Four years after Kobe Bryant and his “Dear Basketball”, another short documentary on the orange ball has won an Oscar award. Produced by Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Curry among others, “The Queen of Basketball” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in a ceremony marked by Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock.
This film tells the incredible story of Lusia Harris, who died two months ago, who scored the first basket in the history of Olympic women’s basketball at the Montreal Olympics (1976). Even stronger, Harris was so dominating among women that the Jazz, of New Orleans at the time, had even drafted her in the NBA (in the seventh round) in 1977. She had then refused to try out, and we will later learn that it was because she was pregnant.
“If there are still people who still doubt that there is an audience for female athletes and who still question whether their stories are worth telling, or important, let this Oscar be the best answer”sent Ben Proudfoot when receiving his award.
Member of the Hall of Fame, the first black woman to be inducted there, Harris notably won three university titles with the small college of Delta State University (in Mississippi) by turning to 30 points and 15 rebounds on average during the 1975-76 season. . Equivalent to Wilt Chamberlain among men in a way, Harris deserved his documentary well. An Oscar-winning documentary…
