Table Of ContentWomen’s American Football
Women’s
American
Breaking Barriers
Football On and Off
the Gridiron
RUSS CRAWFORD
University of Nebraska Press Lincoln
© 2022 by the Board of Regents of
the University of Nebraska
Acknowledgments for the use of previously
published material appear on page ix, which
constitutes an extension of the copyright page.
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The University of Nebraska Press is part of a land-
grant institution with campuses and programs on the
past, present, and future homelands of the Pawnee,
Ponca, Otoe- Missouria, Omaha, Dakota, Lakota, Kaw,
Cheyenne, and Arapaho Peoples, as well as those of the
relocated Ho- Chunk, Sac and Fox, and Iowa Peoples.
Publication of this volume was assisted
by the Getty College of Arts and Sciences
at Ohio Northern University.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Crawford, Russ, author.
Title: Women’s American football: breaking
barriers on and off the gridiron / Russ Crawford.
Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
[2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2022002169
isbn 9781496233332 (Hardback: acid- free paper)
isbn 9781496233813 (ePub)
isbn 9781496233820 (pdf)
Subjects: lcsh: National Women’s Football League
(U.S.)— History. | Women football players— United
States—H istory. | Football— United States—
History. | bisac: sports & recreation /
Football | social science / Women’s Studies
Classification: lcc gv955.5.n37 c73 2022 |
ddc 796.330820973— dc23/eng/20220604
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002169
Set in Lyon Text by Mikala R. Kolander.
Designed by L. Auten.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Free to Play 1
1. Women’s Professional Football Begins 13
2. Women’s Football Roars Back 43
3. The Independent Women’s Football League 71
4. The Women’s Football Alliance 117
5. The X League 157
6. The Women’s National Football Conference 193
7. Girls Take the Field 215
8. American Women Tackle the World 255
Postscript: 1 July 2020— Born to Play 287
Appendix: List of Interviewees 297
Notes 301
Index 367
Acknowledgments
Any author depends on the help of a number of people to create a
manuscript. I have been fortunate to have the help of more than 240
women and several men from the United States and around the world
who have told me their football stories. Thank you to each and every
one. I did not quote each of you in the pages that follow, but you all
helped me understand the motivation and struggles of women playing
American football.
I would particularly like to thank Louise Bean for serving as some-
thing of a research assistant by putting me in touch with several of her
teammates and opponents. Likewise, Crys Sacco helped me get several
interviews with players from the Utah Girls Football League. Carolyn
O’Leary, of the Columbus Comets, surprised me at the New Orleans
Saints’ practice facility when she recognized my voice from previous
interviews she had listened to. Then she invited me to a Comets prac-
tice session for more interviews. Diane Beruldsen not only gave me
several interviews, most of which do not appear in this book, but she
also talked to my students and welcomed me to her P- Town Classic
flag football tournament and the Kelly McGillis Classic tournament.
Oscar Lopez and Michael Burmy are the strongest voices for wom-
en’s football online. Lopez’s Gridiron Beauties podcast runs weekly
with news from all women’s leagues around the world. Burmy’s Home-
town Women’s Football Facebook site also carries all the news that is
news on women’s football in the United States. Both men agreed to do
interviews with me, and Lopez had me on his program several times.
vii
Acknowledgments
This book would have been very difficult without Neal Rozendaal’s
Encyclopedia of Women’s Football, and I was happy that Frankie de la
Cretaz and Lyndsey D’Arcangelo’s Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the
National Women’s Football League was published in time for me to read
before editing this.
Book projects also often cost a considerable amount to research,
and my university, Ohio Northern University, along with onu’s Getty
College of Arts and Sciences, has allowed me to travel to many loca-
tions to conduct interviews. Thank you also to my wife, Sophie, who
encouraged my travels and even went to some football games with me.
Thanks also to Jean- Marc Burtscher, who took me to my first women’s
game. Just another step in our Mission for Football!
Roger Kelly of American Football International has smoothed the way
by providing me with press credentials that have given me access to
various events. I suppose that I should also thank Dr. Jennifer Welter,
the head coach of the Australian National Team, for making me feel
like an actual reporter by sending an assistant coach to ask me to leave
her team’s practice. Jason Aikens, the archivist of the Pro Football Hall
of Fame in Canton, helped me access their Women’s Football file.
Oral history does not end when one turns off the recording device,
and a truly awful part of the process is transcribing. So thank you to
all of my student research assistants who worked for me, or students
in my various courses who earned extra credit by helping me out. In
particular, I would like to thank Emily Hughes, Ryan Oberlin, Nate
Bracy, Katie Hauter, Jennifer Ulmer, and Cassie Krencisz.
I also had help arranging and translating interviews. Christian and
Genevieve Mercadier, my French father and mother, helped me with
some of the French interviews, as did my wife, Sophie. Michael and
Desy Loughlin helped out with Spanish. Dr. Ekaterina Isaeva, a Russian
colleague from Perm State University, found Mariia Kalina and Alex
Hatsekelevich, two of her students, to help me.
Finally, I want to make sure that I thank Rob Taylor, along with every-
one else at the University of Nebraska Press. I am glad they believed
in this project and helped me put the manuscript in publishable form.
viii
Acknowledgments
I apologize to anyone that I have forgotten, and there are likely many
who helped make this project a reality. Even if I have not mentioned
you by name, you have my gratitude.
Portions of this book previously appeared in:
Le Football: The History of American Football in France (Lincoln: Uni-
versity of Nebraska Press, 2016).
“The ‘Sun of Austerlitz’ Shone for the Molosses,” Sport in American
History, 21 July 2016.
“Brits Upset Finns in 2017 ifaf Women’s World Championships
Opener,” American Football International, 26 June 2017.
“United States Beats Team Canada, Captures Gold at Women’s
World Championship,” American Football International, 2 July 2017.
“Canada v. USA in Historic Girl’s ‘Battle of the Border’ Club Team
Challenge— Part 2,” American Football International, 29 November 2017.
“Women’s Football Arrives at Super Bowl LIII,” American Football
International, 6 February 2019.
“espn’s Born to Play a Groundbreaking Documentary on Women’s
Football,” American Football International, 14 July 2020.
“Women’s Football Alliance Crowns Three National Champions,”
American Football International, 27 July 2021.
ix
