the Southern A.A.U. Crown." Today the leading bowler in the Dallas Office Women's Bowling League, Miss Heilig is a member of the Civil Engineering Department.
Coach of the national champion team was Howard Allen, and the business manager was Jno. G. Pew, now vice president of Production.
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From Sun News:
Dallas women big winners in 1930
by Lynn DiBiase
Dallas-Athletic teams arc as much a part of Sun Company's history as oils and gasoline. One example is the Sunoco Dallas Girls Basketball team which in the Spring of 1930, won the National A.A.U. Championship in Wichita, Kansas.
Howard Allen, a physical education director at a Dallas high school, coached the fourteen-woman team as they completed an undefeated 32-game season, amassing a total of 1,645 points to 547 by the opposition.
Claire Heilig, reserve guard for the championship team, who retired from Sun in 1965, remembers well that basketball season and explained that some of the women were supplied jobs at the company in order that they could play on the team. "I came to work for Sun in Oct.1929, and was what they used to call a stenographer," Claire said. "I was the only woman in the 25-member Civil Engineering Department.''
The late Jno. G. (Jack) Pew, was business manager for the team. Jack, a Sun Company board member and senior vice president, stated in his book, Sun Production Department, that Sun "acquired the team from Schepps & Co. and with them as a nucleus . . . added girls from Sun Oil Company."
The members of the 1930 team in addition to Claire, were Lady Grace Stuckey and Florence Lippman, the co-captains, Vee Synnott, Anna Bernstein, Babe Haden, Gypsie (Williams) Butcher, Virginia Jackson, Kate Carraghar, Bertha Neederman, Carrie (McLeroy) Rechenberg, Laura (McElreath) Calhoun, Julia Wise, Troy Azlain, and Effie-Del McLeroy, the mascot.
Claire also recalled her "buddy" Babe Deidrickson Zaharias, who then played for the Employee's Casualty Co. team. Claire described Babe, an outstanding athlete who gained national recognition as a golfer, as ''something else,'' and stated that they had a ''nice rivalry with no hard feelings.'' Even so, the Oilers overpowered Babe's team five times during that incredible 1930 season.
In mid-June, Claire attended the Dallas Sun Retiree's Annual Picnic where 158 retirees gathered to reminisce and just have ''a grand time. It was wonderful to see everybody,'' she said. Claire, who celebrated her 81st birthday June 29, lives with her sister in Dallas and is still in touch with several of her former teammates. She enjoys retirement and spends much of her time working in tile yard.
Lynn DiBiase is a summer intern in the Corporate Communications department.
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Wedding announcement: MRS. JAMES FREY FAULK.
The marriage of Miss Lady Grace Stuckey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam H. Stuckey, to James Frey Faulk of Dallas, took place Saturday at the home of her sister, Mrs. John B. Fair, with the Rev. Umphrey Lee officiating.
The bride wore a gown of white angel skin lace made with capelet sleeves and cowl neckline, and a large white hat of hair braid. She wore white satin sIippers and carried a bouquet of white bride's roses, and lilies of the valley tied with white tulle.
Miss Estelle Stuckey attended her sister as maid of honor. She wore a frock of peach-colored chiffon and large hat of matching color. Her flowers were pink roses.
R. B. Hickcox attended the bride-groom as best man.
Miss Mary Faulk of Austin, cousin of the bridegroom, sang, accompanied by Mrs. J. M. Sewell, 3114 Hall. Mrs. John B. Fair played the wedding march while the ceremony was read.
The wedding cake, which marked the center of the lace spread table, was surrounded by white rosebuds.
The couple left on a wedding trip to South Texas and the Gulf, the bride wearing a gown of beige with brown' and white accessories.
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Obituary: Former AAU Cage Star's Rites Tuesday
Mrs. James F. Faulk, a Dallas resident more than 25 years and a former National AAU All-American woman's basketball player, buried in Restland Memorial following services at 10 a.m.
Tuesday in Restland Funeral Home.
Mrs. Faulk, wife of an employee Sun Co., died Sunday night in a Dallas hospital after a brief illness. She lived at 3012 Amherst.
As Grace Stuckey, she was widely known throughout the Dallas area for her basketball activities and in the early 1930s and was named All American.
Survivors, besides her husband, son, James S. Faulk of Dallas, one daughter, Mrs. H. H. Cunningham Jr. of Berkeley, Mo.; mother, Mrs. S. H. Stuckey of Plainview, Tex.; five sisters, Mrs. R. R. Smith of Austin, Mrs. Beulah Hol-comb of Big Spring, Mrs. John B. Fair of Hunt, Tex., Mrs. Elro C. Paxton of Dallas and Mrs. G. D. Ellis of Plainview and two brothers, N. R. Stuckey of Los Angeles, Calif., and Sam H. Stuckey of Bowie, Tex.
Mrs. Faulk was a member of Highland Park Methodist Church.
Pallbearers will be Z. W. Bodenheimer, Harold Donahue, E. Riddle, Vernon W. Rohde, James W, Sterling and Roscoe F. White.
The family requests any memorials be made in the form of contributions to the Southwest Medical School of the University of Texas.
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Obituary: Final Rite's Arranged for Mrs. Faulk
Funeral services for Mrs. James F. Faulk, of 3012 Amherst, a Dallas resident for 25 years, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Restland Memorial Funeral Chapel, Greenville and Valley View Lane, with Dr. Fred Edgar of the Highland Park Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be in Restland Memorial Park.
Mrs. Faulk, a former National AAU All-American basketball player with the Sun Oil Company team, died Sunday in a Dallas hospital after a short illness. The former Miss Lady Grace Stuckey, she was known in the Dallas area for her basketball activities during the early 1930s.
She was a member of the Highland Park Methodist Church.
Survivors are her husband; a son, James Shannon Faulk of Dallas; a daughter, Mrs. H. H. Cunningham Jr. of Berkeley, Mo.; mother, Mrs. S. H. Stuckey of Plainview, Hale County; two brothers, N. R. Stuckey of Los Angeles, Calif., and Sam H. Stuckey of Bowie, Montague County; five sisters, Mrs. R. R. Smith of Austin, Mrs. Beulah Hol-comb of Big Spring, Mrs. John B. Fair of Hunt, Kerr County, Mrs. Elro C. Paxton of Dallas and Mrs. G. D. Ellis of Plainview.
Pallbearers will be Z. W. Boderheimer, Harold C. Donahue, James E. Riddle, Vernon W. Rohde, James W. Sterling and Roscoe F. White. James Frey FAULK and Lady Grace STUCKEY had the following children:
+103 i.
James Shannon FAULK.
+104 ii.
Maylee FAULK.
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