Sheryl Denise Swoopes is a retired American professional basketball player
and the head coach of the women's basketball team of Loyola University
Chicago. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA when it was created.
She has won three Olympic Gold Medals and is a three-time WNBA MVP. Frequently
referred to as the "female Michael Jordan", Swoopes is famous for both her
offensive and defensive skills. In 2005, she averaged 18.6 points, 85% free
throws, 4.3 assists, 2.65 steals and 37.1 minutes playing time per game. In
2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history.
Early success Born in Brownfield, Texas, Swoopes was
raised by her mother Louise Swoopes, and played basketball with her three older
brothers. She began competing at age seven, in a local children's league
called Little Dribblers. Coached under Dickie Faught and Kathey Granger,
Swoopes was a member and junior on the 1988 Texas State Championship team.
College years Initially recruited by the University of
Texas, Swoopes left the school shortly after her arrival without playing a
game, and enrolled at South Plains College. After playing at South Plains
for two years, Swoopes transferred to Texas Tech.
In 1993 Swoopes won the NCAA women's basketball championship with the Texas
Tech Lady Raiders during her senior season. Her jersey was retired by the
school the following year, making her one of only three Lady Raiders to be
honored in this way. The others are Carolyn Thompson and Krista Kirkland,
Swoopes' teammate from the 1993 championship team.
As of 2010, Swoopes was still a part of the NCAA women's basketball record books
in many categories, including single-game scoring record,
single-season scoring, highest Championship Tournament scoring average,
best single-game championship scoring performance, which broke Bill Walton's
record, and scoring record for championship series. She set the record
for the most field goals in the Championship game with sixteen.
Swoopes also set several school records at Texas Tech. She scored 955 points in
the 1992–93 season, which is an all-time scoring record for a single season.
Swoopes' 24.9 points-per-game average for her career is the best in school
history; she also boasts three triple-doubles and twenty-three
double-doubles, fourteen of which came during her senior year.
Swoopes was the 1993 winner of the Naismith College Player of the Year
award, was selected as that year's WBCA Player of the Year, and was chosen to
the Division I All-American squad in both 1992 and 1993. Swoopes was named
the 1993 Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation.
USA Basketball Swoopes was named to the USA national
team and competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in June 1994 in
Sydney, Australia. The team was coached by Tara VanDerveer, and won their first
six games, when they faced Brazil. In a closely contested, high scoring game,
Brazil hit ten of ten free throws in the final minute to secure a 110–107
victory. The USA won a close final game against Australia 100–95 to earn the
bronze medal. Swoopes averaged 9.1 points per game, while recording seven
steals, second highest on the team. Swoopes was selected to represent the
USA at the 1995 USA Women's Pan American Games, however, only four teams
committed to participate, so the event was cancelled.
Swoopes continued as a member of the USA team at the 1996 Olympics, held in
Atlanta, Georgia USA. The USA team won all their pool play games by large
margins, although they were behind Cuba by as much as seven points before Lisa
Leslie's 24 points, helped the USA take over the game. The USA victory over
Australia featured a record setting 15 assists by Teresa Edwards, while Johnson
was the leading scorer with 24 points. Against Japan, Lisa Leslie set a USA
Olympic scoring record with 35 points. In the final, the USA team faced 7–0
Brazil—a team that had beaten the USA squad in the 1991 Pan Am games and the
1994 World Championships. This time, playing before a home crowd of 32,987,
the USA team started out very strong, hitting 71.9 per cent of their field
goals leading to an eleven points margin at the half. The USA team scored the
first eight points of the second half and won the gold medal 111–87. Smith was
the third leading scorer for the team with 13.0 points per game, and was
second on the team with 31 assists and 23 steals.
In 2002, Swoopes was named to the national team which competed in the
World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou and Nanjing, China. The team
was coached by Van Chancellor. Swoopes scored 16.9 points per game, second
highest on the team and recorded a team-high 24 steals. The USA team won
all nine games, including a close title game against Russia, which was a
one-point game late in the game. Swoopes was named to the National Team
representing the USA at the 2006 World Championships, held in Barueri and Sao
Paulo, Brazil. The team won eight of their nine contests, but the lone loss
came in the semifinal medal round to Russia. The USA beat Brazil in the final
game to earn the bronze medal. Swoopes, hampered by injuries, averaged 3.0
points per game and was second on the team with six blocks.
