The New Orleans Pride was a women's professional basketball team located in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, United States, that competed in the Women's Professional Basketball League, the first women's pro league in the United States, from 1979 to the leagues folding following the 1980-81 WBL season. For both seasons, the team was coached by former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player and coach

Butch Van Breda Kolff Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922August 22, 2007) was an American basketball player and coach. Biography Early life and career Butch was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff. He g ...

Franchise history

Background

The Pride where founded by 32-year old stockbroker Steve Brown, John W. Simpson and his wife Claudette Simpson.

1979–1980

The Pride's 1979–80 season debut was on 15 November, 1979, where the

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 ...

defeated the Pride, 120-112, before a record crowd of 8,452 in the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

. After starting the season in the Western Division, the team was moved to the Eastern Division following the folding of

Washington Metros The Washington Metros were a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. that was a member of the Eastern Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball ...

and the

Philadelphia Fox The Philadelphia Fox was a basketball team that played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL), the first women's pro league in the United States. Owned by Eric Kraus, it was added as an expansion team prior to the WBL's second season, ...

. The Pride finished the season with a 21–13 record, good for second place in the Eastern Division. It lost to the

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 ...

in the first round of the playoffs, 1–2. Augusta Forest led the team in scoring and rebounding with averages of 18.8 points and 9.2 rebounds. Bertha Hardy, who was named to the WBL All-Pro team, came next, averaging 17.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and league leading 2.7 per game. The team finished in the upper half of the league in attendance, averaging around 2,000 spectators per game.

1980–1981

Prior to the season, general manager Steve Brown was replaced with Claudette Simpson. In March 1981, during the 1980–81 season, with the team having a 17-14 record, Van Breda Kolff was suspended for the rest of the season by the team which cited the coaches unpaid fines to the league and the recent poor performance where the team had lost five games in a row. In his stead, assistant coach Ray Scott served as an interim head coach. The Pride finished the season in third place in the Coastal Division, with a 18–19 record, and missed out of the playoffs.

Cindy Brogdon Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Brogdon (born February 25, 1957) is an American former basketball player who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics. Brogdon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Biography Brogdon was born in Buford ...

of the Pride was named to the WBL All-Pro team after the season.

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage''

Individual awards

WBL All-Pro team *

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

* Bertha Hardy -

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

WBL All-Star * Sybil Blalock -

* Augusta Forest -

* Sandra Smallwood -

Head coaches

1979–1981 *Ray Scott (interim) 1981

References

External links

New Orleans Pride
on FunWhileItLasted.net {{Women's Professional Basketball League Basketball teams in New Orleans Women's Professional Basketball League teams Basketball teams established in 1979