Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League (w/ authors Britni De La Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo)
01/26/22 • 50 min
The Football History Dude is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.
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EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode, we get into the "rise and fall" of the National Women's Football League with authors of a recently released book - Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League.
HAIL MARY is the story of the girl gridders who took America by storm. The women who thousands of people came to watch—perhaps to gawk at first but then, in the end, to cheer. Readers will meet Marcella Sanborn, the thirty-nine-year-old Clevelander who, in between raising her sixteen-year-old daughter and the hours she put in as a supply supervisor at the Ohio Bell Company, saw an announcement in the paper for a try out for a new women’s football team and thought—as so many women had before her—Why not? There was Linda Jefferson, the best halfback to ever play the game, who had five straight seasons with the Toledo Troopers where she rushed for over 1,000 yards and averaged 14.4 yards per carry. She would go on to become the first Black woman inducted into the Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame and one of only four women in the American Football Association Hall of Fame. Rose Low of the Los Angeles Dandelions, a first-generation Chinese American and multisport athlete, legitimized the game during TV appearances alongside Billie
Jean King. Then there is the highlight of the NWFL’s most successful team—the Troopers, the winningest team in pro football history, men’s or women’s, and Trooper Mitchi Collette, a legend in the sport who has kept a women’s football team going in Toledo for over fifty years.
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AUTHOR BIOS
Britni de la Cretaz is a freelance writer who focuses on the intersection of sports and gender. They are the former sports columnist for Longreads and for Bitch Media. Their work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, espnW, Vogue, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Ringer, Bleacher Report, The Atlantic, and more. Their work on racism in Boston sports media received the 2017 Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Journalism from the Transformative Culture Project, and that story was also a Notable Story in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing. Their writing on the queer history of women’s baseball for Narratively was nominated for a prestigious baseball writing award, the 2019 SABR Analytics Research Award. They live in the Boston area.
Lyndsey D’Arcangelo writes about women’s college basketball and the WNBA for The Athletic. Her articles, columns and profiles on female/LGBTQ+ athletes have previously appeared in The Ringer, Deadspin, espnW/ESPN, Teen Vogue, The Buffalo News, The Huffington Post, NBC OUT and more. She received a Notable Mention in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing anthology for her story, “My Father, Trump and The Buffalo Bills.” Lyndsey lives in Buffalo, NY.
THE FOOTBALL HISTORY DUDE BACKGROUND
The Football History Dude is a show dedicated to teaching NFL fans about the rich history of the game we all know and love. I’m your host, Arnie Chapman, and I’m just a regular dude that loves football and is a nerd when it comes to learning about history. I created this show to share the gridiron knowledge nuggets I gain from researching various topics about the history of the National Football League. Each episode I welcome you to climb aboard my DeLorean to travel back in time to explore the yesteryear of the gridiron, and yes, that’s a reference to the Back to the Future Movies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Football History Dude is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.
NETWORK SPONSORS
Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode, we get into the "rise and fall" of the National Women's Football League with authors of a recently released book - Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League.
HAIL MARY is the story of the girl gridders who took America by storm. The women who thousands of people came to watch—perhaps to gawk at first but then, in the end, to cheer. Readers will meet Marcella Sanborn, the thirty-nine-year-old Clevelander who, in between raising her sixteen-year-old daughter and the hours she put in as a supply supervisor at the Ohio Bell Company, saw an announcement in the paper for a try out for a new women’s football team and thought—as so many women had before her—Why not? There was Linda Jefferson, the best halfback to ever play the game, who had five straight seasons with the Toledo Troopers where she rushed for over 1,000 yards and averaged 14.4 yards per carry. She would go on to become the first Black woman inducted into the Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame and one of only four women in the American Football Association Hall of Fame. Rose Low of the Los Angeles Dandelions, a first-generation Chinese American and multisport athlete, legitimized the game during TV appearances alongside Billie
Jean King. Then there is the highlight of the NWFL’s most successful team—the Troopers, the winningest team in pro football history, men’s or women’s, and Trooper Mitchi Collette, a legend in the sport who has kept a women’s football team going in Toledo for over fifty years.
Get a 1-week free trial and learn about this week's topic from first-hand accounts at Newspapers.com. Your paid subscription helps the production of this podcast and the other shows on the Sports History Network.
AUTHOR BIOS
Britni de la Cretaz is a freelance writer who focuses on the intersection of sports and gender. They are the former sports columnist for Longreads and for Bitch Media. Their work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, espnW, Vogue, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Ringer, Bleacher Report, The Atlantic, and more. Their work on racism in Boston sports media received the 2017 Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Journalism from the Transformative Culture Project, and that story was also a Notable Story in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing. Their writing on the queer history of women’s baseball for Narratively was nominated for a prestigious baseball writing award, the 2019 SABR Analytics Research Award. They live in the Boston area.
Lyndsey D’Arcangelo writes about women’s college basketball and the WNBA for The Athletic. Her articles, columns and profiles on female/LGBTQ+ athletes have previously appeared in The Ringer, Deadspin, espnW/ESPN, Teen Vogue, The Buffalo News, The Huffington Post, NBC OUT and more. She received a Notable Mention in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing anthology for her story, “My Father, Trump and The Buffalo Bills.” Lyndsey lives in Buffalo, NY.
