Lynette Woodard (born August 12, 1959) is a retired American basketball Hall of Fame player and former head women's basketball coach at Winthrop University. Woodard made history by becoming the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and who, at age 38, began playing as one of the oldest members in the newly formed American women's professional basketball league, the WNBA.
Biography
While at Wichita North High School, Woodard won two state basketball titles.
Woodard went on to play college basketball with the University of Kansas (KU) in 1978, playing there until 1981. She was a four-time All-American at KU, and she averaged 26 points per game and scored 3,649 points in total during her four years there, and was the first KU woman to be honored by having her jersey retired. She is major college basketball's career women's scoring leader.
In 1981, she was signed by an Italian team, UFO Schio (Vicenza), to participate in their league.
In 1984, she was a member of the United States' women's basketball team that won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In 1985, Woodard became the first woman ever to play with the Globetrotters. Incidentally, Woodard's cousin, Hubert "Geese" Ausbie, also played for the Globetrotters from 1961 to 1985.
In 1989, she was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. In 1990, she was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and was signed by a Japanese women's team to play in their country. She played there until 1993.
In 1997, she was signed by the Cleveland Rockers of the newly founded Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The following year, she was selected in an expansion draft by the Detroit Shock. She was waived by the Shock on May 7, 1999. Woodward's final WNBA game ever was played on August 19, 1998, in a 82–68 win over the New York Liberty where she recorded 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. During the WNBA's off-season, she began working as a stockbroker in New York City.
She retired from playing in 1999 and returned to KU serving as assistant coach of the women's basketball team. In late January 2004, she was named interim head coach, filling for the regular coach Marian Washington, who had retired due to medical reasons. She also served as athletics director for the Kansas City, Missouri School District from 1992 to 1994.
In September 2004, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In June 2005, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Woodard also received the 2015 WBCBL Women's Professional Basketball "Trailblazer" Award on August 2, 2015, along with 9 other female basketball Icons including Cynthia Cooper, Nancy Lieberman, Sarah Campbell, E.C. Hill, Geri Kay Hart, Robelyn Garcia, Kandi Conda, Lisa Leslie and Tamika Catchings. The award recognizes some of the most influential people in professional women's basketball, specifically those who helped blaze the trail, shape the overall landscape and pave the way for women's professional basketball.
Woodard became a financial consultant for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., in Wichita.
In 2017, she was named the head coach of the Winthrop Eagles women's basketball team.
Kansas statistics
USA Basketball
Woodard was named to the team representing the US at the 1979 World University Games, held in Mexico City, Mexico. The USA team won all seven games to take the gold medal. The USA team played and beat Cuba twice, the team that had defeated them at the Pan Am games. Woodard averaged 14.1 points per game.
Woodard was selected to be a member of the team representing the US at the 1980 Olympics, but the team did not go, due to the 1980 Olympic boycott. The team did go 6–1 in Olympic Qualifying games, with Woodard scoring 4.5 points per game.
Woodard was selected to be a member of the team representing the US at the 1983 Pan American Games held in Caracas, Venezuela. The team won all five games to earn the gold medal for the event. Woodard averaged 19.0 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per game, both second best on the team.