CULTURETECHLENSLusia Harris
VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)
Combined Graph record U-07757 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6885.
Lusia Harris (1955–2022), born Lusia Mae Harris on February 10, 1955, in Minter City, Mississippi, and later known as Lusia Harris-Stewart, was the American center who, per the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, changed the face of women's basketball at Delta State University, leading the Lady Statesmen to a 109–6 record and three straight AIAW national championships (1975–1977) and scoring 2,981 career points. Delta State University Athletics confirms she was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA Draft. NBC Sports, reporting her death, identifies her as the only woman ever officially drafted by an NBA team — the first woman formally drafted, since the league had voided the San Francisco Warriors' 1969 selection of Denise Long — and records that she scored the first points in Olympic women's basketball history at the 1976 Montreal Games, where the United States won silver; the Hall of Fame likewise records her as the 1976 team's leading scorer and rebounder. She declined to try out for the Jazz because she was pregnant at the time, per NBC Sports. In 1992 she was inducted into the Hall of Fame. She died on January 18, 2022.
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Lusia Harris (1955–2022), born Lusia Mae Harris on February 10, 1955, in Minter City, Mississippi, and later known as Lusia Harris-Stewart, was the American center who, per the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, changed the face of women's basketball at Delta State University, leading the Lady Statesmen to a 109–6 record and three straight AIAW national championships (1975–1977) and scoring 2,981 career points.
The record
- Also known as: Lusia Harris-Stewart, Lusia Mae Harris, Lucy Harris
Notes
Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0115. Firsts disposition: 'First woman formally drafted by an NBA team (New Orleans Jazz, seventh round, 1977)' ASSERTED — supported by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ('Only Woman Drafted by the NBA') and NBC Sports (only woman officially drafted; the voided 1969 Denise Long selection is disclosed, which is what makes the wording 'formally/officially drafted' exact). The Olympic first-points claim (1976) is also asserted, supported by NBC Sports. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Harris is the rare first that understates the career: the draft pick was one line in a résumé of three national titles, an Olympic silver with the tournament's first basket, and a Hall of Fame induction as its first Black woman. The Delta State dominance is the substance; the Jazz selection is the receipt the wider sports world finally read. Photo: CLEARED — Lusia Harris DSU.jpg, Public domain.
Sources
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Lusia Harris-Stewart.” Hall of Famers. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/lusia-harris-stewart (primary source · build store)
- Delta State University Athletics. “Services for Lusia ‘Lucy’ Harris Stewart to be held at Delta State on Feb. 5.” Delta State University Athletics (GoStatesmen.com), February 1, 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://gostatesmen.com/news/2022/2/1/athletic-department-services-for-lusia-lucy-harris-stewart-to-be-held-at-delta-state-feb-5.aspx (primary source · build store)
- NBC Sports. “Lusia Harris, only woman ever drafted by NBA team, dies at 66.” NBC Sports, January 19, 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/lusia-harris-only-woman-ever-drafted-by-nba-team-dies-at-66 (build store)
Photograph · rights-cleared record, CultureTechLens Photo Rights Log
Lusia Harris at Delta State University, 1977
Lusia Harris at Delta State University, 1977 — unknown Delta State University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: CultureTechLens · view at source
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
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Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Lusia Harris (CTL-E-6885).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6885/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Lusia Harris (CTL-E-6885) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6885/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Lusia Harris (CTL-E-6885).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6885/
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