Milwaukee Does

The Milwaukee Does, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were a charter team in the Women's Professional Basketball League. They played the league's first game on December 9, 1978, losing 92-87 to the Chicago Hustle at the MECCA before 7,824 fans. Joanne Smith scored the league's first basket.

That was the high point. The Does fired their coach after the opener and used five coaches in the first season, one of them general manager Gene DeLisle. They finished 11-23, last in the division. By January a home game against Houston drew 641 fans in a 10,000-seat arena. Charlene McWhorter, a 6-foot-2 center, was named MVP of the All-Star Game.

Owner Robert Peters piled up nearly $600,000 in debt and sold in September 1979. New owner Herb Schoenherr ran out of money, and the players stopped getting paid. Larry Costello, who had coached Milwaukee's big-league team, took over in October but resigned in February 1980 over unpaid wages. The Does finished last again, in a season that ended with a 106-73 loss to the Iowa Cornets on March 16, 1980. A new group tried to carry on as the Milwaukee Express, but it never posted the league's bond and shut down on September 30, 1980.