Mazer Archives March 2021 Newsletter | Out of the Archives: Bronco's Toledo Troopers Helmet
Out of the Archives Newsletter
March 2021
Bronco’s Toledo Troopers Football Helmet
from the Bronco Moonwater Collection
With the pandemic keeping us all inside, we’re bringing the Mazer (out)side in the form of a monthly newsletter! Each month, we will feature an item, collection, or periodical accompanied by a story from a Mazer community member. This month, we’re excited to feature Bronco Moonwater and her Toledo Troopers helmet. Bronco shares her story about playing football for legendary team, the Toledo Troopers.
Bronco’s Story:
As players we didn't play for the glory— or the money, (a few dollars per game!) We had no idea of the significance of womyn playing football professionally. We played because we loved it. Because it was so. much. fun. This was the early 70s. None of us had played on a football team. Most had not even played football. Our coach picked the best overall athletes for the team.
I was born in 1948 and grew up in small midwest towns. I went to high school in a convent to become a nun. As a female there were no organized sports of any kind for me besides recreational sports in the convent.
My parents were amazing and supportive of their "tomboy". Many times growing up, people would tell my father that he was letting me be too physical. "I would ruin my lady parts". That girls shouldn't or didn't do certain things. That I should have been born a boy. His response was that I was perfectly fine the way I was. My father was the one that found out about the Troopers. He bought tickets and took me to a game. I could hardly contain myself in the stands. He encouraged me to try out. I did and thus began my career in womyn's professional football. For me, playing football also set me on a path that led to my finally coming out at age 27. I was clueless up to that point in spite of things like being called diesel by a coworker at Heinz. I had zero interest in men. Thought I was destined to be an old maid.
My Bronco moniker came from reminding my coach of HOF inductee Bronko Nagurski. Like him, I played many positions well and ran crooked. There were no womyn before me to be compared to. Now there are.
The 7 time world champion Toledo Troopers: first inductees into the Women's Professional Football Hall of Fame.
In 1983 recognized in the Canton Professional Football HOF as the winningest team in professional football.
Besides the fun of the game, we got to spend time in a group of amazing womyn. We were a team and a family. One that endures to this day. We are old womyn now... grandmas and great aunts. But when we gather, it's a raucous time. Troopers forever.
Check out the Toledo Troopers’ website for more information and videos about their legacy.
Out of the Archives is a monthly Mazer newsletter dedicated to bringing our materials out of the archives to share with our community.
The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives is the largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture. By creating a safe place for women to explore the richness of lesbian history, perhaps adding to it themselves, we are paving the way for future generations to understand more fully their own identity and history and help maintain this vital link to their own past.