Editor’s Note: Written by the late Jay McAlvain, who was a long-time speech instructor and athletic supporter at Seminole State College. This story originally appeared in “Memories Shared by Seminole Storytellers,” published in 1995. It appears in today’s edition as SSC Celebrates 50 years of Belles Basketball.

There are many tales that could be told about the early days of the Seminole Junior College Belles basketball team and their coach Dixie Woodall. Our transportation was not the greatest, and we had many break-downs, but this particular one stands out above the rest.

I drove the bus and taught full-time during the early years of the college. On this trip in 1976 we had been to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to play Ouachita Baptist University. We got up and headed for home early that morning, but we had not gone but about 15 or 20 miles when one of the girls yelled, “Coach, somethings on fire back here.” I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that the bus was filling up with smoke.

When I looked down, the red light on the dash was flashing “No Air.” I said, “Oh Lord, Dixie, our brakes are gone.” We were just reaching the summit of a mountain and I sure didn’t want to down it without any brakes. Dixie very calmly yelled, “Hang on girls; we’re going to hit a tree.” Not wanting to hit a tree, I took to the ditch and finally brought the bus to a halt out in the middle of the Ouachita Forest.

Dixie and I walked to several houses before we found anyone who would allow us to use a phone to call for help. We called a truck stop and were told a diesel mechanic would be right out. We walked back to the bus and waited for help to come and tell us the bad news. It was very chilly, and the girls kept dancing around and running to keep warm.

We decided to gather dead logs to start a fire. We had a good roaring fire in no time and were beginning to warm up when a truck came speeding toward us and stopped on the highway.

The driver — a forest ranger — jumped out and started screaming at us, “What do you fools think you’re doing? You’re right in the middle of the national forest and there are no rites allowed.”

He kept ranting and waving his arms and yelling at us. We just laughed and tried to explain our plight. He didn’t care who we were, or where we were from, or what our problem was. The fire had to go. Just as I started to put out the fire another man came walking up.

He wanted to know what was going on so we ran through our tale again. He told the forest ranger to go back to his look-out post and leave us alone. He was a federal judge and he would be responsible for us.

After what seemed an eternity, the mechanic came. He looked at the engine and told us we had blown the air compressor, but he could fix it and have on the road within a few hours.

He took us in his pickup back to town where we checked into a motel. We had very little money, so one room was all we could afford for all 17 of us.

We were cramped, but it would be for just a few hours and then we’d be on our way home. Wrong! The mechanic came and got me when he thought he had it ready to go, but when we tried it, it would not hold air, so we were back where we started. He finally suggested that he call a garage in Little Rock and have a new one sent down on the late evening bus. I told him that would be great, to order it and we could get on the road as soon as he replaced the old one.

The late bus came, but there was no air compressor on it. The garage wouldn’t send it until it was paid for. We were allowed $3.00 a day to eat on, so we sure didn’t have the money to pay for a new compressor.

The mechanic assured us that he had a friend that could fix it overnight, and we could leave early the next morning. All 17 of us spent the night in one room. It was wall-to-wall bodies, but we managed.

The next morning the mechanic picked me up and we went back to the bus. When I fired it up. It again failed to hold pressure, so after working on it all night he had not accomplished anything. When I got back to the motel, the girls were ready to strike out and hitchhike home.

We had a home game that night and they were going to get back for it. They kept insisting that five of them could get home by game time. They were undefeated, and they were not about to forfeit a game, especially a home game against a team they could easily beat.

I looked in the phone book and saw there was a U-Haul rental store just down the street. I walked down there and rented a truck. They were ready to go when I got back, so we loaded up to head home. There was no light in the back and three girls refused to ride back there. They got in the front with me, and we took off.

They said when they needed a potty break they would beat on the truck and I was to find a restroom. We had driven only a few miles when the sign on the truck came loose and began banging.

I didn’t know if it was the sign or the girls banging, so I just kept driving. I remember there was one question Dixie always asked a recruit. “How’s your bladder?” We don’t make frequent stops while traveling, so I knew I wouldn’t have to stop many times.

I drove from Arkadelphia to the Oklahoma state line before I pulled over to see if they were O.K. They were hurting the worst way and were ready to hurt me for not stopping. I had stopped along 1-40 on the side of the road, but that didn’t stop them. They would not have cared if we had been in downtown New York — when you have to go, you have to go.

We knew it was going to be close to game time before we got home, so I put the pedal to the metal and we headed for Seminole. It was getting closer and closer to 6:00 and we still had several miles to go. I pulled into a station at Okemah for gas and Dixie called to report where we were and that we’d be there for the game.

Between Okemah and Seminole, the girls dressed for the game and she wrapped ankles. Keep in mind there was no light and it was pitch black in the back of the truck.

When we stopped at the gym they began to climb out of the truck it was a sight to behold. Some had their suits on backwards, some were wrong side out, and the tape job Dixie had done would not have passed any first-aid test.

Claremore Junior College (our opponent) had already warmed up and had left the floor when we got here. After a couple minutes’ warm-up, the game was started and the Belles played about the way they looked. The second half they got their balance and went on to win easily. Not only did they win this game, this group of girls also won the National Championships with a record of 35 wins and 2 losses.

To date, this team is the only athletic team at Seminole Junior College to win a national championship. They were a great group of players and a great group of roomies for a long night in a motel.