In 1977, Lusia “Lucy” Harris was the most dominant player in women’s basketball. At 6-foot-3, Harris won three titles at Delta State and earned the USA Olympic Team’s first medal. She was a flurry of footwork, post moves, and tip ins. The best. But she didn’t have anywhere to ply her trade professionally.
So in a PR stunt, the New Orleans Jazz made her the first woman drafted into the NBA. She never joined the team, but her memory lives on in “Hoop Muses” - a new book by Kate Fagan.
JP Chunga caught up with the author to discuss Lucy Harris.
“You hear anybody talk about her game who was a part of it intimately and there wasn’t a player like her up until this point because this is pre-Cheryl Miller,” Fagan explained. “Her origin story, which is like so familiar to any of us who grew up post Title IX, which is she’s from Mississippi and she’s playing growing up on the hoop in her backyard. And so kind of develops this ability to pass as well. It’s just a style of game that we hadn’t really seen to that point in women’s basketball.”
Roundball Roundup is presented by First Colony Mortgage, the official mortgage lender of the Utah Jazz.