Lusia Harris, born in 1955, born and raised in Mississippi, proved to be a great basketball talent from a very young age.
The beginnings
He was the staple that led the women’s basketball team Delta State University to three consecutive national championships in the mid-1970s. In 1992 she gained the great recognition of appearing in the Basketball Hall of Fame as the first black woman and first college player to be chosen. She died this year, in January, after 66 years of a splendid career as an athlete, as an incredible warrior; she a woman who changed history forever. Harris, a champion who never misses a shot and not only: she is remembered as a great motivator, who believed in the value of team play and loved to encourage her teammates animatedly during every tournament. She believed it was the best recipe for striving for success. She was chosen for the US team in 1975.
She averaged 25.9 points and 14.4 rebounds per game at Delta State, Cleveland, Mississippi, and also scored opening points when women’s basketball was first played at the Olympics, in Montreal in 1976.
During that occasion she won the first Olympic silver in the history of women’s basketball, entering the Olympic record and in the hearts of millions of fans. She had become a real star and was joined by the warriors Nancy Lieberman e Ann Meyers, two future Basketball Hall of Famers. The queen also scored the first points in women’s Olympic history in the opening match against Japan, which the United States lost.
A short dive into the NBA, first woman ever selected
After an excellent career at national and Olympic level, the New Orleans Jazz proposed her in 1977 to play in a men’s team – against men – in the NBA. The athlete refused the offer. In the documentary dedicated to her by the New York Times you told: “I thought it was a publicity stunt. I felt like I didn’t think I was good enough. ” Years later he discovered he had bipolar disorder. But her enormous resilience seemed to be her diversion from her illness: Harris worked as an admissions consultant and co-coach in women’s basketball at Delta State University; she played for the Houston Angels of the women’s professional basketball league during the 1979-80 season and coached the women’s basketball team Texas Southern University from 1984 to 1986.
He later earned a master’s degree in special education from Delta State in 1984, taught special education, and coached high school basketball in Mississippi. She retired nearly 20 years ago, but left her mark on American history for her talent, humility and great fortitude.
