Lisa Leslie-Lockwood
Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks
Center
Born	July 7, 1972 (1972-07-07) (age 37) Gardena, California
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg)
High school	Chapel Hill High School
College	USC
Allocated	1997, Los Angeles Sparks
WNBA career	1997–2009
Profile	WNBA Info Page
WNBA Teams
Los Angeles Sparks (1997-2009)
Awards and Honors
Four-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008) Three-time WNBA MVP (2001, 2004, 2006) Eight-time WNBA All-Star (1999–2003, 2005, 2006, 2009) First player to dunk in a WNBA game First WNBA player to reach the 6,000 point plateau First player ever to garner regular season, WNBA Finals and All-Star Game MVP awards in the same season. Led the WNBA in rebounds in 1997 (9.5 rpg) and 1998 (10.2 rpg)

Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood (born July 7, 1972, in Gardena, California) is a retired American professional women's basketball player in the WNBA. She played her whole career for the Los Angeles Sparks.^[1] She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number seven pick in the 1997 WNBA draft, she followed a superb career at the University of Southern California with seven WNBA All-Star appearances and two WNBA championships. A 6'5" forward, Leslie is the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.

Considered a pioneer and cornerstone of the league during her eleven-year WNBA career, Leslie announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2009 season on January 4, 2009.^[2] Entering that season she is #2 all-time in the WNBA in total rebounds and rebounds per game, and #1 in total blocks and blocks per game.^[3]

[edit] Early years

Leslie is the daughter of Christine Lauren Leslie, who started her own truck driving business to support her three children, of whom Lisa Leslie is the second. The elder Leslie stood 6 ft 3 in. Leslie has two sisters: Dionne, who is five years older, and Tiffany, who is eight years younger.^[4]

[edit] Career

[edit] High school

By the time Leslie was in middle school, she had grown to over 6 feet 1 /> but never participated in athletic activities besides tether ball and double dutch. Her dream then was to be a television weather reporter.^[5]

During the first few weeks of junior high, Leslie was asked to join the basketball team. On her first day of basketball tryouts, team members were told to split into two groups for layup drills: lefties and righties. Leslie was the only lefty in the "lefty" group, so from then on, she decided to become right-hand dominant so she would not have to stand in a line by herself. That decision worked to her advantage, as she became ambidextrous.^[4]

In eighth grade, she transferred to a junior high school without a girl's basketball team, and joined a boy's basketball team. Her success there contributed to her confidence in her playing abilities.^[4]

At 14, before Leslie had even started high school, she received more than a hundred college recruiting letters, including some from top Division I programs at the University of Tennessee and Stanford University.^[4]

Leslie continued her education in 1986 by enrolling at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California. She made an immediate impact on the basketball program, starting every game for the girl's varsity team. She also found time to join the volleyball team and compete in track and field. She ended up being a state qualifier in the 400-meter run and the high jump.^[5]

By the time she was a sophomore in high school, she was able to dunk the ball in the open court, even though she was not able to palm the ball. She was her team's leading scorer and rebounder and led them to the 1989 California state championship. Leslie was so talented that she was invited to participate in the USA's Junior World Championship team.^[5] Entering her senior year, she developed into the top player in the country. Again, she led her team to a state championship averaging 27 points and 15 rebounds per game.

[edit] College

Leslie decided to stay close to home and attend women's basketball powerhouse the University of Southern California from 1990–1994.^[6] She completed her time at USC with a bachelor's degree in communications and eventually completed her master's degree in business administration^[7] from the University of Phoenix.^[8][9]

Her college basketball career was spectacular. Leslie played in a total of 120 college games, averaging 20.1 points, hitting 53.4% of her shots, and knocking down 69.8% of her free throws. She set the PAC-10 conference records for scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots accumulating 2,414 points, 1,214 boards, and 321 blocked shots. She also holds the USC single season record for blocked shots in a single season (95).^[6]

