Dallas Diamonds

Women’s Professional Basketball League (1979-1981)
Women’s American Basketball Association (1984)

Background

This is really a page for two separate but closely linked teams called the Dallas Diamonds.

The original Diamonds were an expansion franchise during the second season of the pioneering Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). Founder Judson Phillips, a Dallas-area McDonald’s franchisee, expected to lose $100,000 over three years of operations. Instead he lost it in the first two months. In January 1980, Phillips called a press conference to fold the team in midseason. But a local real estate executive named Michael Staver stepped forward to rescure the Diamonds at the 11th hour.

The Diamonds experienced their greatest success under Staver. The team moved from the obscure Dallas Convention Center to SMU’s Moody Coliseum. The team signed the biggest star of the women’s game in that era, Nancy Lieberman, as a rookie for the 1980-81 season. With Lieberman on board, the Diamonds advanced to the 1981 WBL Championship Series, where they lost to the Nebraska Wranglers.

Unfortunately, the WBL would never played another game.  The league disbanded after Lieberman’s rookie season concluded in 1981.

Revival in Women’s American Basketball Association

WBL founder Bill Byrne came back with a new women’s league in 1984. Byrne’s Women’s American Basketball Association hoping to gain a boost from the anticipated strong performance of the U.S. women in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.  The U.S. would compete against weak competition thanks to the Soviet bloc boycott.  The American women held up their end of the bargain winning Olympic gold.  But the Byrne struggled to find reputable investors. Most of the U.S. Olympians chose to return to their overseas clubs rather than try their luck in a shaky looking domestic league.

Lieberman Returns, McGee Twins Sign On

The Diamonds were the only WBL team to return three seasons later for the WABA.  Nancy Lieberman came back to the Diamonds, as did former Head Coach Greg Williams. Moody Coliseum was the home arena again.  The new owner was Ed Dubaj, a Memphis-based NFL agent who managed the business affairs for a half dozen Dallas Cowboys players, including starting quarterback Danny White.

Unlike his rival WABA owners, Dubaj managed to sign a U.S. Olympic star. On October 3, 1984, four days before the start of the WABA’s debut season, the Diamonds announced the signing of twins sisters Pamela and Paula McGee. The McGee twins helped the University of Southern California to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1983 and 1984. Pamela, a 6′ 3″ power forward, won Olympic gold with the U.S. in the summer of 1984.

Demise

WABA cities began dropping out of the league even before the season began in October 1984.  By late November, it was all but over.  Bill Byrne was forced out by the disgruntled owners (as he had been in the WBL). Dubaj assumed leadership of the league.  The remainder of the season was cancelled. A hastily schedule championship game was played sometime in early December 1984, with the Diamonds defeating the Chicago Spirit.  Dubaj spoke of reorganizing for a second season in 1985 but nothing came of it.

It’s strange to say that a league that lasted about eight weeks had a “best team”, but the Dallas Diamonds were clearly the class of the WABA, finishing the league’s abbreviated season with a 19-2 mark.

Trivia

13 years after the demise of the WABA, 34-year old Pamela McGee signed with the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA for that league’s debut season. She played for the Monarchs and Los Angeles Sparks in 1997 and 1998.

Diamonds Video

In 2011, former WPBL and WABA star “Machine Gun” Molly Bolin posted this rare cable TV footage of a 1984 game between the Dallas Diamonds and her Columbus Minks on her Youtube page.

Downloads

1984 Dallas Diamonds Season Ticket Brochure

11-27-1984 Diamonds vs. Chicago Spirit Roster Sheet

1984 Women’s American Basketball Association Media Guide

Women’s Professional Basketball League Media Guides

Women’s Basketball League Programs

Women’s American Basketball Association Media Guides

Women’s American Basketball Association Programs

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