If you love to watch Basketball games, you probably will know the name, Lusia Harris. Lusia Mae Harris was an American basketball player regarded as one of the women's basketball innovators.
She competed for Delta State University and, won three straight Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Championships, from 1975 to 1977, which were the precursors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships.
Lusia passed away at the age of 66 on January 18, 2022, in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Her daughter Crystal Stewart Washington confirmed the death, at a therapy facility but did not share the cause of death. She was living at a therapy center.
Lusia Mae Harris was born on February 10, 1955, in Mississippi, USA to Ethel Harris and Willie Harris. She had in total of 10 siblings; 4 sisters and 6 brothers among which all of the brothers played basketball and a sister named Janie, also played basketball.
Lusia Harris dies at 66 SOURCE: USA Today Luisa was married to George E. Stewart. The couple tied the knot officially on February 4, 1977, after several meetings prior to their marriage. They togetherly had 4 children; 2 sons Christopher, and Crystal, and twin daughters, Christina and Eddie.
According to various sources, famous basketball player Lusia Harris had an estimated net worth of $2 Million. Additionally, she is the first woman ever drafted by NBA, but she never played in NBA because of her pregnancy.
Lusia in a Basketball camp SOURCE: FacetofaceAfrica However, more information regarding her Earnings and Contracts is still under review. There's no relevant information on the matter.
Lusia Harris was the second woman ever drafted by an NBA team, after Denise Long who was selected by San Francisco Warriors (now known as Golden State Warriors) Sadly, the league voided her draft so Lusia became the first but she declined the offer to try out for the New Orleans Jazz due to her pregnancy.
Harris in her prime SOURCE: Andscape Lusia played professional basketball in the Women's Professional Basketball League and was later inducted into several halls of fame, including the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Although Lusia never played in NBA she was picked as the number one free agent by the Angels in 1978, the league's inaugural season from where Harris played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) during the 1979-80 season.
In 1999, Harris, along with her teammates of the national team, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers, and Pat Head, were among the 26 inaugural inductees to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
As for a fact a documentary about her life, "The Queen of Basketball," won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Documentary which was produced and directed by Canadian filmmaker Ben Proudfoot, with Shaquille O'Neal and Stephen Curry as executive producers, and released worldwide on June 10, 2021, before her death.
