We Are the Troopers, Stephen Guinan
We Are the Troopers, Stephen Guinan
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We Are the Troopers
The Women of the Winningest Team in Pro Football History

Author: Stephen Guinan

Narrator: Amy Landon, Stephen Guinan

Unabridged: 9 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2022


Synopsis

Discover the unlikely story of the Toledo Troopers, the winningest team in the National Women's Football League, who won seven league championships in the 1970s—and gain full access to the players and key figures in the organization. Amid a national backdrop of the call to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the National Women’s Football League was founded as something of a gimmick. However, the league’s star team, the Toledo Troopers, emerged to challenge traditional gender roles and amass a win-loss record never before or since achieved in American football. The players were housewives, factory workers, hairdressers, former nuns, high school teachers, bartenders, mail carriers, pilots, and would-be drill sergeants. Black, white, Latina. Mothers and daughters and aunts and sisters. But most of all, they were athletes who had been denied the opportunity to play a game they were born to play.
 
Before the protests and the lobbyists, before the debates and the amendments, before the marches and the mandates, there was only an obscure advertisement in a local Midwestern paper and those who answered it, women such as Lee Hollar, the only woman working the line at the Libbey glass factory; Gloria Jimenez, who grew up playing sports with her six brothers; and Linda Jefferson, one the greatest, most accomplished athletes in sports history. Stephen Guinan grew up in Toledo pulling for his hometown football team, and—in the innocence of youth—did not realize at the time what a barrier-breaking lost piece of history he was witnessing. We Are the Troopers shines light on forgotten champions who came together for the love of the game.

Reviews

This was so much more interesting and fun than I expected! There is a ton of information I never ever knew about women playing football. It is inspiring and l engaging. I would love to see a documentary or any kind of film about these kickass women. So enjoyable!......more

Goodreads review by Kim on April 08, 2024

Aaaaahmazing! Hands down one of the best books I've read in a while. As a history fan, and special interest in 60s -70s rights movements this book subject matter intrigued me. As a NW Ohio native, this book FASCINATED me. I am not sure how I missed knowing about this gem of history, but what a great......more

Goodreads review by Sle1784853 on September 15, 2022

I'm still stunned that I loved a book about Toledo and women's football. I won't lie there were bits I didn't completely understand about football, but it didn't matter. This book is so much larger than Toledo, or women's football. The writing reads like bits of poetry and sentences alternate betwee......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on October 24, 2022

Prior to reading this book, as a Columbus gal I knew next to nothing about our neighbor to the north, Toledo. I knew even less about its legacy of female football excellence. We Are the Troopers gave me an education. Guinan's book is an incredibly thorough, compelling, and poignant deep-dive into not......more

Goodreads review by Steve on September 08, 2022

I found this book captivating, touching, sad, and funny. The opening chapters about the history of Toledo, football, and the women's movement were very interesting and impeccably researched. Mr. Guinan's descriptions of the players, the games, the hits, the relationships, and especially the fellowsh......more


Quotes

We Are The Troopers is the story of a group of game-changing women from all walks of life who came together to leverage the power of sports to influence the gender discussion and inspire their generation and future generations.”—Billie Jean King

“Stephen Guinan has written an important book detailing a crucial time and place in women’s sports history. I grew up in Toledo following the Troopers. This book is a wonderful walk down memory lane for me, and a compelling story about trailblazing women who broke barriers and inspired a generation of girls and women to follow their dreams.”—Christine Brennan, author of Best Seat in the House and Inside Edge

"An incredible story."—Buzzfeed

We Are the Troopers is a well-written and engaging ode to these women who made history on the gridiron and in the hearts of every little girl who wondered to what heights they could soar.”—G-pop.net