WBL History (3rd season)

The following are some highlights of WBL history. (Click on the blue frames to see full-sized images.) Please e-mail me with any corrections or additions. Karra Porter, Salt Lake City

"I had no sense of history. Only in retrospect did I look back and think, 'Wow, that league was just so far ahead of its time, it wasn't even funny.'" Greg Williams, assistant coach of the Houston Angels and head coach of the Dallas Diamonds)

No Olympics

April 6, 1980. Nancy Lieberman announces she is withdrawing from the U. S. team in support of President Carter's proposed boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. The USOC formally endorses the boycott a week later. (Photo by Betty Millsaps Jones)

With their Olympic aspirations extinguished, high-profile players Nancy Lieberman and Carol Blazejowski are drafted and sign with the WBL. Lieberman's contract is reportedly worth $100,000 annually; "The Blaze" reportedly earns $50,000. Some observers believe the newcomers will draw attention to the league; others believe the high salaries will help kill it. In the end, both predictions prove correct.

Supervisor of officials John Nucatola resigns, asserting that 50 of 70 officials from prior season are owed money. Officials are told to cut back on fouls called, a move applauded by Minneapolis sports writer Doug Grow, who writes: "In the past, it seemed that the referees were trying hard to make women's pro basketball a ladylike affair."

Last season's WBL Champs, the New York Stars, are defeated by the 1980 college Kodak All-Americans at the Women's Games in Salt Lake City. Several of the strong All-American class join the WBL, including Nancy Lieberman and Inge Nissen (Old Dominion), Rosie Walker (Stephen F. Austin) and Holly Warlick (Tennessee).

Sherwin Fischer replaces Bill Byrne as WBL Commissioner. Among Fischer's first moves are to relocate league offices from New York City to Chicago. Vice President Dave Almstead becomes General Manager of the Dallas Diamonds. Fischer confirms that all teams lost money during the second season, ranging from $250,000 to $450,000.

Last season's co-MVP fails to report to camp in New Jersey. "No one, it seems, is quite sure where Ann Meyers is," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Meyers sits out the season because she has not received her full salary from the Gems. An arbitrator later rules in favor of the Gems in the contract dispute. (The team breached its contract by not paying her, he concludes, but that did not make her a free agent.)

The WBL opens its third season with nine teams: Chicago Hustle; Dallas Diamonds; Minnesota Fillies; Nebraska Wranglers; New England Gulls; New Jersey Gems; New Orleans Pride; St. Louis Streak; San Francisco Pioneers. The Wranglers' principal owner is Lawrence Kozlicki, owner of the second season's California Dreams.

The league faces competition from the newly formed Ladies Professional Basketball Association, which lures a number of WBL veterans -- including All-Stars Molly Bolin, Doris Draving, and Liz "the Whiz" Silcott -- by matching or exceeding WBL contracts. Only three teams see action, and the LPBA folds after a few games. Many players return to the WBL.

Former Chicago Hustle coach Doug Bruno, now head coach of women's basketball at DePaul, advocates in a Chicago Tribune column that the rims be lowered for women's basketball. Minnesota Fillies coach Terry Kunze unsuccessfully advocates changes in rules to reduce three-point distance to 17 feet, expansion of shot clock to 30 seconds, and shorter quarters.

Nancy Lieberman sets the all-time turnover record (17) for women's professional basketball (memorialized in the official scorer's sheet). Lest any teasing occur, also included in that link is the scorer's sheet for another Lieberman feat -- a triple-double.

The Dallas Diamonds outdraw their NBA counterpart Dallas Mavericks when both have home games the same night.

"I once loved women's basketball. Though I might not have admitted it in print, I often preferred it to the NBA. . . . This was 'Machine Gun' Molly Bolin. And Carol 'The Blaze' Blazejowski. And -- goosebumps -- Nancy Lieberman. Lady Magic. Those were the nights. Machine Gun without conscience from 25 feet. Blaze, baseline fallaway over double-teaming defenders. Lady Magic, half-court behind-the-back bounce pass between a defender's legs to a wide-open teammate. . . . I would have paid today's NBA prices to witness the lady's magic." Skip Bayless, Chicago Tribune, December 26, 1998

After negotiations with the team's owner break down, the unpaid New England Gulls refuse to play a home game in Portland, Maine, against the San Francisco Pioneers. A week later, the league declares the Gulls franchise to be in default.

