Basketball brings people together: Having read through several correspondences, flipped through many yearbooks and examined numerous scrapbooks I have learned something: Basketball was BIG! Each class year had their own team. These teams aroused much attention and excitement around the campus. Because they would only be playing other teams at Mount Holyoke everyone would attend games. These games and tournaments brought the entire campus together. The separate classes would have written songs and chants to perform at the games; decorations were made by class members; and festive activities were planned by and for the victors. Every year had a mascot (often little children were used, as pictured above) to symbolize the spirit of their team and entire class. These games brought the whole college together. First there was the unit of ten girls or so on the team that bonded. They in turn bonded with their classmates that were rooting for them. The class fans bonded together with their lively chants and song. All the people attending the event in Blanchard or at the outdoor court had a sense of belonging. The Mount Holyoke College campus was united.

In their Classbook, the class of 1909 wrote this introduction to a dedication to their team: "Nineteen Nine's love for her team is so big and loyal, and her pride so evident, that our Basketball girls must not need any reminder. Moreover, it is pretty hard to put into words just how much the does care for her team. We all know what an indescribably happy feeling comes over us when we put on our green armbands [their class color], and how that feeling grows, until it almost bursts all bounds as we see our team come running onto the field to fight for us. It is a feeling of proud loyalty, for class and team united, that we cannot express, and it is brought out most peculiarly when we are singing Nineteen Nine on to Victory." (41)