It has been 40 years since a group of women from a new and small institution captured the school's first national championship, and the school will celebrate that accompishment by inducting the 1971 University of Lethbridge Chinooks into the Pronghorns Hall of Fame at the 44th Pronghorn Blue and Gold awards banquet on Friday, Apr. 8.

Just four years into the existence of the institution, the Chinooks captured the Canadian Junior Women's Basketball Championship at the War Memorial Gymnasium at Vancouver's University of British Columbia.

The Chinooks, later renamed the Pronghorns in the fall of 1971 when the campus moved to its westside location, were coached by Wilma Winters, a Lethbridge native and assistant professor of physical education at the U of L. The team's roster was made up of players from southern Alberta with the nucleus hailing from provincial championship teams at Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale.

The U of L squad had come close to winning a national title the year before, losing to the University of New Brunswick in the final of the 1970 national tournament, which was held in Lethbridge.

Lethbridge began its run the next year by once again claiming claimed the Alberta crown by defeating Red Deer College 66-29 and Mount Royal College 71-25. It marked the Chinooks' third straight provincial title win.

At the Canadian championships, the Chinooks opened by winning a 46-45 squeaker against host UBC and then advanced to the final by beating Ottawa 70-59. In the title game, Lethbridge defeated Victoria 52-40, with a great team effort.

Members of the team coached by Winters included: Dixie Dow, Linda Dogterom, Leona Voth, Minne Van Dieren, Sharon Giduk, Marge Moore, Linda Voth, Rosemary Brodrick, Joan Cannady and Linda Dow.