The Levi’s® brand and progress go hand in hand — which is why it’s no surprise that Levi’s® became the unofficial uniform for the Texas Cowgirls, a barnstorming women’s basketball team that played around the United States from 1949 to 1977.
A Team Ahead of Its Time
The Harlem Globetrotters of women’s basketball, the Texas Cowgirls were a team of highly skilled athletes ready to show their talents to the world at a time when they didn’t have a league to call their own. Dressed in Levi’s® jeans and cowboy hats and showcasing top-notch basketball that rivaled many men’s teams, the Texas Cowgirls traveled across America with the Harlem Globetrotters, breaking down stereotypes and providing a group of gifted athletes the chance to live out their dreams of playing professional basketball.
The Texas Cowgirls were the brainchild of Dempsey Hovland. A talented athlete himself, Dempsey was also a barnstormer performer, playing for a baseball team called The House of David from a young age. He wanted to start a women’s team, since there were not opportunities for women at the time. One night while he was working at the Grand Hotel in Chicago, the manager of boxer Jack Dempsey (no relation) came in, and Dempsey crafted a plan.
“My dad hatched a plan to talk [Jack Dempsey’s manager] into funding for the team,” recalled Erin Hovland, Dempsey’s daughter.
Funding secured, Dempsey’s idea became a reality. Initial tryouts were hosted at the Chicago Stadium and other locations throughout the city. An original ad — found by author Julie Checkoway, who is writing a book on the subject — called for players of all races to try out for the team.
The Texas Cowgirls quickly grew to become a team of diverse women from around the United States. Dempsey auditioned between 300 to 400 women for the team every year, with white, Black, Hispanic and Pacific Islander players making the team, as well as a Jewish player from Brooklyn who wasn’t allowed to play elsewhere and Grace Martin from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. “By the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, the Cowgirls were 90% African American,” shared Erin.
This did present some challenges at the time, like navigating Jim Crow laws that restricted the Black players when they were in the South — they could play on the court, but weren’t allowed into restaurants or hotels. But they worked through this, as a team. “You had white women traveling with Black men (the Harlem Globetrotters), and team members supported one another and sometimes had to sneak Black women into the shower rooms,” said Erin.
Sponsoring Progress
Levi Strauss & Co. sponsored the Texas Cowgirls during their early years, outfitting the women in Levi’s® jeans. Photographs of the jeans-clad team with the Harlem Globetrotters can be found in our Archives.
A photo of the Texas Cowgirls and the Harlem Globetrotters. Erin’s mother, Florence Hovland, is kneeling on the far left in her Levi’s® jeans, a plaid Western shirt and cowboy boots. Florence played for the team and hit the road multiple times a year, all while raising a family.
During some of their road trips, the Cowgirls had to prep their Levi’s® jeans themselves ahead of the games, even washing their clothes in a sink when running late for a game. While on the road, Levi’s® jeans were hung out the car window to dry. “They’d roll the window down, put the Levi’s® in, roll the window up and they’d ‘flap, flap, flap, flap, flap’ all the way across the country drying,” Erin recalled.
The Texas Cowgirls played in small towns and eventually made it to Madison Square Garden in New York. They even had half time acts to draw crowds to their shows, featuring the likes of country singer Audrey Williams (wife of Hank Williams) and Pee Wee King, a country singer who famously co-wrote “Tennessee Waltz.”
Today, the Texas Cowgirls remain a proud legacy for the Hovland family and the women who played on the team — women who broke barriers, played sports on their own terms and paved the way for teams to come, all while wearing Levi’s® jeans.
