Boom-a-lacka, boom-a-lacka, bow, wow, wow; chick-a-lacka, chick-a-lacka, chow, chow, chow; boom-a-lacka, chick-a-lack, and that’s not all; we’ll show you how to play basketball. The nearly undefeated 1920-1921 Lady Tigresses started every game with this cheer and recorded a 15-1 season, their best in school history to that point.

The players (left to right) were: Inez Lovelace, Willie Deverell, Bernice Harris, Anibel Yancey, Camilla Mae Evans, Lee Brown, Eva Briggs, Velma Jones and Coach Teuton. In addition to being student-athletes, all the players were active in other student organizations, including social clubs (forerunners to sororities), and were on the honor roll as well.

(Thanks to University of Memphis history research assistant Frances Wright Breland for compiling this information. The University will celebrate its centennial in 2012, and UPDATE will periodically take a look back at the school’s history leading up to the event.)