First Lady of Basketball
WomensFocus had a chance to sit down with basketball legend Lynette Woodard when she was in Wichita recently to accept the Trailblazers Award bestowed each year by the Kansas African American Museum.
At 52, Woodard still has the long, lean frame of a college hoops player and still moves with the grace and assurance of an athlete. Dressed in a navy blue pants suit over a red tank, she arrived at our interview in stylish flats but insisted on slipping into dressier heels for the photo shoot.
Woodard’s list of accomplishments is long: first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters, captain of the gold medal-winning Olympic women’s basketball team in 1984, two-time member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and still the all-time scoring leader in major college women’s basketball.
She’s currently living part-time in Houston, where she’s training to work as a hyperbaric technician with a company called HBO2 America. Here’s what she had to say about growing up in Wichita, her illustrious career and her plans for the future.
Q You’ve accomplished so much in your life. Looking back at it all, what is your proudest achievement?
A I think probably growing up in a place like Wichita where I got to experience community, family and church – all the things that are counted as good and wholesome. I had the opportunity to go out and play with kids in the neighborhood – just play, outside. We played and we fought and we played and we fought but in the end we all got along. We were all family. I think that’s the foundation that I’m most proud of having in my life. That set me on the course to be who I ended up being. That was the thing that propelled me to want to do more and be more and dream big. It pushed me toward success without my really knowing it.
Q When did you realize that you had a gift for playing basketball?
A I would say maybe in high school (at North), a junior or senior, because I started to get noticed. People would say, ‘She plays as well as the boys.’ Well, that’s all I ever played with growing up. I didn’t know it was anything special.
Q You spend part of your time coaching girls and boys in basketball and also giving motivational speeches occasionally. What do you tell kids?
A To dream. To go after your dream. You have to be driven, you have to be determined, you can’t let anyone tell you what’s impossible just because they can’t see it. My dream was to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. I learned just to keep that inside and truly believe it myself because I knew that other people couldn’t see it. You don’t want a naysayer to come along and tell you, you can’t do that, just because they can’t see it.
Q You participated in college and professional basketball at a time when female players had very little respect and very few opportunities. Do you ever wish you had been born just a few years later than you were?
A I don’t like to look back and think about how it could have been easier or better for me as a woman. But, yeah, they didn’t have scholarships for women then, not many anyway. When I went to the University of Kansas I received the first full scholarship. I was always the first along the way. I didn’t worry at the time about how things could have been better. We didn’t get to fly to games but we had a van and we got there. And the game was still the game. We didn’t get a training table but we got a sack lunch and it worked. The game was still the game.
Q Do you have faith that professional women’s basketball will improve?
A Oh, yeah. The players today are getting better. There’s a player now in the WNBA who can dunk as well as Labron James, with no effort. Somebody is going to offer her something big, maybe not in this country, but somewhere. The game is global and it is appreciated around the world.
Q And now you’re pursuing your education to become a hyperbaric technician. What is that, and how did you get interested in that?
A Hyperbaric chambers use oxygen to treat wounds and injuries that won’t heal. It’s used more and more in sports. I can see working someday in that area.
Q I read somewhere that you’re a very private person. Is that true?
A People always tell me that. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I like to go home at the end of a day and just kick my shoes off and be at home, be quiet. I don’t need to go out and make a lot of noise. Maybe that’s why people say I’m quiet, because I don’t go out and make a lot of news.
Q Is there anyone special in your life?
A No, I’m a free spirit. I love my life, I enjoy being on my own. I enjoy being able to go where I want to go, when I want to go and not worry about it.
