Original subtitles

What I know about Lucy?

Born in a small town in South Mississippi in 1955,

became a great female basketball player.

At one time, was the greatest in the United States.

As a matter of fact, the New Orleans Jazz drafted Lucy,

the first woman to be actually drafted by a men's

basketball team.

I don't know what else to say about her.

She's retired now and living a happy life.

[off-screen] How would you know?

Because I'm Lucy.

Growing up in a pretty much all-black community,

everybody knew each other.

That was 11 of us, a big family.

Next to the last, Lusia Mae Harris, Lucy.

My parents were sharecroppers.

So we would pick cotton when we came home from school.

That was our way of making a living.

I know we went without, but we didn't want for anything.

A lot of the kids would gather at our house to play ball,

because they didn't have a goal.

And we did.

I would stay up long past our bedtime

and put a quilt over the TV and over my head

so I could watch Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem.

Oscar Robertson, my favorite.

"Lucy, you better go to bed."

"You got school in the morning."

"OK, mama, I'm going."

And I'll watch it a little bit more.

I wanted to grow up and have my own family.

And I wanted to shoot that ball just like they were shooting.

I was taller than everyone else in my class, 6' 3".

They would tease me, long and tall, and that's all.

That I was tall and I couldn't do anything else.

That wasn't true.

I became a member of the team, but I didn't know how to play.

I had to learn how to play defense, offense, pivot.

I did develop a shot.

It just came natural.

I remember one day I had scored 40 points.

Their whole team had not scored 40 points.

My whole attitude changed about my height.

It became an asset.

Long and tall, and that's not all.

'72, Title IX was passed.

Whatever you provide for the men,

you have to provide for the women also.

I had heard from Mr. Hemphill that Del State was starting

a basketball program for women.

Equality.

I had made up in my mind that I was going to go to Alcorn.

It's a black school, but they didn't have

a women's basketball program.

So I changed my mind.

They can play ball when they get here.

All that I have to do is put them together as a team.

Being the only black on this team,

I had to adjust to that.

I wasn't really close to anybody on the team,

but once we got on that floor, you couldn't tell.

When I got the ball, I knew my job was to score.

And more than likely, I would score.

I got to the semi-final.

the game that determined whether you go on to Nationals.

And we lost that one game.

We were highly upset.

And we got together as a team, and we told each other,

if we get this far next year, we're

going to go on to the national tournament.

Now, NCAA had not taken over then.

It was just for the men.

Couldn't play with the men at that time.

Larry Bird, Magic, they were NCAA.

But women had AI, AW,

the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

We went all the way.

The name of the team to beat was Immaculata.

They had won three national championships.

So we had said we were going to win three national championships too.

They were undefeated.

They had a lot of nuns, because they was a Catholic school,

nuns that were cheering for them.

And they were beating on buckets.

We had a big crowd from Cleveland.

It was so loud in there that you couldn't hardly hear anything.

Big number 6'3",

the story for Delta State, # 45, Lusia Harris.

And rounding out the starting 5 for Immaculata,

it's Rene Muth.

Margaret Wade, a fine person and an excellent coach,

and Margaret, I know your team is very tired, you've had...

Most of the time, she wouldn't say anything.

She would just open up her jacket,

and then say, give them hell.

Here comes the tap.

Rosie Adams tosses it up, and it's controlled by Duncan.

David brought the ball down the court, passing to Wanda

or Ramona, and they were passing to me.

Working the ball inside as they all conclude to Lucy Harris.

Oh, they're not going to win.

I said, oh, yeah.

We had to really battle.

Touching gold there for a while.

And now she gets a chance to hit it again.

She misses it.

Lucy with a rebound!

Incredible basketball tonight.

A small town team, and we won the game.

And Delta State University's Lady Statesmen have done it.

Three times defending champion

Immaculata has been upset tonight, 92-81.

Margaret Wade is in tears.

And I know that we have seen demonstrated here

some of the finest basketball skills in the country.

I agree, and it's exciting.

Women's basketball has come of age this week.

A lot of people began to follow the game, a lot of fans.

The men's team draws only half as many fans

as the women, who regularly sell out the school's

4,500-seat field house.

We began to travel more.

That was the first time that I had flown on an airplane.

As a matter of fact, the men didn't fly.

And the women did.

