Harris, the first female player in NBA history to be selected, died at the age of 66

According to a number of US media reports, Lucia Harris, the first female player in NBA history to be selected, died on Tuesday local time at the age of 66.

　　Lucia Harris, who is 1.91 meters tall and weighs 84 kilograms, plays as a center, and from 1975 to 1977, she led Delta State to three consecutive national championships and was named the Most Valuable Player for three consecutive years. During college, Lucia Harris played in 115 games (109 wins and 6 losses), averaging 25.9 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, shooting 63.3 percent from the field.

　　In addition, Lucia Harris won a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games and a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and she was also the first point winner in the history of the Olympic women's basketball team.

　　In the seventh round of 1977, the New Orleans Jazz selected Lucia Harris with the 137th pick, and she also became the first female player to be selected by the NBA. Although in 1969, another female player, Dennis Long, was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors, the league declared the Warriors' choice invalid, so Harris was the no. 1 and only female player in NBA history to be officially selected.

　　However, Harris had no interest in playing in the NBA and refused to try out for the Jazz. It is worth mentioning that Harris was still pregnant at the time, which also prevented him from attending the Jazz's training camp.

　　Harris has never played in the NBA or any men's basketball league since then, and she briefly played for the Houston Angels of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) in the 1979–80 season.

　　In 1983, Harris was inducted into the Delta State University Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions to his alma mater. In 1992, Harris and Naira White (members of the 1957 World Championships U.S. team) became the first female players to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.