Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel have become the first lesbian couple to be included in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame collection. Are you kidding me? Oh my heart! We got to know these amazing women in Netflix’s A Secret Love, chronicling their 72-year relationship.
The cofounder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, Phil Sklar, watched the documentary and then had the idea to create a bobblehead of Donahue, who spent four seasons playing in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPL.) The bobbleheads were unveiled on January 6, 2022.
“I thought that a bobblehead of Terry would be a great way to celebrate her life. But we quickly realized that we couldn’t do a bobblehead of Terry without Pat,” Sklar said. “We decided to do one of Pat that would fit together at the base.” Gals, the bases fit together so Terry and Pat are forever side by side! OMFG. This is so pure.
Sklar went on to say that, “Terry and Pat’s story had inspired a lot of people,” and their, “strong, everlasting bond,” was encouraging. He thought the bobbleheads would be, “a fun extension of the documentary.”
Donahue’s bobblehead sports her Peoria Redwings jersey and catcher’s gear, and is crouched and waiting to receive a pitch. Just as she was seen on her AAGPBL playing card. Henschel’s bobblehead is outfitted in a Moose Jaw Wildcats hockey uniform.
The Wildcat getup is a fitting tribute, as the couple first met at an ice rink while playing hockey. Both Donahue and Henschel grew up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.
One night Henschel took a risk and confessed to Donahue on the back of an ice hockey ticket: “I’m a reader of books, but I’ve never read anywhere where a woman loves another woman. I hope you feel the same way, too.”
The two were inseparable for the next seven decades, living romantically as “roommates” until 2009 when they came out to their families. The couple married on Donahue’s 90th birthday in 2015. Donahue passed away in 2019, after battling Parkinson’s disease and is survived by Henschel, 91, now living in an assisted facility in Canada.
Donahue appreciated the delayed recognition that A League of Their Own brought to the AAGPBL women. “If it weren’t for that movie, nobody would have ever known about us. It was just something we had done, was in the past, loved it, but was over with…but that movie really brought it out,” she told the Northwest Herald in 2003. I’m sure she would appreciate the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum commemorating not only her professional league days, but also the love she shared with her wife and life partner.
The Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel bobbleheads are available for a limited time through the National Bobblehead Museum’s online store.
We think Terry would smile to hear that A League of Their Own has been adapted into a series that will include the stories of lesbians in baseball. Hat’s off to you and you surely aren’t forgotten.
