This article will answer every question you have about Lusia Harris. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about him.
- What does Lusia Harris do for a living?
- Who are Lusia Harris’s parents and siblings?
- What are Lusia Harris’s interests and hobbies?
- Is Lusia Harris married or does she have a boyfriend?
- Does Lusia Harris have any children?
- Where is Lusia Harris now?
- How tall is Lusia Harris?
- How much money does Lusia Harris earn?
- What is Lusia Harris’s net worth?
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Who is Lusia Harris?
Lusia Harris was a famous American professional basketball player. She is considered one of the pioneers of women’s basketball. Harris played for Delta State University and won three consecutive Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Championships. As well as the predecessors to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships from 1975 to 1977.
Harris represented the United States national team at the international level. She won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympic Games, the first women’s basketball tournament in the Olympic Games. Harris played professional basketball with the Houston Angels of the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). She was the first and only woman ever officially drafted by the National Basketball Association (NBA), a men’s professional basketball league. Lusia was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame for her achievements.
Lusia Harris Career
High school career
Harris played basketball at Amanda Elzy High School, under coach Conway Stewart. She received the most valuable player award three years consecutively, served as team captain, and made the state All-Star team. Harris scored a school-record 46 points in one game and guided her school to the state tournament in Jackson Mississippi.
How old was Lusia Harris?
Lusia Harris was born on February 10, 1955, in Minter City, Mississippi, U.S. She was aged 66, by the time of her demise on January 18, 2022, in Greenwood, Mississippi, due to an unknown cause. At the time of her death, she was using a wheelchair due to Rheumatoid arthritis painfully knotting her joints. She shares her birthday with famous people including Emma Roberts, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jordan Maron, Vic Fuentes, Mia Khalifa, Stephanie Beatriz, Robert Wagner, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Dern, among others.
Lusia Harris Family
Who are Lusia Harris’s parents?
Lusia Harris was born in Minter City, Mississippi, to her parents Willie Harris and Ethel Harris. Her father was a cranberry farmer. Not much is available about her parents, but she is of African-American ancestry.
Does Lusia Harris have siblings?
Harris was born to her parents in a family of eleventh children as the tenth, and as the fourth of five daughters. She has ten siblings, nine older and one younger, four sisters and seven brothers. All her siblings attended Amanda Elzy High School and all her brothers and one older sister, Janie, played basketball.
Lusia Harris Education
Harris attended Amanda Elzy High School, in Greenwood, Mississippi, where all her siblings studied. She then joined Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, graduating in 1977, with a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education, and recreation. Harris, while working as an admissions counselor and assistant basketball coach for Delta State, earned a master’s degree in education in 1984.
Lusia Harris Husband
On February 4, 1977, Harris married George E. Stewart, his high school sweetheart. George died as a basketball coach at Amanda Elzy High School for 25 years. The couple was happily married and blessed with four children together.
Lusia Harris Kids
Harris and her supportive husband, George have four children together, two sons, Eddie and Christopher, and twin daughters, Christina and Crystal.
Lusia Harris Height
Harris has an athletic and physically fit body, adding up to an impressive height of 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) and a weight of 84 kg (185 lbs).
College career
1993 to 1995
Lusia joined Delta State University through a combination of academic scholarships and work-study funds. She assisted the Lady Statemen to a 16-2 record in her first year at the school, 1973-74. Despite her efforts, the team finished third in the regional tournament and failed to qualify for the national tournament. The team then qualified for the national tournament at Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the 1974-75 season. They made it to the final, facing the Mighty Macs of Immaculata University, who had previously won the last three consecutive AIAW championships. In the final, she scored 32 points and recorded 16 rebounds to guide Delta State past Immaculata 90-81.
The 1975 championship game was aired on TV nationally, being the first year women’s basketball games were aired nationally by a major network. During that season, Delta State went unbeaten with a record of 28-0, being the only unbeaten college season that year for both men and women. Lusia scored a total of 138 points and 63 rebounds in four games at the national tournament and became named as the tournament’s most valuable player. Delta State and Immaculata met again in the 1975-76 season in the national tournament final. Harris once again guided Delta State with 30 points and 18 rebounds to a 69-64 win. This season, Harris led the nation in scoring with 1,060 points and 31.2 points per game average, comprising of a 58-points game against Tennessee Tech.
