Nashville Business College

From the 1930s to the 1970s, there were no varsity teams for women at the college level. But there were a handful of nontraditional colleges that sponsored women’s teams with the Amateur Athletic Union. Today we know the AAU as an extracurricular league for young athletes, but back then it operated as a semi-pro league. That’s where a little-known school called the Nashville Business College comes in.

From 1950 to 1969, the Nashville Business College won 11 AAU national championships and they played several high profile games here at Municipal Auditorium, built in 1962. Walk or drive around this venue as we tell you more about this incredible team and coach. Learn more about the building on our Music in Music City North tour.

The NBC team was coached by John Head from 1948 to 1969, and traveled all over the country to play other AAU teams like the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens in Texas. The team was so good that John Head was asked to coach the first USA women’s basketball team, and the team was largely comprised of NBC players. In 1953, they traveled to Santiago, Chile and won gold in the first World Championships to include women’s basketball. Head later coached the US women’s team to gold medals at the 1957 World Championships and the 1963 Pan American Games.

One of the biggest reasons for the team’s success was a woman named Nera White. Most people have never heard of Nera White, but she’s arguably the greatest women’s basketball player ever. She grew up on her family’s farm in Macon County and honed her skills dribbling around cow manure and lifting feed sacks. Nera’s teammates at NBC said she could dunk the ball from the free throw line. Journalist Sean Braswell said Nera “is believed to be one of the first—man or woman—to perfect the jump shot and the finger-roll layup.” In the 1990s, White was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She passed away in 2016.

Other legendary NBC players include Alline Banks Sprouse, Sally Smith, and Sue Gunter. These women played for love of the game, but they also loved winning. After Title IX, universities started varsity women’s athletic programs, and the NBC faded into history. But we should celebrate the “women of NBC” as pioneers of the modern game.

Next, we head to the Nashville Sounds Stadium to pay homage to Ed Temple—one of the greatest track and field coaches of all time. Continue on John Lewis Way and cross over James Robertson Parkway entering Bicentennial Mall State Park. The Ed Temple statue is located at the “Right Field Entrance” on John Lewis Way. On a non-game day, you can turn RIGHT onto Harrison St. and LEFT onto Fourth Ave. N to find street parking, then cross through the parking garage to reach the statue. Otherwise, use your discretion to park along John Lewis Way or in the state parking lots.