GREELEY, Colo. (AP) More than anything, Mary
Schrad wants women to have enough
self-esteem to accomplish all they can.
Schrad, 48, is a good example. Considered a
pioneer in women's professional basketball,
Schrad now helps women stay healthy and
happy at Contours Express, a health and
fitness center she owns in Greeley.
But the road to athletic and professional
success wasn't easy.
After she was abused by her alcoholic
father, Schrad was placed in a girls home
run by the Catholic church. While living in
foster care in Sioux City, Iowa, she began
playing basketball at Bishop Heelan High
School.
``She just showed up one day at
basketball practice and it was like God
dropping Michael Jordan in your lap,'' said
her former coach, John Adams.
Schrad averaged 44 points per game. Then,
her senior year, she broke her back in a
tobogganing accident. Her spinal column was
damaged, leaving her partially paralyzed.
She lost an athletic scholarship at the
University of Iowa.
It was one of the most difficult times of
her life.
``It really put me in the dumps because
basketball was all I'd do and all my love,''
Schrad said.
She got through the rough recovery with
the support of those close to her, including
Adams and her mother, with whom she had kept
in contact with while in foster care.
``My mom would always come to visit, and
I maintained a wonderful relationship with
her,'' Schrad said. ``She was the hero in my
life and my best friend.''
Her athletic prowess became stronger
after graduation. She went to Briar Cliff
University in Sioux City where she averaged
18 points and double-digits in rebounds,
becoming the first woman inducted into the
school's Hall of Fame.
She was then drafted by the Iowa Cornets
of the newly formed Women's Professional
Basketball League, the first pro league for
women.
Even though she spent only a year in the
league, which lasted three seasons, Schrad
was a trailblazer in women's professional
sports an accomplishment she didn't realize
until September during a league reunion
sponsored by the WNBA, which wanted to honor
the women who paved the way for today's
athletes.
``When we were going through the process,
we didn't care about history,'' Schrad said.
``Just give us the ball and let us play.''
The Cornets were better off financially
than most teams in the early league because
it was owned by millionaire George Nissen,
the inventor of the trampoline. But the pay
was low, bus trips were long and the team
didn't pay for meals or shoes.
Schrad decided to go to Europe to play
for a professional team in Austria, where
salaries were better and the women's game
was more accepted.
She didn't speak German, so communication
was a problem especially during a
championship game in the former
Czechoslovakia.
Schrad thought she had drawn a charge on
the play, but an official called for a
block. When she signaled to the referee
``OK'' with her hand, fans started throwing
debris from the stands at her and her
teammates. The referee threw her out of the
game and escorted her off the floor. Her
coach was so angry, he made her sit at the
end of the bench.
A week later, she found out her seemingly
harmless gesture was obscene in
Czechoslovakia.
``But the experience over there was the
best time of my life,'' Schrad said.
She knew it was time to return to the
United States when the team requested she
marry an Austrian man so she could become a
citizen.
After coming home, Schrad spent 21 years
coaching basketball and volleyball.
She won a state title at Limon High
School in Wyoming, then joined the college
ranks at Casper College in Wyoming and later
Dakota Wesleyan University, an NAIA Division
II school in Mitchell, S.D. She earned
several coach of the year honors and was the
national runner-up for coach of the year in
volleyball at Dakota Wesleyan.
Schrad later became the women's
basketball coach and assistant athletic
director at Western State College in
Gunnison. She learned a lot about the
business, spending three years on the NCAA
Division I Executive Committee.
After her years in sports, Schrad still
wanted to help women but wanted her own
business. So she opened the first Contours
Express in Colorado, which caters to women
of all ages, shapes and sizes.
``You just feel at home there right
away,'' said client Joan Brehon. ``It's nice
not to have the men there because I'm 60,
and you don't have to be Miss Spandex. If
you want to be Miss Spandex, you can, but
you don't have to be.''
``What I am trying to do here is take and
educate women on how fitness is always
important, no matter what our age,'' said
Schrad, who also conducts basketball and
volleyball clinics for a local church.
``They're having fun with it, but mostly
they're staying involved,'' Schrad said.
``That is why I wanted to do this.''
On the Net:
Women's Professional Basketball League:
http://www.wblmemories.com
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All
Rights Reserved.)