The University of Mississippi Athletics
Elliott Bestows Knowledge On Lady Rebel Hoopsters
10/31/2003 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 31, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - By Allen Thigpen
Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations Student Assistant
Recently the Ole Miss women's basketball team received a special visit from basketball's past. Mary Myers Elliott, a 99-year-old lifetime fan of the sport and friend to Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross, made her way to Oxford, Miss., to see the Lady Rebel coach back on the basketball court.
A resident of Gainesville, Fla., Elliott met Ross during the Ole Miss coach's previous stint at the University of Florida. It was through the school's fastbreak club that she got to know Ross.
"I watched Coach Ross revive basketball at Florida," said Elliott. "Our program had experienced very little basketball success and during her reign there we developed a great team."
Elliott's history with the sport traces all the way back to the first quarter of the century. It was after World War I that her father moved her family from Lawrence, Kansas to Corning, Kansas. While at Corning High School, Elliott got her first experience in organized basketball. Although the women's game was still in its infancy, basketball was huge in Kansas.
"I lived in a basketball country," said Elliott. "The Midwest had the best basketball and if you were a school without a boys basketball team, you weren't much of a school. That's the way people felt."
It's easy to understand Midwesterners' fanatical nature when considering their history. The University of Kansas, where Elliott attended college, was the birthplace of basketball and where a certain creator of the sport taught class.
"The founder of basketball, James Naismith, was teaching at Kansas when I was in school there," said Elliott. "He was the one who put up the peach baskets. I saw him everyday running around the gym. I also went to high school with his daughter."
Among the other influential sports figures Elliott has met was Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen. Because women's basketball was still decades away from becoming an official NCAA sport, it was through intramural basketball at Kansas that she met the legendary coach.
As all other sports have, basketball has seen dramatic changes since the days of peach baskets and no backboards. Elliott notes that, among the number of advancements in the sport, the length of the court is the biggest difference. In her days, the women played on just a third of the court.
"You can't imagine the difference in the courts," said Elliott. "That's where the difference (in then and now) is. When they let us have full court, I felt so cheated (laughs). The court itself has changed basketball and now the girls play like the boys do; fast and hard."
For what little was available to women on the court in the 1920s, Elliott says they made the most of it and showed their utmost dedication to the sport.
"We didn't have weight rooms, nor did we have long practices," said Elliott. "We didn't have all these things they have today, but we made up for it by being very active and very dedicated."
Elliott described herself as a confident, but hard working player on the court.
"Of course I thought I was good. I thought I made basketball. I was a very hard player. When I did things, I did them hard. I played with every ounce of my body. I wasn't gentle. I just played with every ounce of strength I had."
Fast forward 73 years to 1993 in Gainesville, Fla., where she met Ross. A Gainesville public school drama teacher for over 50 years, Elliott was a diehard supporter of Florida basketball. It was through a mutual friend that Ross was introduced to the 99-year-old Gator fanatic.
The two clicked immediately and developed a wonderful friendship. However, there was one moment that changed Elliott's status from mere fan to a member of the Florida basketball family.
"She wrote the team a letter and wanted me to read it to them," said Ross. "I told her, 'no I'm not going to do it. If you want them to hear it you'll have to come read it to them'."
"After she agreed to read it to the team, I invited her into our locker room before our home game against Texas," said Ross. "I brought her into the locker room and introduced her to the team. I told the players she had something she wanted to read to them."
"Obviously her start in life was as an actress," said Ross. "When she read the letter she was extremely dramatic and gave a great presentation. The kids loved her immediately and we won the game, beating Texas in overtime. After that she became a fixture in the locker room." Elliott traveled with the team over the years, making trips to the SEC tournament, NCAA tournament and NIT. Before each game she would sit in the locker room while the team was warming up. She became a calming influence on Ross before each game.
"She was at every team function," said Ross. "If we had a party at my house for the team she was included. She was very much a part of everything we did."
Recalling a conversation in which Elliott expressed her love for acting, Ross recommended her for a series of television ads created by the Florida marketing department.
"I had never been in a TV studio before," said Elliott. "They put on my makeup, sent me out to the set, then told me they wanted me to yell a certain line. I have a good yell (laughs). So I yelled, they applauded and we were in business."
The ads for the women's basketball team were so popular among the public they captured statewide awards and were nominated for several national awards.
Elliott's importance to the team has been remembered every in the form of 'The Mary Myers Elliott Award'. Voted on by the team, the award is given to the player who gives the most but gets the least amount of recognition.
"It's very well named because she has a real power over not only coaches, but players as well, said Ross. "Her influence is mostly behind the scenes, and she rarely gets enough credit for her impact on young people and young coaches. The players would have rather had the Mary Myers Elliott award than the MVP any day."
According to Elliott, the key to Ross' success lies in her work ethic and dedication. She believes, if given the time, Ross can turn things around in Oxford.
"First thing, Carol knows basketball," said Elliott. "Besides knowing the sport, she is very dedicated. She doesn't have a lazy bone in her body. I was very surprised when I heard she was going to coach again, but I think they (Ole Miss) appealed to her loyalty."
In her speech to the Ole Miss team, Elliott spoke on the values of teamwork and what it takes to win.
"They have to be dedicated to each other," said Elliott. "You have five members on the court. They have to be friends, know their positions and they have to go out there thinking they're good. If they don't, they won't get anywhere."
Coming from someone with the entire historic perspective on basketball, such advice can be valuable. For Elliott, it's just another way to help out a dear friend.
"She's just a phenomenal lady," said Ross. "For her to hop on a plane at age 99 and come check on me and give a few words of wisdom to our team says a lot."
