Lusia “Lucy” Harris-Stewart, the legendary, barrier-breaking hall of fame basketball player whose largely unknown life story was recently told in a new documentary already being mentioned as an Academy Award contender, has reportedly died at the age of 66.
Harris’ death was first reported by journalist Howard Megdal, who attributed the announcement to Ann Meyers Drysdale, the Vice President of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Megdal, founder and editor of women’s basketball news website The Next Hoops, called Harris’ death “terribly sad news.”
Delta State University, Harris’ alma mater, confirmed the death and eulogized her in part as “One of the greatest women’s basketball players to ever grace the court.”
The cause of Harris’ death was not immediately reported. She was less than a month shy of her 67th birthday.
Harris was a natural winner in basketball.
Not only did she win three straight national championships in the 1970s while starring for Delta University in Mississippi, but the dominating center also won a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games and was even drafted into the NBA — the first and still only time that the world’s premier professional basketball league selected a woman.
She won three straight national titles at tiny Delta State University in the 1970s, earned a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games, and in 1977 became the first woman officially drafted by an NBA team—the New Orleans Jazz. But she made her mark in an era when women’s basketball, and women’s sports in general, didn’t draw much attention.
The best women’s basketball player ever?
While legendary women’s players like Cheryl Miller and Candace Parker have received an outsized amount of attention for their exploits on the hardwood, Harris — who predated both aforementioned stars — managed to fly under the radar despite her impressive statistics. It was a time well before the WNBA, but Harris’ numbers remain undeniable.
By high school, Harris stood at a towering 6-foot-three inches tall.
In college, Harris scored a whopping 2,981 in a three-year career for an average of nearly 26 points per game, according to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, into which she has been inducted — the first Black woman to enjoy that distinction.
When she left Delta State, she was the owner of 15 separate statistical records and had only lost six games compared to the 109 she won. Harris won a silver medal while competing in the 1977 Olympic Games and leading the team in scoring and rebounding.
Harris displayed the so-called “Mamba Mentality” associated with Kobe Byrant’s killer instinct on the basketball court.
“When I got the ball, I knew my job was to score, and more than likely, I would score,” Harris once said.
In 1977, the Utah Jazz selected Harris with the 137th pick in the seventh round of the NBA Draft. While Harris was known as the first woman to ever be officially drafted into the NBA, Denise Long was actually drafted straight out of high school by the then-San Francisco Warriors in 1969. However, because the NBA did not allow girls to play, she ended up playing in the all-women’s Warrior Girls Basketball League and Harris eventually — and technically — became the first woman to be drafted into the all-male NBA.
‘The Queen of Basketball’
More than a nickname, “The Queen of Basketball” is an independent documentary executive produced by Shaquille O’Neal that tells the previously untold story of Harris’ groundball prowess.
“My goal is to make Lucy a household name,” Shaq said in an interview published just last week. “This woman should be celebrated. It’s never too late to put up a statue or name an arena. Like I said, it’s way overdue for this young lady. I hope she gets her recognition.”
Ben Proudfoot, who directed “The Queen of Basketball as part of the New York Time Op-docs series, called Harris “absolutely preeminent.” He said Harris’ willing participation in the production was key to the documentary’s accuracy.
“You could zero in on a specific game and Lucy could tell you how it went with the narrative of the game and how she performed,” Proudfoot told Deadline. “Her memory was really at the highest level of recall that I have ever encountered.”
Watch “The Queen of Basketball” below.
This is a developing story that will be updated as additional information becomes available.
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Lusia Harris, ‘The Queen Of Basketball’ And First Woman Drafted By The NBA, Reportedly Dies At 66 was originally published on newsone.com