THE FOOTBALL HISTORY DUDE BACKGROUND
The Football History Dude is a show dedicated to teaching NFL fans about the rich history of the game we all know and love. I’m your host, Arnie Chapman, and I’m just a regular dude that loves football and is a nerd when it comes to learning about history. I created this show to share the gridiron knowledge nuggets I gain from researching various topics about the history of the National Football League. Each episode I welcome you to climb aboard my DeLorean to travel back in time to explore the yesteryear of the gridiron, and yes, that’s a reference to the Back to the Future Movies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
The Football Learning Academy (w/ Founder Ken Crippen)
The Football History Dude is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.
NETWORK SPONSORS
Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode I talk to Ken Crippen about his new company, the Football Learning Academy, an online resource for classes and videos on pro football history and the game's impact on society. The FLA is launching in June of 2022, but sign up for free now to get the latest news on our progress and content: www.football-learning-academy.com.
We discuss many things, including some of the following:
- Why Ken started the Football Learning Academy
- How the FLA will be structured for students
- Some of the courses available to students, including some plans for future courses
- Some of the special guest lecturers Ken has for the FLA
- A short dive into the history of the Akron Pros, the Tonawanda Kardex, the first forward pass in pro football history, and the first black QB in the NFL (plus much more)....
- I ask Ken to perform his best Bill and Ted version of taking my DeLorean back in time to bring back any 4 individuals that shaped football history and have them be guest lecturers
- Why a portion of FLA goes to the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation
Below is a bio for Ken Crippen, a repeat guest on multiple shows on the Sports History Network. Here's a page to Ken Crippen interviews.
AUTHOR BIO - KEN CRIPPEN
Ken is the president and former executive director of the Professional Football Researchers Association. He has been researching and writing about pro football history for over twenty years. In that time, he has published two books and numerous articles. He has also won multiple writing awards, the latest being the 2012 PFWA Dick Connor Writing Award for Feature Writing. In 2011, he was awarded the Ralph Hay award by the PFRA for lifetime achievement in pro football history. His writing has been featured on National Football Post, Cold Hard Football Facts, The Packer Report and Coffin Corner. I have also appeared on Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and WGR (Buffalo).
THE FOOTBALL HISTORY DUDE BACKGROUND
The Football History Dude is a show dedicated to teaching NFL fans about the rich history of the game we all know and love. I’m your host, Arnie Chapman, and I’m just a regular dude that loves football and is a nerd when it comes to learning about history. I created this show to share the gridiron knowledge nuggets I gain from researching various topics about the history of the National Football League. Each episode I welcome you to climb aboard my DeLorean to travel back in time to explore the yesteryear of the gridiron, and yes, that’s a reference to the Back to the Future Movies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next Episode
Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl TEAM That Changed Football (w/ Author Bob Lederer)
The Football History Dude is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.
NETWORK SPONSORS
Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!
EPISODE SUMMARY
On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets astonished the nation when they beat the favored Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl III. The key to the Jets’ success was quarterback Joe Namath, whose superstar talent, revolutionary personality, cockiness, and charm made him an instant celebrity. But Namath didn’t do it alone.
In Beyond Broadway Joe, the members of that legendary team share for the first time their often funny, sometimes poignant, and always perceptive personal stories and memorable anecdotes about the Super Bowl team, its players and coaches, and that legendary win. They reminisce about how they became Jets, their success on the gridiron—ten of them were AFC All Stars that magical year of 1968—and reveal for the first time the tactic Namath used to frustrate the Baltimore Colts’ defense. They speak about their reactions to Namath’s "guarantee" of a Jets' Super Bowl victory, and how the "39 Forgotten" Jets behind him enabled Joe to fulfill that boast. Furthermore, Lederer has interviewed members of the Baltimore team, to provide a 360-degree account of the game that changed it all. Inside, you'll learn:
- How Joe Namath was able to manipulate the Baltimore Colts defense in Super Bowl III
- About the player who convinced Joe Namath he was a “hot date” and pranked the playboy quarterback
- How coach Weeb Ewbank used salaries of players on four other AFL teams to control Jets' player salaries
- How one Jet, whose play was limited to two games his rookie year, convinced Jets' Coach and General Manager Weeb Ewbank that he would become an all-star
- Why Jets' star offensive tackle Winston Hill, an eight-time All Pro tackle, was never considered, much less, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- How Super Bowl III may have saved the existence of several AFL teams scheduled to be part of the AFL-NFL merger
- And much more!
AUTHOR BIO
I've been a fan of the New York Jets since their first year (1963). I've always had an ability to write and have spent 40 years as a professional business writer and editor. Now, I've had the pleasure of creating the definitive story of the 1968-69 Super Bowl Jets, the only world championship earned by the team in the franchise's checkered history.
I use the word "definitive" advisedly because this book tells the tales of that most memorable Jets team from the perspectives of all 45 players who put on a white and green uniform that year, plus Coach & General Manager Weeb Ewbank, Assistant Coaches Clive Rush, Walt Michaels, Buddy Ryan & Joe Spencer, and Principal Owner David A. "Sonny" Werblin.
Jets fans and football fans who appreciate or want to learn how Super Bowl III radically changed the National Football League will enjoy Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl Team That Changed Football immensely.
THE FOOTBALL HISTORY DUDE BACKGROUND
The Football History Dude is a show dedicated to teaching NFL fans about the rich history of the game we all know and love. I’m your host, Arnie Chapman, and I’m just a regular dude that loves football and is a nerd when it comes to learning about history. I created this show to share the gridiron knowledge nuggets I gain from researching various topics about the history of the National Football League. Each episode I welcome you to climb aboard my DeLorean to travel back in time to explore the yesteryear of the gridiron, and yes, that’s a reference to the Back to the Future Movies.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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