During her college career, USC compiled an impressive 89–31 record. They won one PAC-10 conference championship and earned four NCAA tournament appearances. Leslie was honored with All PAC-10 recognition all four years, as well as becoming the first player in PAC-10 history to obtain first team all four years and earn the prestigious Rookie of the Year award in 1991.^[10]

Leslie was also honored on the national platform by earning the National Freshman of the year in 1991, and recognition as the nation's best female basketball player earning the National Player of the year in 1994. In 1992, 93, and 94, she earned All-American Honors as well.^[10] She competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1992 Jones Cup Team that won the Gold in Taipei for the first time since 1987.^[11]

[edit] WNBA

1996 was the golden year in women's basketball. It marked the year when Women's National Basketball Association (professional basketball) was incorporated. 1997 is when the official league games started to play. Leslie was drafted on January 22 as one the top picks to the Los Angeles Sparks team. She helped the Sparks make the playoffs five consecutive times, but the team was never able to win a championship until the 2001 season when the Sparks won the WNBA title.^[12] That year, Leslie was named the 2001 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.^[13]

In 2003, Leslie became the first woman to dunk the ball in a WNBA game. That same year she became the first WNBA player to score over 3,000 total career points and contributed to the Sparks winning their second straight world championship that season. Two seasons later, she became the first player to reach the 4,000-career point milestone.^[12] Leslie remains the Sparks' career scoring and rebounding leader, as well as the all time league leader in rebounds.^[6] On 11 August 2009, Leslie became the first player to score 6,000 points in a career.^[14]. Earlier that month she was the first player to reach 10,000 career PRA (points + rebounds + assists), a statistic which the WNBA "Pick One Challenge" fantasy game is based upon, and as of 2009 holds the league records for points (6,263), rebounds (3,307) and PRA (10,444).

Lisa is now retired.^[15]

[edit] International and Olympic

Leslie has made four consecutive Olympic appearances, and has earned four gold medals. She was the second female basketball player ever to earn that many gold medals, after Theresa Edwards. Leslie has also made appearances with the United States national women's basketball team where she won gold medals in 1996 and 2000, and has also earned a world championship.^[1]

Leslie is one of seven USA Basketball's three-time Olympians, and one of two players with four gold medals. She led the U.S. team in scoring during the 2004 Olympic Games. During her third Olympic completion, she became the USA's all-time leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker in Olympic competition. Every time she has competed in a major international event, she has compiled double-digit scoring averages. Leslie, at age 20, was also the youngest player to participate at the USA Olympic Trials in 1992.^[10]

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics medal awards, despite being requested by officials not to, Leslie wore her gold medals from 3 past Olympics whilst being awarded her teams current win. Leslie's actions were viewed by members of the Australian national team, her opponents in the gold medal game, as grandiose and poor sportsmanship.^[16]

Leslie has had a fierce rivalry with Lauren Jackson ever since the 2000 Olympics, when the Australian star ripped out Leslie's hair extensions during a game.^[17][18]

[edit] Off the court

Lisa Leslie was married in 2006 to Michael Lockwood. Leslie has one daughter with her husband, Michael Lockwood. In 2007, she took a year's leave from professional basketball for a pregnancy. Her daughter, Lauren Jolie Lockwood, was born June 15, 2007.^[19] After having the baby, Lisa got back in shape and returned to the WNBA for the 2008 season.^[4] After her retirement, Lisa Leslie was expecting her second child.

Leslie is also a fashion model and an aspiring actress. She has been on ESPN numerous times and has been a guest star on several top hit shows such as Sister Sister, The Jersey, The Game, and One on One. She has also acted in a variety of commercials. Early in her career she signed a modeling contract with the Wilhelmina modeling agency.^[12] Lisa also was on the show, "Superstars," and she and her partner, David Charvet, took 3rd place after David injured his wrist.

[edit] See also

• List of basketball players who have scored 100 points in a single game

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lisa Leslie playerfile at WNBA.com
• Basketball-Reference.com player profile
• WNBA chat transcript
• Lisa Leslie's U.S. Olympic Team biography^{[dead link]} with photos and links to two interviews
• 101-point half