The story of Lusia Harris is only getting better: Now it’s won an Oscar.
And just like his longtime Los Angeles Lakers Teammate Kobe Bryant did 4 years ago in a different category, Shaquille O’Neal could say he’s also an Oscar winner.
“Basketball Queen” – with a pair of basketball legends in O’Neal and Stephen the curry among executive producers and top promoters of the 22-minute film – which won an Academy Award for a short-themed documentary on Sunday.
It comes about two months after the death of Harris, who scored the first basketball goal in Olympic women’s basketball history and was the first woman to be officially initiated by an NBA team. Ben Proudfoot directed the short, which has educated even some die-hard basketball fans into the forerunner’s story.
“If anyone doubts that there is an audience for female athletes and questions whether their stories are valuable or entertaining or important… let this Academy Award be the answer. words,” Proudfoot said at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Harris is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as is O’Neal. But even the four-time NBA champion — considered by many to be one of the game’s best — is unfamiliar with her story.
“At first, I didn’t know who she was,” O’Neal said earlier this month.
A few did.
But the movie and O’Neal and Curry’s participation – Golden Empire Warriors The star sported sneakers earlier this month with the phrase “Queen Lucy” on them – helping her story get more and more told.
Harris helped Delta State University win three consecutive national championships in the 1970s and won a silver medal for the United States at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Harris was selected by the New Orleans Jazz in the seventh round of NBA tournament in 1977, but she was pregnant at the time and never really got over it with trying to make the team.
Proudfoot also used the Oscar-winning moment to call for the departure of the two-time Olympic gold medalist and top female player. Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia. Griner was arrested after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, when Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape boxes believed to contain oil extracted from cannabis.
Under Russian law, Griner could face up to 10 years in prison.
“Bring Brittney Griner home,” said Proudfoot.
