Denise Curry
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Denise Curry (born August 22, 1959) is an American former
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player and
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
and
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
basketball coach. Curry was inducted in the inaugural class at the
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...
in 1999. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.


College basketball

Born in Fort Benton, Montana, Curry moved to
Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of ...
by the time she was in high school. She graduated from Davis Senior High School. During her college playing career she led
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
to
AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...
National Championship in 1978, has been named All-America three times (1979, 1980, 1981), set fourteen school records and was all-time leading scorer (3,198 points) and rebounder (1,310 points). She scored in double figures in every one of the 130 games she played for UCLA. She averaged 24.6 points per game. Only one other Bruin player, Natalie Williams, averaged over 20 points per game at 20.4. As of 2008, she is still the top record holder in 10 categories for UCLA.UCLA Women's Basketball Media Guide (PDF copy available a
uclabruins.com
2006–2007 season publication
She was named MVP of Western Collegiate Athletic Conference three times and UCLA All-University Athlete of the Year in 1981. She was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 1981.


UCLA statistics

Source ?


Amateur and Olympic competition

For the US national team, she won gold medals in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,
Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...
in 1983, World Championships in 1979, and silver medals at World Championships in 1983, World University Games in 1981 and
Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...
in 1979. Curry was chosen to represent the USA on the
USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...
team at the 1981 World University games, held in Bucharest, Romania. After winning the opening game, the USA was challenged by China, who held a halftime lead. The USA came back to win by two points, helped by 26 points from Curry. The USA also was challenged by Canada, who led at halftime, but the USA won by three points 79–76. The USA beat host team Romania to set up a match with undefeated Russia for the gold medal. The Russian team was too strong, and won the gold, leaving the US with the silver medal. Curry averaged 18.3 points per game to lead the team in scoring. Curry was named to the team representing the US at the 1979
William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...
competition in Taipei, Taiwan. The USA team won all six games en route to the gold medal. She then qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In 2007 she received one of 461
Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...
s created especially for the spurned athletes. Curry was a member of the USA National team at the 1983 World Championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. The Soviets Elena Chausova received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. Curry averaged 13.6 points per game, including 28 points in the overtime victory against China. In 1984, the USA sent its National team to the 1984
William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...
competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. Curry averaged 9.0 points per game.


Professional basketball

With her professional team, Stade Francais, she won French National championships in 1986 and 1987.


Coaching

Curry served as an assistant coach at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. She was an assistant in the San Jose Lasers of the Women's American Basketball League. She became the head basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton for three seasons from 1997 to 1998 through 1999–2000. She had a coaching record of 16 wins and 64 losses as the head coach of the Titans. She was an assistant basketball coach for the Cal State Long Beach women's basketball team for six years but retired from coaching in March 2009.


Honors

Curry is a member of the
Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
(enshrined in 1997),
Women's Basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...
(enshrined in 1999), and
Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
Halls of Fame. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees
1994 (7): Donald Bragg, basketball; Denise Curry, basketball; John Richardson, football; Larry Rundle, volleyball; John Sciarra, football; Kiki Vandeweghe, basketball; Peter Vidmar, gymnastics.
Her #12 basketball jersey was one of the first four retired by UCLA. She was honored on February 3, 1990, in a ceremony in Pauley Pavilion, along with Ann Meyers (#15), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#33), and Bill Walton (#32). This was the key moment in the "Pauley at 25" celebration of twenty-five years of the arena. The primary criteria for being chosen was that all four players were three-time All-Americans.


References


Bibliography

* UCLA Bruins Women's basketball media guide (PDF copy available a
www.uclabruins.com


External links



at the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
(archived)
Denise Curry
at Long Beach State (archived) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Denise 1959 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball coaches from Montana Basketball players at the 1979 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Basketball players from California Basketball players from Montana Congressional Gold Medal recipients Davis Senior High School (California) alumni Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from Fort Benton, Montana Sportspeople from Davis, California Small forwards Sportspeople from Greater Sacramento UCLA Bruins women's basketball players Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in basketball United States women's national basketball team players 20th-century American sportswomen