1976 to 1977 season
In the 1976-77 season, in her senior, Delta State played in the Madison Square Garden in a game that Harris scored 47 points. This was one of the first women’s basketball games ever to be played there. For the third year consecutively, Delta State proceeded to the national tournament final in 1977. Harris scored 23 points and 16 rebounds as Delta State beat Louisiana State University in the final by a score of 68-55, winning their third consecutive national title.
Achievements
Lusia was named the national tournament’s most valuable player, and also named to the All-American first team within Delta State’s three winning seasons. Her college career record was 109-6 and consisted of wins over later NCAA Division I powerhouses including Immaculata University, Baylor University, University of Tennessee, University of Mississippi, Louisiana Tech University, and Louisiana State University. She completed her college career with 2,981 points and 1,662 rebounds, averaging 25.9 points and 14.6 rebounds each game.
Harris also graduated holding fifteen of eighteen of Delta State’s team, single game, and career records. She then won the inaugural Honda Sports Award for basketball and the Broderick Cup, an award for outstanding female athletes in college in 1977. Within her time at Delta State, she was the only African American player on the team. In the Lady Statesmen’s home arena where Harris played, the Walter Sillers Coliseum is named following Walter Sillers Jr., an outspoken White Nationalist. The arena continues to have Sillers’ name as of December 2021.
National team career
Harris was picked to the United States national team in the FIBA World Championship for Women in Colombia and the Pan American Games in Mexico City, Mexico in 1975. She teamed up with high school star Nancy Lieberman and fellow college stars Pat Head and Ann Meyers. The United States then compiled a 4-3 record and finished in the eighth position in the FIBA World Championship. They also went undefeated in seven games to win the gold medal, in the Pan American Games, their first victory since 1963. The national team averaged 86.7 points each game with an average winning margin of 34.4.
The next year, Lusia was picked to represent the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. This was the first women’s basketball tournament in the Olympics Games. She was wearing the number seven on her Olympics jersey. Harris teamed up with most of her teammates in the 1975 Pan American Games such as Lieberman, Head, and Meyers. She scored the first-ever points in the women’s Olympic basketball tournament in the opening game against Japan. The team won three games and lost two games to Japan and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union went unbeaten and won the gold medal as the United States team won the silver medal. Lucia played in all five games, scoring an average of 15.2 points and 7.0 rebounds each game.
Professional career
The New Orleans Jazz picked Harris with the 137th pick overall in the 7th round of the 1977 NBA draft. Harris became the second woman to be ever drafted by an NBA team following Denise Long, selected in the 1969 draft, by the San Francisco Warriors. However, the league canceled the Warriors’ pick, hence Harris became the first and only woman ever officially drafted. She, however, did not have any interest to play in the NBA and refused to try out for the Jazz. Later it was revealed that she was pregnant at the time, which made her unable to attend the Jazz’s training camp. Harris was picked ahead of 33 male players, comprising Jazz’s eighth-round selection, Dave Speicher from the University of Toledo.
However, she never played in the NBA or any other men’s basketball league, although she played professional basketball briefly in the 1979-80 season for the Houston Angels of the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). Harris was originally selected as the number one free agent by the Angels in 1978, the league’s inaugural season.
Legacy
Harris was inducted in 1983, to the Delta State’s Hall of Fame, for her achievements and contributions to the University. She became the first African-American woman inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. Together with her college coach, Margaret Wade, and her teammates in the national team, Ann Meyers, Nancy Lieberman, and Pat Head, were among the 26 inaugural inductees to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. Harris has additionally been named to the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Lusia Harris Net Worth
African American professional basketball player, Harris was one of the pioneers of women’s basketball. She was the first and only woman to be drafted by the NBA, a men’s professional basketball league, and won many awards. Harris played college and national basketball from 1973 to 1980 playing for Delta State, the United States national team, and Houston Angels. She was a legend in basketball and throughout her career and life had garnered up a net worth of approximately $1-5 million as of her demise in 2022.
