BACK WHEN THE CITY’S PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S basketball team was not the Sky but rather the Chicago Hustle, the players were expected to follow a certain postgame ritual. At the end of each home contest, they would file into the locker room at DePaul’s Alumni Hall arena, clean up, then wend their way through the corridors to the Blue Demon Room, where a throng of fans awaited with drinks in hand. The opponents would often join, too, and so would begin the second half of the players’ night. Being on the Chicago Hustle meant not just playing basketball but working to ensure that the team could keep playing. And that meant putting in the social work to cultivate and maintain fans.
The Blue Demon Room was the brainchild of general manager Chuck Shriver, who kept team members busy with public appearances, signings, and outreach of all forms. It was late 1978.
