# Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League - Hardcover

by **Frankie de la Cretaz** (Author), **Lyndsey D'Arcangelo** (Author)

**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.

### Author Biography

**Lyndsey D'Arcangelo** writes about women's college basketball and the WNBA for _The Athletic_. Her articles, columns and profiles on female/LGBTQ+ athletes have previously appeared in _The Ringer_, _Deadspin_, _espnW/ESPN_, _Teen Vogue_, _The Buffalo News_, _The Huffington Post_, NBC OUT and more. She received a Notable Mention in the 2018 Best American Sports Writing anthology for her story, "My Father, Trump and The Buffalo Bills." Lyndsey lives in Buffalo, NY.  
**Frankie de la Cretaz** is a freelance writer who focuses on the intersection of sports and gender. They are the former sports columnist for _Longreads_ and for _Bitch Media_. Their work has appeared in the _New York Times_, _Rolling Stone_, espnW, _Vogue_, _The Washington Post_, _Teen Vogue_, _The Ringer, Bleacher Report_, _The Atlantic_, and more. Their work on racism in Boston sports media received the 2017 Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Journalism from the Transformative Culture Project, and that story was also a Notable Story in the 2018 _Best American Sports Writing_. Their writing on the queer history of women's baseball for Narratively was nominated for a prestigious baseball writing award, the 2019 SABR Analytics Research Award. They live in the Boston area.  

**Number of Pages:** 304

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9.4 x 6 IN

**Publication Date:** November 02, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 28.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 28.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League - Hardcover

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