Who is Lusia Harris? The first and only woman to be drafted into the NBA!

Lusia Harris, 'The Queen of Basketball,' may not be a household name to basketball fans, but her credentials as a player and person speak for themselves.

Unfortunately, it was her sudden death in 2022, aged 66, that put the basketball world on notice for what an incredible player and human Harris was.

According to the NPR website, Harris could recall staying up and watching Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain battle it out on the court. She said: "I wanted to grow up and have my own family, and I wanted to shoot that ball just like they were shooting."

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At 6ft3, Harris was teased for her height at school but used it as an advantage on the basketball court, joining Delta State University thanks to the passage of Title IX. She was the only black member of the team, but she quickly became their star player.

According to the US Courts website, Title IX was part of the Education Amendments in 1972 which stated that "no person in the United States shall, based on sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program."

On her website entry to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, it reads: "One of the greatest centers ever to play women's basketball, Lusia Harris-Stewart was big, relentless, and dominated the painted area like no woman before her."

"During her four-year career at Delta State University, Harris-Stewart changed the face of women's basketball. Opponents called her unstoppable but even that barely described her approach to the game."

According to the NBA website, the 'Queen of Basketball' was unstoppable at Delta State, averaging 25.9 points and 14.5 rebounds in her 115 collegiate games.

Harris lifted her team to a staggering 109-6 record in her four years and led the school to three AIAW national championship-winning teams, in 1975, 1976, and 1977, securing tournament MVP in all those years.

The basketball Hall of Famer created history for Team USA at the Olympics, scoring the first basket in the first game of the first-ever Olympic women's basketball tournament. The USA came away with a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics.

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According to the NPR website, Harris had 'no place to go' after her college and Olympic success, but after setting out to start a family in 1977, she was called to try out for the New Orleans Jazz of the NBA.

In the seventh round of the 1977 NBA Draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Harris as the 137^th pick, beating out 33 male players.

The NBA website reported she was the second woman to be drafted after Denise Long was selected by the San Francisco Warriors in 1969, but the league vacated that pick because of her gender, meaning Harris is the first and only woman to get drafted into the NBA officially.

According to the NPR website, Harris said: "I just thought it was a publicity stunt, and I felt like I didn't think I was good enough. Competing against a woman, yes. It's a different story competing against a man. So, I decided not to go."

After her playing career, Harris lived a quiet life, serving as an admissions counselor and assistant basketball coach at Delta State. She also served as head coach of Texas Southern University for a couple of years.

Shaquille O'Neal and Steph Curry were executive producers of a documentary about her life called the 'Queen of Basketball,' which won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary. She was the first African American woman to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

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