If there is one team that should be celebrated as a success in the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL), it’s the Chicago Hustle.
Perhaps part of the Hustle’s success is owed to their city of origin. The league was the brainchild of Bill Byrne, who previously worked as a front office worker for the Chicago Fire of the World Football League (WFL). When Byrne approached Chicago sports promoter John Geraty about taking on a franchise in the WBL, Geraty enthusiastically raised the necessary $50,000 from attorney Larry Cooper and personnel firm owner Sherwin Fischer so the group could buy the hometown team.
Doug Bruno’s side Hustle
Perhaps part of the success also is owed to the team’s coach: longtime DePaul head coach Doug Bruno.
Bruno came on board after coaching at the school for two years. Bruno’s path toward coaching is highly unlikely in 2023; he was working as the assistant athletic director at DePaul when the women’s basketball coach went on vacation and he subbed in. Two years later, he was heading the Hustle.
He explained that he was approached by Geraty while running DePaul’s program. Geraty hoped to use the school’s gym for the Hustle’s games, and Bruno was the man had to ask. “He’d come to meet me and had seen me practicing ……
