The groundbreaking story of the National Women’s Football
League, and the players whose spirit, rivalries, and tenacity changed
the legacy of women’s sports forever
In 1967, a Cleveland promoter recruited a group of women to compete
as a traveling football troupe. It was conceived as a gimmick—in
the vein of the Harlem Globetrotters—but the women who signed up
really wanted to play. And they were determined to win.
Hail Mary chronicles the highs and lows of the National
Women’s Football League, which took root in nineteen cities across
the US over the course of two decades. Drawing on new interviews with
former players from the Detroit Demons, the Toledo Troopers, the LA
Dandelions, and more, Hail Mary brings us into the stadiums
where they broke records, the small-town lesbian bars where they were
recruited, and the backrooms where the league was formed, championed,
and eventually shuttered. In an era of vibrant second wave feminism
and Title IX activism, the athletes of the National Women’s
Football League were boisterous pioneers on and off the field: you’ll
be rooting for them from start to finish.