Syracuse Sting Women's Pro Football Team Announces Management Change
January 21, 2005 - Women's Professional Football League (WPFL)
Syracuse Sting News Release
After four years of breaking the grass ceiling, Syracuse Sting owner Cabrina Gilbert has decided to pass off the Championship team to new blood.
"It's been four long years of tireless toil and passion to see this grow," said Gilbert, who helped lead the 4-year-old team to an Eastern Division Championship in the Women's Professional Football League (WPFL) in the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
A full-time graphic artist by day, Gilbert could no longer single-handedly juggle team management, publicity and fund-raising. So she decided to clear the field for someone in a better position to do just that. at some point, you count up your debt and say, 'New blood and ideas would really be a shot in the arm for this team,'" Gilbert said. That's where Robert 'Q' Johnson comes in.
Johnson was brought to the table by players who, like Gilbert, weren't ready to see this piece of women's sports history die.
No stranger to sports, Johnson played five of them through high school, including football. In 1995, he enjoyed a short run with the men's semi-pro team, the Rochester Eagles. Years later, when his son took up football, Johnson coached Pop Warner for more than a dozen years.
"It was during those years I saw girls playing and I had to ask myself why there were no women's teams for these girls to grow into," Johnson said.
After a woman he just happen to meet told him about a women's professional football team in California, Johnson set off in search of other women's pro football teams. He didn't have far to look -- the Rochester Raptors were right there in his own back yard. Unfortunately, the Raptors folded in 2004, before Johnson had a chance to be part of the magic.
That is when two Sting players brought Gilbert and Johnson to the table, to plot a possible future course for the Syracuse Sting. "Rob is such an easy-going guy," Gilbert said. "He has a daughter, so I feel like he gets the drive and passion that these women have for this sport."
"It should be a smooth transition," Johnson added. "Cabrina is going to stay on as a consultant so the Sting can move forward without missing a beat." Stay tuned to the Syracuse Sting Web site (www.syracusesting.com), as the squad looks forward to keeping "The Hive Alive in 2005."
Women's Professional Football League Stories from January 21, 2005
- Syracuse Sting Women's Pro Football Team Announces Management Change - Syracuse Sting
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