Holy Toledo! A National Women’s Football League Existed 15 for Years
A new book tells the untold history of the league
It began for most women with a newspaper ad.
A women’s football league is forming this fall. Tryouts for the Los Angeles Dandelions will be this Saturday. No experience with football is necessary.
Or substitute the Toledo Troopers for the Dandelions.
From 1974 to 1988, the National Women’s Football League existed in the U.S., and I never knew about it until my brother and I attended a panel discussion for sports book authors at the L.A. Times Festival of Books.
Lindsey D’Arcangelo and Frankie de la Cretaz, the co-authors of “Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of The National Women’s Football League,” uncovered this amazing story by interviewing former NWFL players.
Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke fired a question to D’Acangelo when people were more curious about a baseball book.
He was curious about the NWFL and so was I.
I was fascinated to learn that 80 women tried out for the Toledo Troopers and some players never left the field, playing for the entire 60 minutes.
