Timeline of women's sports in the United States and fitness and creating an educated public that supports gender equity in sport." The first women's professional football league (WPFL) kicks off its inaugural season with seven teams. 1974 - The first women's professional football league in America (WPFL) kicked off its inaugural season with seven teams. 1974 - Lanny Moss was the first woman to manage a professional men's baseball team. She was hired by the minor league Portland Mavericks. 1976 - In the first Women's Professional Softball World Series Championship the Connecticut Falcons came out on top. 1977 - Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in
National Tennis League National Tennis League National Tennis Leagues (NTL) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1967 by George MacCall. In 1970 it was sold to the World Championship Tennis (WCT), a competing professional tennis league run by Lamar Hunt. The National Tennis League (NTL) was formed by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George MacCall in 1967, as a governing body to a US Professional tennis tour. It was key in moving tennis from a mostly amateur sport to a professional sport. In 1968 Billie Jean King became the first woman of the Open Era to sign a pro