#BlackGirlMagic: Women’s Basketball Pioneer Lusia Harris Dies At 66
Pioneering women’s basketball star Lusia Harris has passed away. As a college player at Delta State, Lusia Harris won three straight national championships from 1975-77. She was also part of the first-ever U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team in 1976, winning a silver medal and making history as the first woman ever to score a basket at the Olympics. In 1977, she was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in the 7th round but didn’t try out for the team because she was pregnant at the time. She remains the only woman ever drafted by an NBA team. In 1992, Harris became the first Black woman to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Her story is told in the 2021 documentary The Queen of Basketball.
Harris died unexpectedly on Tuesday at her home in Mississippi. She was 66 years old. RIP
