Harris was born in Minter City, Mississippi to Ethel and Willie Harris, a vegetable farmer. She is the tenth of eleven children and the fourth of five daughters. All of her brothers and one of her older sisters, Janie, also played basketball. Harris and her siblings attended Amanda Elzy High School in Greenwood, Mississippi. Harris played basketball under coach Conway Stewart in high school. She won the most valuable player award three consecutive years, served as team captain and made the state All-Star team. She scored a school record 46 points in one game and led her school to the state tournament in Jackson, Mississippi. After her high school graduation, she planned to attend Alcorn State University, which did not have a women's basketball team. However, she was asked by Melvin Hemphill, the recruiter for coach Margaret Wade, who was restarting a collegiate women's team, if she would attend Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. This was before Title IX, so there were no sports scholarships for women. She attended school on a combination of academic scholarships and work study funds.
College career
In her first year in Delta State, Harris helped the Lady Statesmen to a 16–2 record. However, they finished third in the regional tournament and failed to qualify to the national tournament. The following year, the Lady Statesmen qualified to the national tournament at Harrisonburg, Virginia. They went all the way to the final where they met the Mighty Macs of Immaculata University who had won the last three consecutive AIAW championships. In the final, Harris scored 32 points and recorded 16 rebounds to lead Delta State past Immaculata 90–81. The 1975 championship game was televised nationally. This is the first year that women's basketball games were nationally televised by a major network. That season, Delta State went undefeated in with a 28–0 record, the only undefeated college season that year. Harris scored a total of 138 points and 63 rebounds in four games at the national tournament and was named as the tournament's most valuable player. In the 1975–76 season, Delta State and Immaculata met again in the national tournament final. Harris again led Delta State with 30 points and 18 rebounds in a 69–64 victory. That season, she led the nation in scoring with 1,060 points and a 31.2 points per game average, including a 58-point game against Tennessee Tech. In her senior season, Delta State played a game in the Madison Square Garden, in which Harris scored 47 points. This was one of the first women's basketball game ever played there. Delta State then went to the national tournament final for the third year in a row. In the final, Harris scored 23 points and recorded 16 rebounds as Delta State defeated Louisiana State University 68–55 for their third consecutive title. Harris was named as the national tournament's most valuable player and to the All-American first team during Delta State's three winning seasons. Her college career record was 109–6, and included victories over later NCAA Division I powerhouses such as Immaculata University, University of Tennessee, Baylor University, University of Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Louisiana Tech University. Harris finished her college career with 2,981 points and 1,662 rebounds, averaging 25.9 points and 14.5 rebounds per game. She also graduated with fifteen of eighteen Delta State's team, single game, and career records. In 1977, she won the inaugural Honda Sports Award for basketball, as well as the Broderick Cup, an award for outstanding female athletes in college.
Delta State statistics
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National team career
In 1975, Harris was selected to represent the United States' national team in the FIBA World Championship for Women in Colombia and the Pan American Games in Mexico City, Mexico. She teamed up with high school star Nancy Lieberman and fellow college stars Ann Meyers and Pat Head. In the FIBA World Championship, the United States compiled a 4–3 record and finished in eighth place. In the Pan American Games, the United States team went unbeaten in seven games to win the gold medal, their first win since 1963. They averaged 86.7 points per game with an average winning margin of 34.4. The following year, Harris was selected to represent the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, the first ever women's basketball tournament in the Olympic Games. She used the number seven on her Olympics jersey. She teamed up with most of her teammates in the 1975 Pan American Games, including Lieberman, Meyers and Head. In the opening game against Japan, Harris scored the first ever points in women's Olympic basketball tournament. The United States team won three games and lost two games against Japan and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union team went undefeated and won the gold medal, while the United States team won the silver medal. Harris played in all five games, averaging 15.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Professional career
In the seventh round of the 1977 NBA draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Harris with the 137th pick overall. She became the second woman ever drafted by an NBA team, after Denise Long, who was selected by the San Francisco Warriors in the 1969 draft. However, the league voided the Warriors' selection, thus Harris became the first and only woman ever officially drafted. Harris did not express an interest to play in the NBA and declined to try out for the Jazz. It was later revealed that she was pregnant at the time, which made her unable to attend the Jazz's training camp. She was selected ahead of 33 other male players, including the Jazz's eighth round selection, Dave Speicher from the University of Toledo. In a poll on the NBA.com website, she was ranked as the most unusual pick in the history of the NBA draft. Harris never played in the NBA or any other men's basketball league but played professional basketball briefly in the 1979–80 season with the Houston Angels of the Women's Professional Basketball League. She was initially picked as the number one free agent by the Angels in 1978, the league's inaugural season.
Personal life
Harris graduated from Delta State University with a bachelor's degree in health, physical education and recreation in 1977. After graduation, she worked for Delta State as an admissions counselor and assistant basketball coach. She earned a master's degree in education from Delta State in 1984. After leaving the assistant coaching post in Delta State, she served as the head coach at Texas Southern University in Houston for two years. She then returned to her native Mississippi where she worked as a high school teacher and coach at her alma mater Amanda Elzy High School in Greenwood, at the Greenville Public School District, and at Ruleville Central High School. Harris married George E. Stewart on February 4, 1977. They have four children, two sons and twin daughters.
Legacy
For her achievements and contributions to the Delta State University, Harris was inducted to the Delta State's Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1992, Harris and former player Nera White became the first two women ever inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She also became the first African-American woman inductee. In 1999, Harris, along with her college coach, Margaret Wade, and her teammates in the national team, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers and Pat Head, were among the 26 inaugural inductees to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She has also been named to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.
