The first thing to know about Jessie Banks is that she could hold her own with Harry Simmons, the once-fabled czar of college basketball in Pueblo.
It’s also important to know that Banks didn’t have time for the half-court, six-player women’s game of her day. Right from the beginning, she played full court, the 5-on-5 men’s game, and she was good enough to stay with the boys while growing up in rural Lindsay, Okla.
That can-do attitude propelled her to one day being hired to start the women’s sports program, including basketball, at Southern Colorado State College in Pueblo. Simmons held court at the school for a long time as the men’s coach, once winning a national championship when it was Pueblo Junior College. He was a big man, and he could be intimidating.
In 1966, Banks was called from Adams State College in Alamosa, where she was working on a master’s degree to interview with Simmons for the job.
“I got along with Harry from the beginning,” Banks said. “You knew that everything was going to be pretty much his way. But if you had your facts and presented your case well, he wasn’t that tough.”
Banks had little difficulty convincing Simmons of her basketball prowess. She had hooked on with a professional women’s team called “the Red Heads” out of high school. For five years she was on the barnstorming team and played in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.
“I played only on the defensive end in any organized basketball I played before joining the Red Heads,” said Banks, a 5-foot-7 guard. “I had to learn how to shoot, but before long, I easily was hitting shots from what is now 3-point range. I could just pop ’em.”
She made the best of limited opportunities for women in basketball in her day.
“I wasn’t even allowed to take coaching classes when I was in college, but I always knew I was going to be a coach,” she said. “When I played with the Red Heads, it was the only place I could play basketball.”
The routine with the Red Heads was to play “real” basketball for the first quarter, showing their skills against the usual opposition of men’s town teams. The last three quarters would turn into a show similar to what the Globetrotters put on.
With Simmons, there wouldn’t be any clowning around with women’s basketball at Southern Colorado State College.
“He (Simmons) said he knew of my basketball background,” Banks remembered. “We didn’t get any money to fund the program. I was teaching, too, and I may have gotten a three-hour relief time for coaching. I basically did it for fun.”
Banks placed an ad in the school newspaper as a way to recruit. There were no scholarships. Her first team consisted of walk-ons. Fran Price and Ruth Shelton were sisters from Pueblo. Price’s brother and Shelton’s husband played on the men’s team. Judy Hayward came out of Denver and Cathy Dickerson from northeastern Colorado.
Banks said her coaching record over 20 years was up and down.
“We went 20-2 one year, but there would be another year where we’d maybe win two games,” she said.
She left the basketball job in 1985, but remained on the faculty at what is now Colorado State University-Pueblo until 1996. She keeps in close contact with athletic director Joe Folda to make sure the women’s program is getting its share of the financial support.
“Jessie certainly has looked out for the women’s program,” Folda said. “But she’s also interested in our total program. She did a lot for this school.”
Banks wasn’t one to squabble about the lack of money for the women’s program. She gladly had her team practice in the evenings after the men’s team was finished. But she was perturbed when she found out her replacement wouldn’t have to teach.
“I’ll always wonder if I could have coached at the Division I level,” Banks said. “And I wonder if I could have played in today’s WNBA. I think I could have.”
Banks bio
Born: Aug. 20, 1935, in Lindsay, Okla.
High school: Lindsay High School, 1950-54.
Advanced education: University of Central Oklahoma, 1959-62; Adams State College, 1965.
Family: Brother, Rev. James Banks, Colorado Springs.
Activities: Attended University of Colorado games during Ceal Barry’s term as coach. An ardent fan of University of Oklahoma football and women’s basketball.
