Lisa Leslie
Lisa Leslie is a retired American professional basketball player and a prominent figure in women's sports. Born on July 7, 1972, in Gardena, California, she faced early challenges, including her father's departure and her mother's demanding job as a long-haul trucker. Despite these obstacles, Leslie excelled in basketball from a young age, standing at 6 feet, 5 inches tall and earning recognition as the top female high school player in the nation by 1989. She played collegiate basketball at the University of Southern California (USC), where she garnered multiple All-American honors and helped her team achieve significant victories.
Leslie achieved international fame as a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, winning gold medals at the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Games. As a professional player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), she made history as the first woman to dunk in a game and became the all-time leading scorer for the Los Angeles Sparks before retiring in 2009. Beyond her athletic achievements, Leslie is a successful sports commentator and entrepreneur. She has also been a positive role model for young women, promoting a vision of femininity in athletics and creating her own clothing line. In 2015, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, underscoring her significant impact on the sport.
Lisa Leslie
- Born: July 7, 1972
- Birthplace: Gardena, California
Basketball player and model
Leslie won gold medals for women’s basketball in four Olympic Games. When she retired from the Women’s National Basketball Association in 2009, she held the league record for career points.
Early Life
Lisa Deshaun Leslie was born the second of three daughters, in Gardena, California, on July 7, 1972. Leslie’s father, Walter, a semiprofessional basketball player, left the family when she was four years old, and Leslie saw him only once more before he died when she was twelve years old. When Leslie’s mother, Christine, lost her postal job, she bought an eighteen-wheel tractor-trailer truck, which she learned to drive in order to support the family. Leslie and her sisters were raised by their aunt, Judy Carol, while their mother was on the road for weeks at a time as a long-haul trucker; during summer vacations, they traveled with their mother, sleeping in the back of the truck.
Leslie was already taller than her teachers by grade school, and she was constantly teased by her classmates about her height. Frequently asked if she played basketball, Leslie decided to begin playing in middle school. An older cousin, Craig Simpson, mentored Leslie, taught her basketball techniques, and took her to the gym to work out. In 1986, Leslie’s family moved to Inglewood, California, and Leslie began playing basketball as a freshman at Morningside High School, ranked as one of the top ten high schools in America for girls’ basketball. Although left-handed, Leslie taught herself to be ambidextrous, and by her sophomore year, she was dunking the basketball. In her senior year, Leslie scored 101 points in the first half of a game and would have scored more, but the opposing team forfeited the game. Leslie led the Morningside Lady Monarchs to 125 wins and only 9 losses, winning two state championships. In her senior year, she averaged 15 rebounds and 27.3 points per game. Ranked in 1989 by Sports Illustrated as the number-one female high school basketball player in America, Leslie achieved international fame for her performance in the Junior World Championship. She received the Dial Award for the best female scholar-athlete in the United States in 1989, and she was unanimously voted to receive the Naismith Award in 1990.
Life’s Work
Although recruited by dozens of colleges throughout the United States, in 1990, Leslie chose to attend the University of Southern California (USC) so that she could remain close to her family. At 6 feet, 5 inches, Leslie was the top freshman scorer and rebounder for USC, and she earned awards for the Rookie of the Year and the National Freshman of the Year in 1991. For three consecutive years, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Leslie was honored as an All-American, and every year she played for USC, the school competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournaments. USC won a Pacific 10 championship and a total of 89 games during Leslie’s career, and she averaged 12.3 rebounds and 21.9 points per game in her senior year. In 1994, Leslie was named the national college player of the year, and she graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting.
After college, Leslie played professional basketball during the 1994–95 season in Alcamo, Italy, for the team Sicilgesso because there was no professional women’s basketball league in the United States. In 1995, Leslie qualified for the US Olympic team, and at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Leslie was the team’s high scorer, leading the United States to a gold medal. Leslie returned to play with the US Olympic women’s basketball team in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, each time leading the US team to a gold medal.
After the 1996 Olympics, Leslie was chosen to play for the newly formed Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the United States and joined the Los Angeles Sparks. In 1998 and 2002, Leslie was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year, and in 2001 and 2002, Leslie led the Sparks to consecutive national championships. Named most valuable player of 2001, 2002, and 2006, Leslie made basketball history in 2002 by being the first woman to slam dunk in a professional basketball game. By her retirement in 2009, Leslie had scored 6,263 points for the Sparks, a league record.
In 2004, Leslie began working as an on-air sports commentator for ESPN, NBC, and other networks. In 2018, she became a studio analyst for the Orlando Magic basketball team on the FOX Sports network. In this role, she shared commentary on pregame and postgame shows for the Magic. Leslie married former Air Force basketball player Michael Lockwood in 2015, with whom she had two children, Lauren and Michael Jr. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Leslie continued to appear on television and in films in the first decades of the twenty-first century while also continuing to deliver sports commentary. In the 2020s, Leslie became involved in the real estate industry and started her own sports-real estate firm.
Significance
Extremely conscious of the image she portrayed to the youngsters, especially young women, who admired her, Leslie signed a contract in 1996 with Wilhelmina Models. She became a fashion model for some of the world’s most famous designers, appearing on the cover of Vogue and other fashion magazines. Leslie developed Lisa Leslie Enterprises, which includes her own line of clothing. She believed it was important to serve as a feminine role model for young girls aspiring to become athletes to destroy the stereotype that in order to succeed in basketball, women must become masculine.
Bibliography
Byers, Justin, et al. “WNBA Legend Lisa Leslie Launches Athlete-Focused Real Estate Firm.” Front Office Sports, 6 Apr. 2022, frontofficesports.com/lisa-leslie-launches-real-estate-firm/. Accessed 18 April 2023.
Grundy, Pamela, and Susan Shackelford. Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball. New York: New Press, 2005. Leslie’s contribution to basketball is examined, and she is placed in the context of historical significance, as a college, Olympic, and professional player.
Leslie, Lisa, and Larry Burnett. Don’t Let the Lipstick Fool You. New York: Kensington, 2008. In her autobiography, Leslie recounts her family life and basketball career, with personal insights into and revelations about professional women’s basketball.
"Lisa Leslie Joins FOX Sports Florida as Analyst for Orlando Magic." WNBA, 10 Jan. 2018, www.wnba.com/news/lisa-leslie-joins-fox-sports-florida-analyst-orlando-magic/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.
Savage, Jeff. Lisa Leslie: Slam Dunk Queen. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow, 2005. Focuses on the childhood, basketball victories, and Olympic fame of Leslie, who used the slam dunk to become a basketball legend.