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
Timeline of women's sports in the United States , with a 303 lb (137.5 kg) clean and jerk. 1985 - The United States national soccer team was formed. 1986 - Ann Bancroft was the first woman to reach the North Pole by foot and dogsled, "...she became the first known woman to cross the ice to the North Pole." 1986 - Nancy Lieberman joined the United States Basketball League (USBL), thus becoming the first woman to play in a men's professional basketball league. 1987 - Tania Aebi completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe in a 26-foot sailboat between the ages of 18 and 21, making her the