IOWA WOMEN'S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
MOLLY BOLIN (1957- )
PAPERS, 1972-1997
4 linear inches and
audiovisual materials
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ACQUISITION: |
The papers
(donor no. 508) were donated by Molly Bolin Kazmer in 1998. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
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ARTIFACTS: |
In Box 3. |
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AUDIOVISUAL: |
One audiocassette (AC468) shelved in audiocassette collection and one videocassette (V199) shelved in videocassette collection. |
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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In Box 1. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Natalie S. Brody in 1998. |
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REVISION: |
Kären M. Mason, 2/22/01 [BolinMolly.doc] |
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Biography
Monna Lea “Molly” Van Venthuysen,
born in Canada on November 13, 1957, was raised in the small town of Moravia,
Iowa, sixty miles southeast of Des Moines.
Her renowned basketball career began in her first high school game as a
junior for the Moravia Mohawkettes when she scored sixty-three points on her
sixteenth birthday. At seventeen, she
was selected to participate in final try-outs for the 1976 U. S. Women’s
Olympic Basketball Team. As a student
at Grand View College in Des Moines, Van Venthuysen continued to set basketball
records. She graduated in 1978 with an associate degree in
telecommunications. While playing for
Grand View she married Dennis Bolin and had her first child, Damien. The Bolins divorced in 1982.
In 1978 Bolin was the first player
to sign with the Women’s Basketball League (WBL) when she joined the Iowa
Cornets, founded by George Nissen of
Cedar Rapids. She became known
as “Machine Gun” Molly for her remarkable scoring records. The Cornets folded
in 1980 after two seasons. For a short
while Bolin continued to play for other professional teams, all of which failed
to survive the financial problems of women’s professional basketball in the
1980s. She left the Cornets to play for
the Southern California Breeze in a new league and when it folded after a few
games, returned to the WBL and the San Francisco Pioneers to complete their
final season. In the summer of 1984 she
was selected to a USA All-Star Team which included former Olympians and
professional players for a tour of exhibition games to prepare the U.S. Women’s
Olympic Basketball Team that eventually won the gold medal. Later that year a new professional league
was formed, the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA). Bolin played for the Columbus Minks during
the league’s first and only season.
Bolin attracted national fame when she was featured in Sports Illustrated in April 1981 and
NBC’s SportsWorld in 1984.
Although her professional career
ended in 1984, Bolin’s strong commitment to women’s basketball never
flagged. She continued to promote the
concept of a women’s professional basketball league and conducted clinics until
1995 when she was hired by Liberty Sports (now known as Fox Sports) to develop
and produce a Women’s Pro Basketball 3 on 3 Tournament for television. Shortly thereafter, the men’s National
Basketball Association (NBA) announced its involvement in the forming of a new
women’s league, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Bolin was inducted into the Iowa High School Basketball Hall of Fame in
1986, and the Grandview College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1998, the Naismith Memorial National
Basketball Hall of Fame featured her career in a display on the history of
women’s professional basketball. In
1989, Bolin married John Kazmer; they currently reside in La Quinta, California
with their two children.
Scope and Content Note
The Molly Bolin papers
date from 1972 to 1997 and
measure 4 linear inches. The papers are
divided into four series: Biographical
information, Career, Photographs, and Artifacts.
The
Biographical information series
(1981-1997 and undated) comprises primarily newspaper clippings, interviews
with Bolin, and data sheets.
The
Career series (1974-1995) includes
materials from her high school days through her post-professional activities,
such as newspaper clippings; an audiocassette of the Moravia-Albia district
semi-final on KCOG in February 1975; a Cornets scrapbook; and a videocassette
of professional basketball games, Cornet
Christmas party skits, the Iowa Basketball Hall of Fame award ceremony, and the
NBC Sportsworld interview on November
17, 1984.
The Photographs series (1972-1996) is comprised of prints and
photocopies of photographs of Bolin’s family and career.
The
Artifacts include six T-shirts, one
warm-up jacket, four plaques, and an Iowa Cornets souvenir razor.
Related
Collections
Iowa Cornets records
Rhonda Penquite papers
Penquite played for the Iowa
Cornets.
Box no. Description
Box 1
Biographical
information
Newspaper clippings and
interviews, 1981-1997 and undated
Career
Correspondence, 1974-1986
Pre-professional [high school and college]
Moravia High School,
1973-1975
Moravia-Albia district
semi-final, KCOG, February, 1975 [shelved
in audiocassette collection: AC468]
Grand View College,
1975-1978 and undated
Professional
Career highlights, games and
interviews, 1979-1986 [shelved in videocassette
collection: V199]
Dribble press kit, 1978
Iowa Cornets
General information,
1978-1986
Newspaper clippings, 1979-1980
and undated
Programs, 1978-1980
Scrapbook, 1978-1979
[oversize: in box 2]
San Francisco Breeze, 1980
San Francisco Pioneers, 1981
USA All-Star team, July 1984
Columbus Minks, 1984
Post-professional
Liberty Sports, 1995-1996
Miscellaneous
Photographs [some photocopies]
Family, 1980-1996
Moravia High School and
Grand View College, 1972-1978
Iowa Cornets, 1978-1981
San Francisco Breeze and San
Francisco Pioneers, 1980-1981
Columbus Minks, 1984
USA All-Star team, July 1984
Iowa Basketball Hall of Fame,
1986
Miscellaneous
Box 2
Oversize
Career
Professional
Iowa Cornets
Scrapbook, 1978-1979
Box 3
Artifacts