Five out of 10 Dallas Diamonds players (Hattie Browning, Kim Bueltel, Rosalind Jennings, Nancy Lieberman, and Retha Swindell) foul out of an overtime road game against the San Francisco Pioneers. Not coincidentally, Diamonds coach Greg Williams receives two technical fouls and is ejected.

The league's third and final All-Star Game is its most successful. The game is played in Albuquerque and is sponsored by a group of local businessmen -- including controversial former New Mexico men's basketball coach "Stormin'" Norman Ellenberger -- hoping to bring a WBL franchise to the state.

In Omaha, the Nebraska Wranglers are stunned when Lance Tibke confesses that he has murdered player Connie Kunzmann, who disappeared two days earlier.

Chicago ownership puts 37 percent of the club's stock for sale to the public at $10 per share. The stock prospectus contains previously undisclosed financial information about the team and the league. More than 2,000 shares are sold within the first few weeks.

The Minneapolis Star prints an article by sportswriter Doug Grow in which three-time All-Star Marie Kocurek discloses that she and other players are owed money by the Minnesota Fillies franchise. Kocurek is placed on waivers and picked up by the Nebraska Wranglers, which draws a scathing attack by Grow against Fillies management. "The uppity wench deserved it," Grow writes sarcastically.

Chicago Hustle management tries to fire head coach Bill Gleason and appoint player Sue Digitale his replacement, but Gleason shows up at the next game with a court order requiring the owners to let him coach. Meanwhile, Hustle owners turn down a $1 million offer to purchase the franchise.

Minnesota Fillies players walk off the court in Chicago, refusing to play because they have not been paid. Talks with league officials go nowhere, and the team drives back to Minnesota. The next day, all eight players and coach Terry Kunze are suspended. "It killed the league," commissioner Sherwin Fischer maintains. Both sides threaten legal action; Minnesota finishes the season with a team hastily put together by public relations director (and former player) Lynnette Sjoquist.

The Central Division title winner Nebraska Wranglers (27-9) meet the Coastal Division champ Dallas Diamonds (27-9) in the WBL finals. The Wranglers and Diamonds have split their six games against each other, but Nebraska snags home court advantage by having scored one more basket than the Diamonds. In a thrilling five-game series, Nebraska wins the third -- and final -- WBL Championship.

(click on photo to view full size)

A classic battle: Nebraska's Rosie Walker vs. Dallas' Nancy Lieberman. In the background is Nebraska's Carol Chason. From Sportswoman's T.E.A.M. Basketball Digest, June-July 1981.

The 1980-81 WBL All-Pro Team is announced. Nebraska's Rosie Walker is voted league MVP, having led the Wranglers to the title with the highest field goal percentage (.641), 25.8 points per game (4th in the league), 13.5 rebounds (2nd), and strong defense. A close second in the voting is Dallas guard Nancy Lieberman, who ranks among league elite in four key categories: scoring (3rd; 26.3 ppg); assists (3rd; 6.1 apg); steals (1st; 3.6 spg); and rebounds (8th; 8.6 rpg). Dallas Diamonds coach Greg Williams earns Coach of the Year honors, and Diamonds owner Michael Staver is named WBL Owner of the Year.

1979-80 WBL All-Pro Team

Carol Blazejowski, New Jersey Gems

Molly Bolin, San Francisco Pioneers

Cindy Brogdon, New Orleans Pride

Carol Chason, Nebraska Wranglers

Althea Gwyn, Chicago Hustle

Cindy Haugejorde, San Francisco Pioneers

Rosalind Jennings, Dallas Diamonds

Nancy Lieberman, Dallas Diamonds

Paula Mayo, Chicago Hustle

Inge Nissen, Chicago Hustle

Patricia Roberts, St. Louis Streak

Janice Thomas, New Jersey Gems

Rosie Walker, Nebraska Wranglers

Three teams -- the Chicago Hustle, the Minnesota Fillies, and the New Jersey Gems -- have persevered from the beginning to the end. All players, staff, managers, and owners have played an important and historic role in laying foundation for the progress of women's sports in the United States.