Is This Georgia Brown?

At 25, Woodard was the oldest of the 18 distaff candidates who tried out. She came in with the best credentials. She had been captain of the 1984 U.S. women's Olympic team and had scored 3,649 points in her career at Kansas, more than any other woman player in college history. Woodard had also played a year of pro ball in Italy, and for a year prior to her Trotter tryout, she had been working as a full-time assistant coach at Kansas.

She had been fascinated by the Trotters since Ausbie came to dinner one night when she was five and twirled a basketball on his finger. "It was unreal," she says. "I couldn't believe the magnificent things he was doing with a basketball." She tried them and busted up the house. Woodard was a lot better with a basketball when, as a junior in college, she decided she wanted to become a Globetrotter. The team hadn't yet decided it wanted a woman, though. When the decision was made, the players were wary. "I was crushed, absolutely crushed when I heard about the idea," says former Trotter Larry (Gator) Rivers, who assisted Ellington at the Trotters' first women's trials. "We strive to be recognized as a legitimate team, yet there are those who say we're only a bunch of clowns. This seemed like just another gimmick."

"I'd heard rumors, but it was still a shock," recalls Dunbar. "My first reaction was: Show me, don't tell me. I figured it might be a publicity stunt."

Duryea had private doubts as well. "But after the trials began," he says, "it was no longer a question of can a girl play, but which one?"

Woodard won the respect of the team with her savvy and all-around play. "We can't say that she's one of the guys," says Dunbar. "Sometimes we have to tell her to shut her ears, but she's bringing out the gentleman in all of us." On the road Woodard, like each of the male Trotters, has her own hotel room and two seats on the team bus, but she doesn't suit up with the guys. Before entering the locker room, she always knocks. "Probably the hardest thing to remember," says five-year Trotter veteran Harold (Bobo) Hubbard, "is that she might be walking into the locker room any minute, so we got to have clothes on. It's like having your little sister around."

Woodard is thrilled by it all. "I got the chance of the century," she says. "It's the first time in history it's been done. Since the earth was created, let alone when basketball began. How sweet it is! How sweet it is!" And awaaay she goes.

The Trotter troupe is divided into showmen, dribblers and hoppers. Woodard seems destined to be a hopper, a Globie who plays straight basketball, runs the weave and sets up reems for the others. And so far, anyway, she hasn't broken into the magic circle for the Trotters' famous pregame Sweet Georgia Brown routine. "She's got a beautiful fake," observes Red Klotz, the 65-year-old owner and coach of the Globetrotters' ever-losing opponent, the Washington Generals. "But she doesn't get a break from us. On the court, my players don't see a boy from a girl."

In Sioux Falls, Woodard plays a little more than a quarter. "The crowd recognizes the fact that she's a lady and we've got to protect her," says Sanders. "We're not going to let her get beat up out there, but we don't baby her, either."

As Woodard goes for a rebound, a General comes up behind her and slams her to the floor.

"Ooohh!" groans Sanders from the bench.