Faces Profile : John Twiggs

by Eddie Haver

Award-winning producer and J-school adjunct faculty member John Twiggs has tackled the little-known story of the 1903-04 unofficial world champion women’s basketball team. In a historical documentary for KUFM-TV, Twiggs examined the Native American high school team from Fort Shaw Boarding School, which emerged undefeated after challenging women’s teams from around the country at 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Mo.

Twiggs said he faced problems because the story is not well known. The Fort Shaw team barnstormed around Montana, playing and beating college teams. In addition to their triumphs, Twiggs’ film covers the problems faced by Native Americans of that era, and the hardships of being severed from cultural ties and forced to attend boarding school.

Twiggs faced a scarcity of source material. He traveled to 20 different historical museums across the United States in search of content, he said. Twiggs and his production team had to re-create indoor and outdoor sets for a 1904 basketball game, which they staged at Fort Missoula. Everything was authentic circa 1904 including a handcrafted leather basketball, uniforms, and clothing for about 60 to 70 extras in the crowd, who endured the summer heat during the filming.

Twiggs heard about the team about eight or nine years ago while working on another project in the Sun River Valley area. He hopes to have the project ready to screen by the end of this November.