DES MOINES, Iowa — As Iowa celebrates Caitlin Clark and her move to turn pro, many may not know the first ever pro women’s basketball player was from Iowa.
Molly Bolin was one of 12 girls graduating from Moravia High School. Despite having only three of the girls in her class being athletes, the team managed each year to get one win from the Iowa State Girls Basketball Tournament. Back in the 70s, it was the Sweet 16, only those 16 teams made it.
After a college basketball career at Grandview University, she had the opportunity to join a first-ever Women’s Basketball League. The first team in the league was the Iowa Cornets. It was backed by Cedar Rapids businessman, George Nissan, who also invented the modern trampoline. The team struggled to take off from 1979 to 1981.
“It was a lot more challenging because, especially even with Iowa which supported girls high school basketball so well, but it was a different game and we had to win them over,” said Molly Bolin Kazmer. “Around the state play, we’d go to different towns and cities and our owner, George Nissan, wanted the players to know that we were representing the entire state not just Des Moines.”
The team’s office was in Des Moines in year one, and relocated to Cedar Rapids in the second year.
What Caitlin Clark has achieved was what they had envisioned back in the 70s. They were trying to convince people that women’s basketball would be entertaining.
“We can’t dunk so we weren’t worth the price of admission,” said Kazmer. “I think we’ve seen a real evolution of basketball, the world’s changed from the big, strong powerful players to the three-point shot and Caitlin was the perfect person to come along and take that to the women’s game.”
The WNBA is where Caitlin is planning to play next year. Kazmer played in three women’s basketball leagues, and after the Cornets ceased, she moved to California to keep playing. She had a nickname Machine Gun Molly, which was given to her by a San Francisco sports writer. She hated the name, but there was nothing she could do about that.
“I played three different women’s leagues, and helped in five attempts, total to start women’s basketball prior to the WNBA.”
By the time the WNBA launched, her playing days were over.
“I love seeing the support that the University of Iowa gets with their fans,” said Kazmer. “It’s just super exciting and it’s only appropriate that Caitlin should come from Iowa, because that’s where it all started for girls basketball.”