The Chicago Hustle was a team in the

Women's Professional Basketball League The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...

(WBL) from 1978 to 1981. The team's colors were red and blue.

History

The Hustle played in all three WBL seasons and led the league in attendance each year. The WBL's inaugural game was played on Dec. 9, 1978 in Milwaukee, with the Hustle defeating the Milwaukee Does 92-87 before a crowd of 7,824. In their first season, the Hustle tied the Iowa Cornets for the Midwest Division title, but Iowa had home-court advantage for the playoffs and won the series 2 games to 1. Rita Easterling was the WBL's Most Valuable Player that first year and led the league in assists. Debbie Waddy-Rossow (cousin of

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

wide receiver Billy Waddy) was the league's leading scorer. Easterling was voted MVP of the league's first All-Star Game in 1979, which was played at

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 Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. In their second year, the Hustle missed the playoffs. Coach Doug Bruno left to become an assistant to Gene Sullivan for Loyola University of Chicago's men's team and is now the DePaul women's team coach. In the third and final season, the Hustle added

Inge Nissen Inge Nissen is a Danish basketball player and coach. A 2012 inductee to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Nissen was a star for the Danish national team and a college All-American at Old Dominion University. After her playing career, Nissen ...

from

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (ODU) is a Public university, public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer ...

and veteran Donna Geils (now Orender), who from 2005 to 2010 served as president of the WNBA. The team's play-by-play announcer for all three seasons was Les Grobstein, who later became the radio voice of the WNBA's Chicago Sky before his passing on January 16, 2022.

End of WBL

The WBL disbanded in 1981 because of financial problems throughout the league, mostly due to owners who did not pay their bills and who bounced several

payroll A payroll is a list of employment, employees of a company who are entitled to receive compensation as well as other work benefits, as well as the amounts that each should obtain. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time ...

checks to players and other employees. In 1981, the Minnesota Fillies players who were promised paychecks by Commissioner Sherwin Fischer, only to have him not follow through, walked off the court in Chicago ten minutes.

References

Hustle 1978 establishments in Illinois 1981 disestablishments in Illinois Women's Professional Basketball League teams Basketball teams established in 1978 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1981 Women's sports in Illinois Women in Chicago {{Illinois-basketball-team-stub