The San Francisco Pioneers, an expansion team from the Women's Professional Basketball League, played from 1979 to 1981, and were the first women's professional basketball team in the Bay Area. They competed at a high level amidst skepticism and prejudice. The team disbanded when the WBL folded in 1981, scattering the players. They are now reuniting thanks to an invitation from the Golden State Valkyries, where they will share their experiences of triumphs and challenges and discuss their impact on women's basketball.
The women of the Pioneers were the real deal: professional athletes competing at the highest level in arenas across the country. Along the way, they faced stifling skepticism, sexism and racial prejudice.
When the WBL folded in 1981, so did the Pioneers, despite being one of the strongest franchises in the league. Suddenly, the teammates scattered to the winds, never returning together to the city where it all started.
The San Francisco Pioneers are finally reuniting, invited by the Golden State Valkyries to be honored inside Ballhalla. These women want to share their story.
Meet the Pioneers, live in-conversation with reporter Maya Goldberg-Safir, and hear directly from them about the triumphs, adversities and unrealized possibilities of the first generation to pave the way to the creation of the WNBA.
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