Former American basketball player Lusia Harris, the only woman officially selected in an NBA Draft, died Tuesday in her home state of Mississippi at age 66, her family announced.
“We are deeply saddened to share that our angel, matriarch, sister, mother, grandmother, Olympic medalist, basketball queen Lusia Harris, passed away unexpectedly today in Mississippi,” family members said in a statement, without giving cause of death.
Harris entered the history of this sport in 1977 when she was chosen by the New Orleans Jazz (moved to Utah in 1979) in 137th place in the NBA Draft, the men’s basketball league.
Eight years earlier, another woman, Denise Long, had also been drafted by another men’s team, the San Francisco Warriors, but the NBA overruled that pick.
For this reason, Harris, who had won three university championships with Delta State, remains the only player to be officially selected in the NBA, although she did not participate in training with the Jazz due to being pregnant.
Harris did not play in the NBA or any men’s tournament, but he did briefly play in the women’s professional basketball league in the 1979-80 season.
In 1976, the player achieved another basketball record by scoring the first points in the Montreal Olympics tournament, the first in which women’s teams competed.
Harris and her teammates from the American team won the silver medal.
His unique career was brought to the screen in 2021 by the documentary ‘The Queen of basketball’ (The queen of basketball).
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