Senda Berenson Abbott 1868-1964

Known as the "Mother of Women's Basketball," Senda Berenson Abbot immigrated to the United States from Lithuania as a seven-year-old and became the first woman enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. She pioneered women's basketball while director of the gymnasium at Smith College in Massachusetts, using the brand new sport to promote physical fitness among young women. In 1892, she established rules for women's play, and in 1893 organized the first women's collegiate basketball game. During the early 1900s, she wrote a book on the sport, Line Basket Ball, or Basketball for Women, edited the first Basketball Guide for Women, and helped to organize the Women's Basketball Committee, which she chaired for 12 years.