Senda Berenson Abbott

Friday, January 01, 1892

Senda Berenson was born in Russia in 1868 and immigrated to the United States in 1875. Berenson was an educator and athlete. She was known as the “Mother of Women’s Basketball" for introducing an adaptation of the game at Smith College in 1892. In 1901, Berenson introduced field hockey at Smith College. Thirty-one years after her death, Berenson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985.