Decades before the WNBA was founded, Lusia “Lucy” Harris put her name in the history books.
The pioneering athlete made history as the only woman to be officially drafted by the NBA and the first woman to score a basket in the history of Olympic women's basketball. The New York Times chronicled Harris' life in their documentary, 'The Queen of Basketball.'
Harris started playing college basketball in 1973, just one year after the passage of Title IX. And in the 1970s, during a time when female athletes had few professional opportunities, Harris become a basketball phenomenon.
"If I was a man, there would have been options for me to go further and play," she said. "I would have been able to do a lot of things that I would have wanted to do. Yeah, they're millionaires, famous. But I wanted to grow up and shoot that ball just like they would shoot it, and I did."
On January 18, Harris died unexpectedly in Mississippi at the age of 66. You can watch the full documentary on YouTube.
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