Iowa Cornets and being right at the right time
The Iowa team was built with a cast of characters made for a Netflix mini-series. Owned by the creator of the modern trampoline, George Nissen purchased the team for $50,000 in 1978. The team had players of all sorts of skills and historical significance. Tanya Crevier (South Dakota HOF) had a crazy handle of the ball and still travels today to show off her basketball skills. Denise Long was the first woman to ever be drafted by an NBA team. Rhonda Penquite is an Oral Roberts HOFer. Mary Schrad was paralyzed in a sledding accident in high school and was told she may never walk again, but still became a professional basketball player. Mo Eckroth became the head coach at New Mexico. Charlotte Lewis was an Olympic Silver Medalist. Connie Kunzmann had an award named after her. They made a Hollywood movie inspired by this team that also starred Pistol Pete Maravich!
Last, but certainly not least was Molly Bolin, lovingly referred to as Machine Gun Bolin, was the league MVP, led the team to two championship games, had a Sports Illustrated article about her, a book written about her, and she became the face of the league. She is the first professional women's basketball player ever.
Every single one of them is in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately, the flip side of this coin is quite tragic.
I linked to George Nissen's Wikipedia page above and his obituary over here. In them you will find information about his life, about his career as a gymnast and his success with his trampoline company and getting Trampolining into the Olympics. In neither will you find any information about the Iowa Cornets or how he was their owner.
Denise Long was drafted, but the draft pick was voided, because Denise had the tragic misfortune of being born a woman.
Every player in the WBL was inducted into the HOF, but no player in WBL is in the hall of fame for their achievements in the WBL, only for being a "trailblazer".
The movie that was made about the team centered on a woman's team facing off against a men's team. It was called "Scoring". You can probably guess what the focus was in the film, however you won't be able to find a copy of it easily. Probably for the best.
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Molly Bolin nearly lost her child trying to make the WBL work. She went through a divorce and the judge initially ruled that her ex would have full custody because of the promotional photos that she took for the league and that she was abandoning her child to play basketball.
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| Scandalous photo (where is the man to catch that ball before it hurts her!) |
The most tragic story belongs to Connie Kunzmann. Connie was murdered during the 1980-81 season in a fit of rage by an angry man who dumped her body in the river. He spent only nine years in prison before being paroled.
The WBL and the Iowa Cornets are trailblazers, first to the market with professional women's basketball. First didn't mean success for them though, as the country was not ready for women's basketball yet. It was a sideshow, one meant for half-times of games where real men played the sport and people gawked at the women.
Today thing are better, yes? The WNBA is doing well, and nobody freaks out over seeing Caitlin Clark on Sports Center....
Being first is wonderful when everyone wants you there. But when forces push back with everything they have it can be tragic on those who want it the most. Molly Bolin did an interview with NBC Sportsworld back in 1984, and she was still trying her best to get women's basketball moving, and you can just hear her worn down from the struggle.
It wasn't the wrong time for Molly, who like every athlete only has so much time in their prime. It just wasn't the right time for the world around her, and that is sad truth.
I collect Iowa Connected players, and players from those Iowa Cornet teams definitely qualify. Let me show you the extensive list of cards I was able to find...
One card. No Molly Bolin. No Connie Kunzmann. No Denise Long. Trailblazers, all of them. Just not worthy of cardboard.
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