Women In Sports

After the US Women's impressive World Cup victory thought I'd revisit this thread with a story of a female manager in semi-pro baseball shortly after women's suffrage.

The 1925 Edmonds baseball club was managed by Emma A. Hough (1877-1940). Born in Nebraska, she moved with her family to Edmonds/Everett/Snohomish, Washington shortly after 1920. She was never referred to by her name in newsprint in reference to the team, just by her husbands' "Mrs. Frank Hough". The only employment info of Frank Hough (1871-1946) I could find was as a "Clothes Presser" on his WW1 draft registration, yet he and Emma had been married since 1894. How she started to manage a town baseball team is a mystery.

She knew baseball, after the team lost to Snohomish County League champions Granite Falls she proposed, "Mrs. Frank Hough, manager of the local team, challenged Nevins, manager of the Granite Falls team, for another game on the Everett grounds, with a Seattle Umpire, but Nevins refused unless he could have his same umpires he had at Granite Falls. Our boys have done excellent work this summer.... and the loss of Sunday's game was not entirely their fault." (9-25-25, Tribune Review) 5 to 4 loss in ten innings to Granite Falls. The Edmonds team finished their 1925 campaign with 18 wins and 4 losses, to capture the Snohomish County Independent Championship.