The 1978–79 WBL season was the 1st season of the Women's Professional Basketball League. The season ended with the

Houston Angels The Houston Angels was a team that played for two seasons in the Women's Professional Basketball League. The team won the league championship in the inaugural season defeating the Iowa Cornets three games to two in the best-of-five tournament. The ...

winning the WBL Championship, beating the

Iowa Cornets The Iowa Cornets was a team that played for two seasons in the Women's Professional Basketball League. George Nissen purchased the first franchise in the fledgling league on March 21, 1978 for $50,000. Nissen, who had been a star gymnast at the U ...

3 games to 2 in the WBL Finals. The league was divided into two divisions, with Chicago Hustle,

Milwaukee Does The Milwaukee Does were a team in the short-lived Women's Professional Basketball League. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, their name was a play on that of the NBA Milwaukee Bucks. The Does played in the first two of the WPBL's three seasons, 1978� ...

and

Minnesota Fillies The Minnesota Fillies were an American women's professional basketball team based in Minnesota that competed in the Women's Professional Basketball League from 1978 to 1981. The Fillies were one of three teams to play in all three of the league's ...

playing in the Western Division, while the

Dayton Rockettes The Dayton Rockettes was a women's professional basketball team located in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The team competed in the Women's Professional Basketball League, the first women's pro league in the United States, during the 1978-79 WBL seas ...

, New Jersey Gems and

New York Stars New York Stars could refer to: *New York Stars (WBL), a team that played two seasons in the Women's Professional Basketball League before disbanding in 1980 *New York Stars (WFL), a team in the World Football League that relocated in 1974 and becam ...

were in the East.

Notable occurrences

*In June 1978, Karen Logan became the first player to sign a contract with the league. *With the first overall pick in the 1978 WBL draft, Houston selected

Ann Meyers Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional level ...

from UCLA. *The league's inaugural game was on December 9, 1978, between the Chicago Hustle and the

at the Milwaukee Arena, attracting coverage in the previous night's '' CBS Evening News'' with Walter Cronkite. Milwaukee mayor Henry Maier issued a proclamation comparing this first game to the first professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

game, played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and the first pro baseball game, played in Cincinnati.Harvin, Al
"Female Pros Make History; Playing Game Alone"
'' The New York Times'', December 10, 1978. Accessed July 26, 2010. The game attracted a crowd of 7,824, which saw the hometown team lose to Chicago 92–87. Debra Waddy Rossow of the Hustle, led all scorers with 30 points. *The league was able to arrange an All-Star game in 1979, which was played at the

Felt Forum The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600, and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is located beneath the main Madiso ...

in New York City's

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in front of 2,731 fans. The game was hastily arranged and inserted into the league's schedule, using a court borrowed from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and forcing some players to have to make hectic travel arrangements to get to their next regular season game. The East beat the Midwest by a score of 112–99. Althea Gwyn of the

led the East with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Chicago Hustle players Debra Waddy Rossow with 26 points and

Rita Easterling Rita Gail Easterling (born July 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player. Called the ''Queen of the Floor Burns'', she played college basketball for Mississippi College where she was named Kodak All-American in 1977. She later played pr ...

with 19 points led the Midwest. Easterling, who also had 18 assists, was named the game's most valuable player. *The Houston Angels defeated the Iowa Cornets, 111–104, on May 2, 1979, behind 36 points by Paula Mayo, to take the league's first championship in game five of a best-of-five finals series.

Standings

Notes *z – division champions *x – clinched playoff spot

Statistics leaders

WBL awards

*Most Valuable Player:

, Chicago Hustle *Coach of the Year:

Don Knodel Don Knodel is an American former basketball coach and former college basketball player. He was the head coach at Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 3 ...

*Manager of the Year Chuck Shriver, Chicago Hustle

All-Pro team

(Chicago) * Debra Waddy-Rossow (Chicago) * Vonnie Tomich (Dayton) * Paula Mayo (Houston) * Belinda Candler (Houston) *

Molly Bolin "Machine Gun" Molly Bolin (born Monna Lea Van Benthuysen; November 13, 1957) is a retired American basketball player who mainly played for the Women's Professional Basketball League. Although her accomplishments for the most part went unrecognized ...

(Iowa) *

Denise Sharps Denise may refer to: * Denise (given name), people with the given name ''Denise'' * Denise (computer chip), a video graphics chip from the Amiga computer * "Denise" (song), a 1963 song by Randy & the Rainbows * Denise, Mato Grosso, a municipalit ...

(Iowa) * Doris Draving (Iowa) * Brenda Chapman (Milwaukee) * Marie Kocurek (Minnesota) * Gail Tatterson (New Jersey) *

Althea Gwyn Althea R. Gwyn (May 19, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who was one of the first players in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL). Early life and education Gwyn started her basketball career at ...

(New York) Source

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1978-79 WBL season Women's Professional Basketball League seasons