Gertrude Joyce Cran Barry

Gertrude Joyce Cran Barry (1900-1964) was a Scottish lacrosse and field hockey player who lived in the United States. She was inducted into the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963. She was inducted into the Scotland Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2015. She was the founder of CRANBARRY Equipment Company. This was the United State’s first equipment company for women’s lacrosse.

Barry came to the United States to teach at a field hockey camp in 1925. She then became a Physical Training Instructor at Wellesley College. Barry figured out that field hockey was bad for posture due to the form of the arched back, and that lacrosse is good for posture because players are running upright. This further promoted more women to play lacrosse.

In 1931, she became the United States Women's Lacrosse Association's (USWLA) first president. She held this role for four years. Barry helped organize the USWLA's first national tournament in 1933 in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 1947 she established CRANBARRY Equipment Company. In 1950 she chaired the U.S. Team Selection Committee.

Joyce Cran Barry became the second woman inducted into the US Hall of Fame (besides Margaret Boyd) in 1993. In 1934, a prediction was made by the leaders of New York Women’s Lacrosse Association that lacrosse would be more popular than field hockey.