FROM OUR ARCHIVES.…. The first girls state championship basketball game was held in 1920 at Drake with 24 teams. Correctionville was the first state champion. Up until 1925, both boys and girls high school sports fell under the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA). However, in 1925, when the IHSAA refused to fund girls sports, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) was formed.
Girls basketball at Garnavillo was first noted in November 1922, in the Garnavillo Tribune newspaper’s school notes. The following article about girls basketball was found in the November 1930 issue of the Cosmocrat (a school newsletter at the time).
“Probably the most outstanding sport for girls during the winter months is basketball…. Basketball has come to mean more than just mechanical play. It has come to stand for hygiene, recreation, and right methods of living. To take part in this game, each girl must be well and strong. No one is allowed to take part in this sport unless they have passed a physical examination given by the local doctor. Don’t deny your child the privilege of the fun derived from the game. It is one of the best teachers of sportsman-ship, for it creates good feelings among students and schools. Many people do not understand this game, and naturally are not interested. I will attempt to give you some of the main points, and if you will come and watch at the nine games which we have scheduled, you cannot help becoming a “fan.” To play this game six players are required for each side: two forwards, who must be alert, quick and able to put the ball through the loop when they receive it from the center or side center. To keep the ball from the opposing team we have guards, whose duty it is to keep the opponents from scoring……” The article is not attributed to a specific writer, but was likely written by one of the editors for that edition – Fern Stiehl, Luciel Schulte, or Winifred Schumacher. All 3 played basketball.
Back as far as the 1930s, Garnavillo was building a reputation for having good girls teams, as county, sectional, or district winners or runners-up. In 1953 and 1954, Garnavillo’s “Candy Kids” girls team won the state title. Garnavillo girls returned to the state tournament in 1973, 1987 and 1988, but did not come home with a title. 1994 was the last year 6 on 6 was played at Garnavillo.
Marguerite Meehan, pictured in the 1924-25 team photo below, was captain of that team. She
went on to teach in the Garnavillo School system, (Mrs. Marge (Walt) Wright), and was chaperone for the girls basketball team for many years.
Check out the team photos that follow and note how uniform styles changed over the years.
The Last Garnavillo Girls Basketball Team
Original Post March 12, 2026, updated with additional information March 16, 2026:
The Candy Kids Team photo is the 1953-1954 championship team. Mrs. Wright, Janet Kainz, Barbara Peterson, Nancy Meyer, Nancy Lau, Audrey Thiese, Sandra Fiete, Joanne Meier, Kay Overbeck, Jean Overbeck, Marjorie Kainz, Betty Fischer, Sandra Eberhard, Sue Burd and Coach Robert Allen.
The Clayton County Tournaments ended in 1962. The Garnavillo Girls 1961-62 team won the girls county championship by beating MFL 35 to 34. Also, between the 1939 and 1945 seasons, there were no Garnavillo girls basketball teams.
Last name correction: Stiele in the Cosmocrat article reference, should be spelled Stiehl. Fern Stiehl later became Mrs. Leo Walther. All 3 of the editors, possible writers of the article in the Cosmocrat, played basketball.