In the mid-1960s and early 1970s, promoters and coaches in several cities began organizing women’s American tackle football teams. Some of the earliest teams like the Cleveland Daredevils played games against men’s semi-pro and amateur teams and emphasized the novelty of women on the gridiron. Soon after, women’s football teams in different cities began competing against each other in serious athletic competitions. Promoter Sid Friedman of the Cleveland Daredevils organized a loose-knit Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL), but the teams played each other only irregularly without few formal league structures. The Toledo Troopers claimed WPFL titles after undefeated seasons in 1971 and 1972. The Troopers left the WPFL in 1973 after disagreements with Friedman.

In 1974, several leading women’s football teams, including the Toledo Troopers, the Los Angeles Dandelions, the Dallas Bluebonnets, and the Detroit Demons, founded the National Women’s Football League—an organized league with common rules and regular schedules. The inaugural season included seven teams: Dallas Bluebonnets, Fort Worth Shamrocks, Columbus Pacesetters, Toledo Troopers, Los Angeles Dandelion, California Mustangs, and Detroit Demons. The Toledo Troopers proved to be the dominant team in the league’s early seasons, winning or sharing championships in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977.

In 1976, the NWFL expanded to 16 teams across Eastern, Southern, and Western Divisions. The most successful of the new teams was the Oklahoma City Dolls, which won or shared league titles in 1976 and 1978. Most of the new NWFL teams, however, did not fare as well and several folded quickly. By the late 1970s, the NWFL faced financial difficulties and the long, cross-country distances caused the league to splinter. League powers, the Toledo Troopers and Oklahoma City Dolls both went out of business after the 1979 season. By 1982, the NWFL was a purely Midwestern league with franchises only in the states of Ohio and Michigan. The league ceased operations in 1988.