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The Womens Basketball League (WBL)
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Regarding John Molina's work....
"It is one of the finest collections on women's basketball," said Michael Brooslin, museum curator at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. Hartford Courant May 20, 2002.
Was part of a television show NOMINATED for an EMMY
Positively Connecticut™, Fall 2002 has been nominated for outstanding informational program by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/ Boston/New England Chapter. The Fall episode of Positively Connecticut included segments on the world’s largest private collection of women’s basketball memorabilia
I want to thank all of you that are helping this exhibition grow and eventually become a museum. Your donations of pictures, posters from and much more from your own playing days or your mother, grandmother and others, has helped greatly and will be preserved for many thousands of students and fans to view and learn from.
Above, several inductees to the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of fame view a portion of the history of women's basketball at the dedication of the permanant home of the CT Women's basketball hof.
**Links to the other 2 pages of this web site are on the upper left of each page (type is coming out small for some reason)
October 11, 1977. Vietnam was over and disco was the latest rage in music. Charlie's Angels gave the country something to talk about. It was on that day that the incorporation of the first womens professional basketball league happened
The WBL was the idea of Bill Byrne, whom had previous experience in the American Football Leauge. Over the next 9 months, applications were sent out to over 750 interested groups. By the summer of 1978, the first 8 franchises (each costing $50,000) were selected. They were (in order of acceptance):
Iowa Cornets
New Jersey Gems
Milwaukee Does
Chicago Hustle
Minnesota Fillies
Dayton Rockettes
New York Stars
Houson Angels
Now that the teams were set, it was time to gather players for this league. The National Scouting Association had been compiling information on players for the 2 previous years. On July 18th, 1978 the first draft was held at the Essex house in New York City. Ann Meyers and Rita Easterling were the 2 top draft picks. Along with signing top prospects, the WBL signed Wilson Basketball to a major contact to use their basketballs.
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The first game was played December 9, 1978 at the Milwalkee arena where the Chicago Hustle defeated the Milwalkee Does 92-87. Aprx 8,000 fans attended the game.
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The uniforms varied from team to team on their logo's. The Dayton Rockettes, whom would only last 1 season, were very simple. The Rockettes would become the California Dreams the following season
By the time The All Star game came on March 14, 1979, The Houston Angels had a firm hold on the Eastern Division with a 19-6 record. The Iowa Cornets and Chicago Hustle were tied in the West at 15-10.
The All Star game would be held at Madison Square Garden. Coaching the East was Don Knodel of Houston and Doug Bruno from Chicago. Leading the west would be Brenda Chapman and her 27.1 scoring average against the East's scoring leader from New York, Althea Gwyn. Other players on the roster would include Rita Easterling, Molly "Machine Gun" Bolin, Karen Aulenbacher and Paula Mayo.
By the end of the season, The Houston Angels held a league-best 26-8 regular season. The Angels began to gel into a championship contender. Playing 48 minutes, they averaged an eye-popping 99.4 points more than most of today's NBA teams, while allowing 90.5.
The Angels swept New York in the Eastern Division playoffs, advancing to face Iowa in the first WBL finals series. The Cornets were led by Molly Bolin, the blonde bomber who was known by her nickname of "Machine Gun'' Molly who made headlines with her average of 32.8 points Machine Gun Molly: WBL Legend The Angels won the first two games in Houston, 89-85 and 112-98, before heading to Des Moines for Games 3 and 4. Two losses later the Angels found themselves back home for the deciding Game 5.
Compounding matters was the fact that the Angels were playing at Hofheinz Pavilion for the first time all season, where the biggest crowd of the season, 5,978, packed inside to see the game. This was much more then the average 600-900.
Tied with two minutes to go, Paula Mayo went to work, scoring six straight points to put the Angels up to stay. They coasted home with the win and the first championship. But after the victory, there would be no parades or visits to the White House, which the Comets of the WNBA enjoyed after winning their first title.
The Angels instead went back to a player's apartment and toasted each other in anonymity. .
Rita Easterling would be named MVP of both the All-Star game (19 pts and 18 assists) and the season, avergage 10+ assists a game and a 'then' record of 44 points in a game.
Don Knodel of the Houston Angels would be named Coach of the Year.
My special thanks to journalist Michael Murphy for his help and inspiration for creating this web site.
October 2005 - Article on The All American Red Heads done for the Women's Sports Foundation.
Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a charitable educational organization dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.
The exhibitions done with this work do not raise any money for profit, yet have raised money for charities, such as research on brain cancer, promoting awareness in girls and women in sports and more. It is a goal to have this become an official non-profit organization in the future.
All of this requires a lot of expenses.
A page linked to these web sites and dedicate it to those making contributions. Any contributions will be used for things such as framing, web site development and support, communications, etc.
Sponsorship of each of the web sites dedicated to the history of women's basketball is available as well. These sites are visited by students and teachers all over North America doing research on the subject, as well as others that have played the game.
With a sponsorship of a web site, links to your web site will be included, as your logo (if provided) will also be placed on the home page.
Donations from $1 to any amount are sincerely appreciated. The History of Women's Basketball should not be overlooked. With your help, awareness will about this famous sport will continue to be promoted.
Please email me with any questions or address
Thank you for you consideration
Contact the Author, John Molina
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