Bolton Sisters to Play, Pray and Stay Together Just One More Time

Sisterly love and family honor are strong ties for the Boltons of Auburn University and McLain, Miss.

They’ve carried Mae Ola and Ruthie through 11 years together in basketball. They came here with the humor and dignity acquired from a family of 20 children, and now they are playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship game, a goal that has eluded third-ranked Auburn until now. Auburn plays fifth-ranked Louisiana Tech today in the Tacoma Dome in a game that will be nationally televised by CBS. Game time is 1:10 p.m.

“We’re just very thankful to be here,” Mae Ola said.

It will be the last college game for the senior, and she is quietly savoring the moment. The 5-foot 11-inch forward said it will be odd not to play another organized game with her sister. Ruthie is a 5-8 junior guard, and it seems they have always been together.

“There was always a pickup game at our house,” Mae Ola said. “With 20 kids, all athletic, you can imagine. My big brother, James, was the coach. He always put Ruthie and me on the same team.”

The sisters played together in junior high and high school, where, at McLain High, together with three cousins, they were the team’s starting lineup. In the five years Mae Ola and Ruthie were there, McLain High went 128-11 and won three state titles. Still not everyone wanted to see the Boltons do well.

“Yes, people are like that, they are jealous,” said Leola Bolton, the mother of 20 kids. “We can’t let that stop us. God gave them the ability.”

The parents instilled very definite values in their children. Linwood Bolton, a Baptist minister, was strict but fair. He wanted his children to know that life was hard, but humanity was to be cherished.

“People ask us all the time about coming from a big family,” Mae Ola said. “It’s hard to explain. It’s a wonderful feeling. It’s a warm feeling. Everybody’s always happy to see each other. Someone is always there to help.

“We have learned a lot with this. It tickles me when I see people who can’t learn to adjust to things. We had to adjust to a lot. My daddy always taught us to share. He used to say, ‘Even if you only have one pea, share that pea.’ ”

Sports, religion and music bound the family. The Bolton children were not just in the choir at their father’s church. The Bolton children were the choir. Their gospel singing stayed with them, and several of the children sing professionally.

The boys formed the group, The Bolton Brothers. The girls formed the group, The Bolton Sisters. The Brothers are on tour in Chicago.

Once a year, in the summer, all the singers unite and form The Bolton Family, which also tours nationally.

You get the idea that this family likes to be together. So, when Mae Ola went off to school at Auburn, it was natural that sister Ruthie would follow the next year. Leola Bolton was pleased her daughters would be together, again, and in college.

“I was just so proud of them, so proud,” she said.

After three years on the Auburn team, and years before that, Ruthie said that communication between the sisters has taken a nonverbal form.

“You can’t help but have an advantage when your sister is on the team,” she said. “She doesn’t have to say anything. We know each other and what each other is going to do. It’s a comfort.”

Comforting, too, is the presence of their parents, who have flown here to watch their daughters. So much did Leola Bolton want to be here that she took her first plane ride.

It was worth it to be with family, she said. The family will pray and sing together this Easter morning and later, after the game, Linwood Bolton will conduct a service at a Baptist church in Seattle.

Auburn’s team is flying home immediately after the game, but Mae Ola and Ruthie have asked permission to stay. They want to sing with their family.

Mae Ola Bolton is one of four Tiger starters to average double figures in scoring. She is getting 11.3 points per game. Auburn (32-2) is led by All-American center Vickie Orr, who is averaging 16.3 points and 6.9 rebounds.

Orr has tendinitis in both knees and was thought to be capable of playing only in short spurts. Despite this, she played all but eight minutes in Auburn’s victory over Cal State Long Beach Friday night.

The Tigers have gained a reputation for aggressiveness on defense (Ruthie Bolton had 10 steals against the 49ers) and balance on offense.

“We are mostly concerned with how we can score,” Auburn Coach Joe Ciampi said. The Tigers are in their first Final Four.

Louisiana Tech (31-2) has been here four times and has won the title twice.

That’s not what’s on Tech Coach Leon Barmore’s mind, however. He and his team can’t shake the memory of last year’s title game, where they were demolished by Tennessee, 67-44, on national television.

“Few people get a second opportunity as we are,” Barmore said.

The Techsters beat Tennessee Friday night. They dominated the boards in that game and showcased their superior inside players.

Erica Westbrooks, a 6-3 forward, had 18 points. The enforcer for Tech is Venus Lacy, a 6-4, 200-pound sophomore. She had 11 points and 10 rebounds Friday night.

The heart of the Tech team is All-American guard Teresa Weatherspoon. “She can do anything, and she usually makes the right choices,” Ciampi said.

Tournament Notes

The women’s basketball rules committee announced four rules changes Saturday, the fewest ever. One centered on a fashion trend that, apparently, the committee sees as being bad for the game. More and more players have taken to wearing knee-length tights under their uniform shorts. No more. Starting next season, “Tights and undergarments which extend below the game pants are prohibited.” . . . Louisiana Tech Coach Leon Barmore had praise for Cal State Long Beach Saturday, by way of praising Auburn. “We got beat, 99-97, in Long Beach; we just couldn’t catch them,” he said. “It was an excellent coaching job against Long Beach because that is an excellent team.” . . . For the first time in AIAW or NCAA history, two male coaches will be involved in deciding the national basketball championship. . . . Before reaching the Final Four, Tech won its three tournament games by an average score of 84-63.