Opinion Op-Docs

The Queen of Basketball

The Queen of Basketball

Meet Lusia Harris, the first woman officially drafted by the N.B.A.

Meet Lusia Harris, the first woman
officially drafted by the N.B.A.

Watch the Oscar-Winning Op-Doc ‘The Queen of Basketball’

Mr. Proudfoot is an Emmy-winning filmmaker.

Update (Jan. 18): Lusia Harris — a pioneering athlete who became a basketball phenomenon in the 1970s, made history as the first woman to score a basket in the Olympics and was one of the first two women inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — died on Jan. 18 in Mississippi. She was 66.

Update (March 27): This documentary film won best documentary short subject at the 94th Academy Awards.

As a child growing up in rural Mississippi, Lusia “Lucy” Harris often stayed up past her bedtime watching her favorite N.B.A. players, dreaming of one day playing on the same courts. Reaching 6 feet 3 inches by the time she was in high school, Harris was often called “long and tall and that’s all” by her classmates — but she knew her height would be an asset on the court. And she wasn’t just tall enough to play the game. She was a rare talent who would go on to be a three-time national college champion and an Olympic silver medalist, making her a national sensation by the time she finished her college career.

For an electrifying young basketball player on the national stage, success often comes with a lucrative professional contract and brand deals — but Harris’s moment came in the 1970s, decades before the W.N.B.A. was founded, when few opportunities were available to female athletes interested in pursuing a professional career. In the short documentary above, Harris tells the story of what happens when an unstoppable talent runs out of games to win.

Ben Proudfoot is a filmmaker and the founder and C.E.O. of Breakwater Studios. He co-directed the Oscar-nominated Op-Doc ‘A Concerto Is a Conversation.’

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Op-Docs is a forum for short, opinionated documentaries by independent filmmakers. Learn more about Op-Docs and how to submit to the series. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

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