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Glenda McClain shows an autographed basketball she received from the Basketball Hall of Fame. As a player with the All American Redheads, McClain is in the Hall's Class of 2012.

Glenda McClain shows skill at the basics.

They were drilled into her through years on the basketball court. She started as a fourth-grader at Liberty Morris School. She kept dribbling through high school, then for four years on the barnstorming professional team All American Redheads. She said her coach, Orwell Moore, stressed basics of team play.

She helped coach the Redheads her third year on the team.

After leaving the team in 1976, McClain coached and taught at Fort Gibson Schools. At Fort Gibson's Early Learning Center, she taught children such basics as running, skipping, even nutrition.

McClain said she always wanted to teach and coach.

"I was in third or fourth grade, and I always had my paper, pencil and books," McClain said. "I was very tuned into school."

She said she had great teachers, starting with Mrs. Williams in first grade and Mrs. Terry in third grade.

"They just cared," she said. "They showed compassion."

Two grades shared one room at Liberty Morris, she said. "First and second were in one room. Third and fourth were in one room. It was a small school."

McClain continues to be involved in education as director of field studies at Bacone College.

Learning basketball from an early age

Glenda McClain's career path began in the fourth grade.

"In elementary and middle school, even at Haskell, we never had P.E. classes. It was all athletics," she said. "In the middle school, it was preparing me for a high school setting in basketball. The ones who didn't take athletics, still took the class. They'd sit at the side and did their homework."

She recalled playing basketball with her twin sister at a goal they had at home.

She said those athletic classes taught her about "just getting in there and working hard."

"That's what it takes to be good at anything," she said. "I wanted to get in there and work on my skills. My coaches said, 'If you want to get better, you have to give 110 percent.' It was wanting to get better."

She said she worked even harder under her high school coach.

McClain played for the Haskell Haymakers.

"Back in the back, by the goal," she said. "They'd pass to me and I'd make some fakes back there and I'd put it in the hoop. My senior year, I averaged 23 points a game."

She said her team had a winning record those years.

"As a matter of fact, some people would come and watch the girls play," she said.

The team made the state playoffs in 1970.

"Back then, the opportunity was very little for women," she said, "Not until Title IX. I was just lucky Mr. Moore came to see me play."

That man was Orwell Moore, coach of the All American Redheads.

Life on a team

Glenda McClain played for the All American Redheads when she was known as Glenda "Okie" Hall. Because of her height, she was a good post player.

As an All American Redhead, McClain played under the name of Glenda "Okie" Hall.

"It was awesome, traveling around, playing basketball, doing something you love, seeing the country, from the small town of Haskell," McClain said. "Who'd have ever thought we'd have an opportunity like that."

She said the five or seven team members would go to games in a 30-foot limousine. They played five-on-five ball, using men's rules.

"We broke all kinds of stereotypes," McClain said. "Back then, they didn't think women could run down the court or that kind of thing."

They played a variety of men's teams, including Kiwanis groups, coaches, semi-professional teams. They even played basketball against football teams, such as the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins.

The Redheads played 200 ballgames from October to May.

"On Sundays, we had double-headers," she said.

She said coach Moore kept stressing the basics of play.

"How to do a lay up, how to pass, shooting, every step on how to shoot," McClain said, clapping her hands to emphasize each step. "We'd go over and over and over plays."

Muskogee resident Glenda McClain's name is part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2012 as a player with the All American Redheads.

She said a highlight of her post-career came when the team was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

"We were the first women's team to be inducted and the ninth only team to be inducted," she said. "We were there with a room full of all-time great basketball players:Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Dr. Julius Irving, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul Jabar,Charles Barkley, Bill Walton and many more."

Earning degree to teach children

Glenda McClain tells a History Explorers club about her time with the All American Redheads basketball team. She joined the team in 1971, shortly after graduating from Haskell High School.

McClain worked to get her education degree when she wasn't touring with the team.

She recalled that after four years with the team, she needed to get her degree "and start teaching and coaching."

McClain earned a bachelor's degree in 1976 and a master's degree in 1978. She began teaching physical education at Fort Gibson in 1976.

"I taught middle school science for a long time and middle school P.E. for a long time," she said. "The last eight years at Fort Gibson, I moved to the Early Learning Center and taught P.E."

"I loved trying to help people all the time, helping students succeed," she said. "I wanted to physically educate them."

She was Fort Gibson teacher of the year in 1990 and ELC teacher of the year in 1998.

At ELC, she taught the kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders what her coaches had taught her the basics.

"They have so much energy," she said. "You have to teach just the basic skills running, skipping hopping, the locomotor skills, the non-locomotor skills. Seeing them jumping rope. The last semester in kindergarten, they're jumping rope."

Locomotor skills include running. Non-locomotor skills include bending and twisting. Nutrition was another basic skill McClain recalled stressing.

Her youngsters had a walking club, in which they got tokens for each five miles they walked on the school track.

"Some of them really excelled in the mile club," McClain said. "Some of them got over 200 miles a year. I had three or four of them had over 250 miles. During their lunch period, going on the track."

She relished watching "the light go on."

"You could see when they learn something, they're so excited," she said. "And they just love you. At that age, they're willing to get out there and just try."

After four years playing with the All American Redheads basketball team and more than 30 years teaching, Glenda McClain finds time to relax in her home.

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Okie From Muskogee: Shooting hoops led to career - Muskogee Daily Phoenix