The Iowa Cornets was a team that played for two seasons 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 ...

George Nissen George Peter Nissen (February 3, 1914 – April 7, 2010) was an American gymnast and inventor who developed the modern trampoline and made trampolining a worldwide sport and recreation. Background Born on February 3, 1914, in Blairstown, Iowa, to ...

purchased the first franchise in the fledgling league on March 21, 1978 for $50,000. Nissen, who had been a star gymnast at the University of Iowa in the 1930s, pioneered the manufacture and sale of the modern

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes. The fabric that use ...

at his Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Co. in Cedar Rapids. The team made it to the league's championship series both seasons, falling to the

Houston Angels The Houston Angels was a team that played for two seasons in the Women's Professional Basketball League. The team won the league championship in the inaugural season defeating the Iowa Cornets three games to two in the best-of-five tournament. The ...

in 1978-79 and to the New York Stars in 1979–80. The team played their games at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

and at the

Five Seasons Center Alliant Energy PowerHouse (formerly Five Seasons Center and later U.S. Cellular Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in the downtown area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was financed by the approval of a voter referendum to allocate special munic ...

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

History

The league began with a player draft held in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

's Essex House in July 1978, with eight teams participating. By the time of the draft, Iowa was one of only three teams that had a nickname selected and the only team that had already engaged a coach. With its last pick in the draft, the Cornets selected

Uljana Semjonova Iulijana Larionovna Semjonova (; born 9 March 1952) is a retired Latvian basketball player of Russian descent who competed for the Soviet Union. Semjonova was the leading women's basketball player in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Wearing a m ...

, a 7-foot-4-inch player for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's national women's basketball team who would be inducted as an inaugural member of the

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...

in the class of 1999, but would never play a game in the WBL.

Molly Bolin "Machine Gun" Molly Bolin (born Monna Lea Van Benthuysen; November 13, 1957) is an American former basketball player. Following a college basketball, college career at Grand View University, she went on to star at the first women's professional ba ...

, who grew up in

Moravia, Iowa Moravia is a city in Appanoose County, Iowa, United States. The population was 637 at the time of the 2020 census. History Moravia is named for the religious faith. Moravian families left Salem, North Carolina, in 1849 to start a colony in ...

, became the first player signed by any team in the WBL when she was signed by the Cornets. The team's first game on December 18, 1976 against the New York Stars at Veterans Memorial Auditorium was broadcast on television by Iowa Public Broadcasting Network. The team finished the 1978–79 season with a record of 21 wins and 13 losses, tied for the Midwest Division lead with the Chicago Hustle. In the first round of the playoffs, Chicago took the first game in overtime, but Iowa won the last two games to advance to the championship series against the Houston Angels. Houston won the first two games of the series by scores of 89–85 and 112–98. Iowa won the next two games by scores of 110–101 and 89–79 to tie the series at two games apiece and setting up a fifth and final game for the title. Behind 36 points by

Paula Mayo Paula or PAULA may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Paula, in television sitcom ''Dr. Cándido Pérez'' * Paula, in video game ''EarthBound'' * Paula, in ''The Larry Sanders Show'' * Paula Campbell (''EastEnders''), in 2 ...

, the

defeated the Cornets on May 2, 1979, to take the league's first championship, 111–104 in the fifth and final game of a best-three-out-of-five competition. In the 1979–80 season, Iowa finished atop the Midwestern Division with a record of 24 wins and 12 losses, and as one of the two teams with the league's best record earned a bye in the first round. In the semifinals, Iowa played defeated 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 ...

, losing the first game 108–87, but winning the next two games by scores of 128–111 and 95–92 to advance to the league championship for their second consecutive season. On April 9, 1980, despite Iowa's league-leading scorer Molly Bolin's 36 point, the New York Stars held on to win game four of the finals 125–114, behind 27 points by Pearl Moore and 22 by

Janice Thomas Janice may refer to: * Janice (given name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) * Processor codename of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance Android smartphone * Janice, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) * Janice, Lower Siles ...

. Molly Bolin of the Cornets and

Ann Meyers Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American retired pro basketball player and a sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and at professiona ...

of the

New Jersey Gems The New Jersey Gems was a franchise that played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL), one of only three teams in the league to survive through all three seasons, from 1978–79 to 1980–81. The team made the league playoffs once, lo ...

were co-winners of the Most Valuable Player title for the 1979–80 season. The team was disbanded after the 1979–80 season.

References

{{Women's Professional Basketball League Basketball teams in Iowa Women's Professional Basketball League teams 1978 establishments in Iowa Basketball teams established in 1978 1980 disestablishments in Iowa Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1980 Sports in Des Moines, Iowa Sports in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Women's sports in Iowa