WNBA career Swoopes was recruited for the Houston
Comets of the WNBA during the 1997 inaugural season. She returned only six
weeks after giving birth to her son to play the last third of the WNBA
inaugural season and lead the Comets in the 1997 WNBA Championship. As a member
of the Houston Comets, she has accumulated over 2,000 career points,
500 career rebounds, 300 career assists and 200 career steals. Her extraordinary
scoring and defensive ability have made her the first three-time WNBA MVP and
the first three-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Swoopes is a
four-time WNBA champion. Swoopes is the second player in WNBA
history to win both the regular season MVP award and the All-Star Game MVP
award in the same season. The first player to accomplish this was Lisa
Leslie. Swoopes is also the first player in WNBA history to record a playoff
triple-double. Swoopes gained national prominence when
she won the gold medal with the USA Basketball Women's National Team at the
1996 Olympic Games and became a focal point of the fledgling WNBA. The 1996
Olympic win over Brazil is considered by some to be the "best woman's basketball
game they'd ever seen." She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Swoopes is the first women's basketball player to have a Nike shoe named after
her: the "Air Swoopes". On March 3, 2008, Swoopes signed with
the Seattle Storm ending her eleven-year career with the Houston Comets. She was
waived by the Storm on February 3, 2009. Two days after her fortieth birthday,
sources for the Associated Press claimed that Swoopes was preparing to return to
the WNBA in anticipation of an official signing announcement from the Tulsa
Shock that was made on 28 March 2011. At the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game, she was
announced as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA.
On August 26, 2011, the 40-year-old Swoopes hit a buzzer-beating shot to
edge the Los Angeles Sparks 77–75 and end the Shock's WNBA-record 20-game
losing streak. Swoopes became an unrestricted free
agent after the 2011 season: Tulsa Shock owner Steve Swetoha announced on 15
February 2012 that the team did not intend to offer Swoopes a new contract.
As of the beginning of the 2012 preseason on 5 May, Swoopes remains an
unsigned free agent. While there has been no official announcement, when
Swoopes began blogging at the Shape magazine website during the 2012 Olympic
Summer Games, she identified herself as "a former professional basketball
player." WNBA career statistics
= Regular season= = Postseason=
International career = Europe=
1993–1994 : Basket Bari 2004–2005 : VBM-SGAU Samara
2005–2006 : Taranto Cras Basket 2010: Esperides Kallitheas
Personal life Swoopes was married from June 1995 to
1999 to her high school sweetheart, with whom she had a son, Jordan Eric Jackson
in 1997. In October 2005, with her announcement that she was gay, Swoopes
became one of the highest profile athletes in a team sport to do so
publicly. She and her partner, former basketball player and Houston Comets
assistant coach, Alisa Scott, whom Swoopes at the time said she would like
to someday marry, together raised Swoopes's son, Jordan.
Swoopes said "it doesn't change who I am. I can't help who I fall in love
with. No one can. ... Discovering I'm gay just sort of happened much later in
life. Being intimate with [Alisa] or any other woman never entered my mind. At
the same time, I'm a firm believer that when you fall in love with somebody, you
can't control that." In 2008, Sheryl Swoopes made an
appearance on Shirts & Skins, a reality series from the television channel LOGO.
Swoopes flew out to mentor the San Francisco Rockdogs, a gay basketball
team, and shared her experiences on basketball, family, faith, and coming
out, helping to bring the team closer together.
In 2009, Swoopes coached the girls basketball team at Mercer Island High
School, while head coach Jamie Prescott was on maternity leave.
In 2011, Swoopes broke up with Alisa Scott and was reportedly engaged to
Christopher Unclesho. Swoopes joined the Texas Tech women's
basketball broadcast team as a color analyst in November 2012, marking the
start of her career in broadcasting, but soon left Tech again when offered her
first head coaching position. In 2013, Swoopes became Head Coach for
Loyola University Chicago. Swoopes reportedly cried upon receiving
a photo of son Jordan's letter of intent to play basketball at her alma mater,
Texas Tech, in late 2014. Awards and honors
Swoopes was the 1993 winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball She was
listed in the Sports Illustrated 20 female athletes of the decade between
2000 and 2010. She was a MVP for the years 2000, 2002 and 2005. She also won
the associated press female athlete of the year award for 1993.Swoopes is also
featured by Equality forum as an LGBT history month icon for her outstanding
achievements. Swoopes is represented by Ryan Totka of Athlete Promotions.
Notes References
Grundy, Pamela. Shattering the glass. New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-822-1.
Ikard, Robert W.. Just for Fun: The Story of AAU Women's Basketball. The
University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-55728-889-9.
David L. Porter, ed.. Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood
Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30952-6. External links
Official website AP article by Kristie Riechen
Swoopes compared to Jordan by NBA.com Houston Chronicle article on Swoopes
memorabilia being auctioned off KHOU-TV report on a storage business
auctioning Swoopes' items Sheryl Swoopes at the Internet Movie
Database Sheryl Swoopes at WNBA.com
Sheryl Swoopes' U.S. Olympic Team bio Swoopes signs with the Seattle Storm
Former WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes stays in the gym by coaching at Mercer Island
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