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The Gisborne Photo News

 

75

Miss Chris Miller

Life Member

A life member of the P.B. Basketball Association, Miss Chris Miller, of 7 Kingsley Street, was active in the formation of the association in 1928, and was a member of the first representative team which played Napier at Central School in the same year.

Returning to Gisborne from teachers' training college, she and other interested players sought affiliation to the national body, and so was born the P.B. Basketball Association. Prior to this, about 20 local teams played on Thursday and Saturday afternoons on the two hard courts at Central and St. Mary's Schools.

After affiliation, Miss Miller and other foundation executive members set about obtaining the area of land in Victoria Domain which is still the site of the association's courts today, and with this achieved, conducted the first Queen Carnival to raise funds for hard courts and facilities. The first club house was an abandoned Edison battery tram, presumably donated by the City Council.

In 1933 the N.Z. championships were held in Gisborne, with Miss Miller captaining the P.B. team.

At this stage she became more involved with the administrative side of the sport, serving many roles, including national delegate, team manager, vice-president, coach, and referee. In 1934 she was selector of the South Island team for the annual inter-island match.

In 1936 Miss Miller was transferred to Te Puke, and after a period there and in Wairoa she returned to Gisborne in 1948 to commence teaching at Central School.

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Members of the first P.B. team to travel outside the district (to Hastings in 1930) were, from left, standing, Ruby Torrie (Mrs Clarke), Nettie Bee, Miss Miller, Mrs R. Cole (manager and president), Vida Edser, Helen Currie (Mrs Judd), Eileen Kenny, and Lil Linton. Seated: Claire Wallace (Mrs Williamson), Phyllis Beale (Mrs McLeod), Jean Bassett (Mrs Stout), Lalla Byrne (Mrs Davies), and Nancy Jones (Mrs Pond). The mascot is Shirley Cole (Mrs Scott).