Her name is Carol but her teammates know her as “Grubby.” She locked down a starting middle linebacker job after just two weeks of practice back in 2001, when women’s tackle football was in its infancy. Later that year, Philadelphia captured the IWFL’s inaugural championship, with Grubby spearheading the title run as Defensive Player of the Year. Nine seasons, hundreds of tackles and one brief retirement later, she’s back for one final season with the Firebirds.