I guess the women were bringing in the money.

No comment.

Their main weapon is number 45, Lusia Harris.

Always a dominating inside force.

Her scarring and rebounding is a must

if Delta is to claim its second straight national title.

Nobody expected us to win back-to-back championships.

An intense rivalry is built up between Delta and Immaculata.

And tonight's game has national supremacy on the line.

So we won.

Now, the championship trophy to Margaret Wade

and her Dallas State Lady Statesmen.

This year's tournament has been an outstanding success.

Cleveland, a peaceful community in the heart of the Mississippi Delta,

a town of friendly people, rich agriculture,

and the Lady Statesmen basketball team of Delta State University.

Twice national champs after only four years of existence as a team.

And I look up to Lucy because she's like the greatest woman player that's ever been.

And to me, you know, that's something really great.

I think she's special because she can do about anything.

She drives, she rebounds, she jumps, she blocks shots.

She's tough.

Lucy, well, she's hard to describe, really.

She's like one in a million.

I don't think there'll ever be another ballplayer like her.

And to have the personality that she has and be as humble as she is,

it's really incredible.

It's hard to explain.

Well, attention, you know, to me is saying that a lot of people are interested in what we're doing, you know,

and they're keeping up with it, and I think that's good.

Montreal, that was the very first time that women's basketball was placed in the Olympics.

...#7, Lusia Harris...

It was just unreal.

We played Japan the very first game.

They shot the first basket, but they missed.

Came back down the court.

Ann Myers passed me the ball.

I shot it and made it.

That was the first basket in the history of Olympic women's basketball.

And Ann Myers said, that's history.

I said, "oh yeah, maybe that is history."

Now, that's a record that'll never be broken.

Lusia Harris!

We won the silver medal.

I wanted my parents to be proud of me, and they were.

Make you feel special.

The center for Delta State, a 6'3" senior from Minter City, Mississippi,

co-captain number 45, Lucy Harris.

Delta State has won its third consecutive AIAW National Basketball Championship.

I really have enjoyed myself, you know, being, you know,

playing on the last intercollegiate basketball team that I will play on,

and we really appreciate what all of you have done. Thank you.

I wanted to keep playing, but there was no place to go.

There was no WNBA when I came along.

It didn't exist.

My high school sweetheart, George, asked me to marry him.

I said yes.

There are different forms of mental illness.

My form is bipolar.

It didn't surface until after I stopped playing.

Phone ring, someone from New Orleans Jazz, calling, looking for Lucy.

We want you to come and try out for the team.

We had already decided to start a family.

I just thought it was a publicity stunt,

and I felt like I didn't think I was good enough.

Competing against a woman, yes. It's a different story competing against a man.

So I decided not to go.

And I said no to the NBA.

When I realized, "I don't have a job," to just try to make it,

to just try to make a living for myself and for my family.

I was looking for a coaching job and just having a feeling of not wanting to be there,

not wanting to be where I am.

I think it took its toll.

I had a nervous breakdown.

And I had to return home.

I got a job at Amanda Elzy, my old high school.

And I became the head coach there, and I began to pick myself up.

As the years went on by, it seemed like all of that was a separate life.

I never picked up a newspaper to read an article about how good I was.

I clipped the newspaper articles out and put them in my scrapbook.

Until after my career was over, that's when I went back and started reading about what I did as a player.

Three-time national champions.

Olympian.

Wow!

Very impressive.

I have good memories about basketball.

The NBA.

I don't regret not going, not even a little bit.

Why not?

Christopher is a lawyer.

Eddie has a master's.

Christina received a doctorate.

Krista has a doctorate in education, which she received from Delta State.

Dashlings, all of them.

"Mama, I didn't know you was a star."

I said, "yeah, I had my days."

If I was a man, then there would have been options for me to go further and play.

I certainly would have had money.

I would have been able to do a lot of things that I would have wanted to do.

Yeah, there are millionaires.

Famous.

I wanted to grow up and shoot that ball just like they would shoot it.

And I did.

As a matter of fact, I was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

First female athletes, me and Neera White, escorted by Oscar Robinson.

My favorite.

But as far as singling me out, I think there's a lot of other women who are just as great as I am.

Basketball has come a long way.

Maybe the world would have known my name had I continued playing.

But I didn't, so I don't speculate.