Lusia Mae Harris, also known as Lucy Harris, made big strides for women in basketball. Standing at 6’3, Harris was one of the most dominant women’s centers ever to play basketball. Born on February 10, 1955, in Minter City, Mississippi, Harris grew up dominating competition before attending Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.
At Delta State, she played in 115 games over the span of 4 years (1973-1977), averaging 25.9 points and 14.4 rebounds per game. To this day, Harris holds the all-time scoring and rebounding records for Delta State University with 2,981 points and 1,662 rebounds throughout her four years. She also contributed 3 consecutive AIAW championships to Delta State history.
Harris showed her dominance globally, also. She won gold with Team USA in the Pan American Games, the year before going to Montreal, as women’s basketball was first introduced in the Olympics. Team USA’s women’s basketball team ended up winning silver that year, with Harris leading the team in scoring and rebounding.
Harris was the only woman to ever be drafted in the NBA by the New Orleans Jazz in 1977 after she finished college. But, ultimately decided to start a family instead of continuing to play. Harris was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992 and later into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. She was the first black woman and first female college player inducted into the Hall of Fame, paving the way for many future players.
After wrapping up her playing career, she returned to basketball to coach. She returned to her alma mater, Delta State University, as an assistant coach, then head coach at Texas Southern University, before returning to Mississippi to coach high school basketball. 2021 brought us a short documentary produced by Ben Proudfoot named “The Queen of Basketball” about Lucy Harris.
