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I’m the First And Only Woman Officially Drafted By the N.B.A. | 'Almost Famous' by Op-Docs

NYT, 08 Jul 2021
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 Ben Proudfoot's "The Queen of Basketball," Harris tells the story of what happens when an unstoppable talent runs out of games to win.

See more of "Almost Famous:" https://nyti.ms/2EuGTsK

Credits
Director: Ben Proudfoot
Editors: Stephanie Owens, Ben Proudfoot
Featuring: Lusia “Lucy” Harris
Producers: Elizabeth Brooke, Abby Lynn Kang Davis, Gabriel Berk Godoi, Ben Proudfoot, Brandon Somerhalder, Sarah Stewart
Cinematographer: Brandon Somerhalder
Original Score Composed and Orchestrated by: Nicholas Jacobson-Larson
Co-Producer: Jeremy Lambert
Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer: Sean Higgins
Colorist: Stephen Derluguian
Post Production Supervisors: Dillon Brown, Laura Carlson
Additional Editing: Mónica Salazar, Nick Garnham Wright
Assistant Editor: Cody Wilson
Sound Effects Editor: T.J. Jacques
Second Unit Cinematographer: Haley Watson
Additional Music and Mixing: Erik Kertes
Musicians: Loren Battley, Nicholas Jacobson-Larson, Erik Kertes, Garth Neustadter
Archival Digitization: Hannah Auslander, Melanie Lim
Archival Research: Laura Jespersen
Story Reported by: Haley Watson

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Op-Docs is the New York Times’ award-winning series of short 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 and Instagram (@NYTopinion).
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