Sheryl Denise Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional

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. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game. Swoopes has won three Olympic gold medals and is one of eleven women's basketball players to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

gold, and a WNBA title. She was elected to 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 ...

in 2016. In 2017, she was inducted into 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 ...

Early life

Born in Brownfield, Texas, Swoopes was raised by her mother, Louise Swoopes, and played basketball with her three older brothers.Porter p 464 She began competing at age seven in a local children's league called Little Dribblers. She played basketball at Brownfield High School.

College career

Initially recruited by the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, 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 women's basketball record books in many categories, including single-game scoring record (53 points on March 13, 1993, vs.

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, tied for tenth place), single-season scoring (955 points in the 1993 season, fourth place), highest championship tournament scoring average (35.4 in the 1993 tournament, second place), best single-game championship scoring performance (47 points vs. Ohio State, 1993 championship), which broke Bill Walton's record, and scoring record for championship series (177 points, five games). She set the record for the most field goals in the championship game with 16. Swoopes also set several school records at Texas Tech. She scored 955 in the 1992–93 season, which is an all-time scoring record for a single season (as of 2006). Swoopes' 24.9 points-per-game average for her career is the best in school history; she also boasts three triple-doubles and 23 double-doubles, 14 of which came during her senior year. Swoopes was the 1993 winner of the Naismith College Player of the Year award at the age of 22, the Honda Sports 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 (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.

Texas Tech statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Swoopes was named to the USA national team and competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in June 1994 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, 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 10 of 10 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 US at the 1995 USA Women's Pan American Games, but 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 Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. The USA team won all their pool play games by large margins, although they were behind Cuba by as many as seven points before

Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is formerly the head coach for Triplets (basketball), Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando ...

's 24 points helped the USA take over the game. In 2002, Swoopes was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang,

Changzhou Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhen ...

, and

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, 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 had a one-point difference late in the game. Swoopes was named to the National Team representing the US 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. Due to the birth of her son, Swoopes had a late-season debut for her career, playing her first game on August 7, 1997 (6 weeks after the season started). In her debut game, the Comets defeated the Phoenix Mercury 74 - 70 with Swoopes playing for 5 minutes and recording no stats. As a 11 year member of the Houston Comets, she accumulated over 2,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, 300 career assists, and 200 career steals. Her extraordinary scoring and defensive ability made her the first three-time WNBA MVP (2000, 2002, and 2005) and the first three-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2000, 2002, and 2003). Swoopes is also a four-time WNBA champion as the Comets won the first 4 championships in WNBA history from 1997 to 2000. 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

. Swoopes is also the first player in WNBA history to record a triple-double in both the regular season and the playoffs. Swoopes gained national prominence when she won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

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 (117–87) is considered by some to be the "best woman's basketball game they'd ever seen." She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, and 2004). 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 11-year career with the Houston Comets. She was waived by the Storm on February 3, 2009. Two days after her 40th birthday in 2011, sources for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

claimed that Swoopes was preparing to return to the WNBA in anticipation of an official signing announcement from the Tulsa Shock. At the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game, she was announced as one of the top 15 players in the 15-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' final WNBA game was played on September 11, 2011, a 94–102 loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars, where she recorded 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. After the 2011 season, on February 12, 2012, Tulsa Shock owner Steve Swetoha announced that the team did not intend to offer Swoopes a new contract and she became an unrestricted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. In 2016, she was voted into the WNBA Top 20@20, in celebration of the league's 20th anniversary.

International career

Europe

* 1993–1994: Basket Bari * 2004–2005: VBM-SGAU Samara * 2005–2006: Taranto Cras Basket * 2010: Esperides Kallitheas

Awards and honors

Swoopes won the female

Associated Press Athlete of the Year The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. At a time when women's sports, women in sports were not given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of th ...

award in 1993. The same year, she also won the Honda Sports Award for basketball and the WBCA Player of the Year award. She was named one of the 20 female athletes of the decade for 2000 to 2010 by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''.

Post-playing career

In 2008, Sheryl Swoopes made an appearance on '' Shirts & Skins'', a reality series on Logo TV. Swoopes mentored the San Francisco Rockdogs, a gay basketball team, and shared her experiences on basketball, family, faith, and coming out. In 2010, Swoopes was an assistant basketball coach at Mercer Island High School in Washington. She was a color analyst for the Texas Tech women's basketball broadcast during the 2012–2013 season. In 2013, Swoopes became head coach of the

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

women's basketball team. In April 2016, Loyola announced that it was investigating Swoopes for alleged mistreatment, after the school newspaper reported that 10 of the team's players had either transferred or wanted a release from their scholarships. On July 4, 2016, Loyola announced it had fired Swoopes as a result of the investigation but declined to say what it had found. In July 2017, Swoopes returned to her alma mater, Texas Tech, as the women's basketball Director of Player Development, where her job included resuming work as color analysis for broadcast Lady Raiders games. Following the firing of head coach Candi Whitaker on January 1, 2018, Swoopes was promoted to regular assistant coach under interim head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller. In October 2024, Swoopes and Jordan Robinson, journalist and podcaster, began a weekly

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

titled ''Queens of the Court''.

Personal life

Swoopes was married from June 1995 to 1999 to her high-school sweetheart, Eric Jackson. The two have a son, Jordan Eric Jackson (b. 1997), named after

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

. Jordan Jackson, who was born some two months before his mother's WNBA debut, is also a basketball player and in 2024, wearing his Maine Celtics uniform with the same number 22 Sheryl wore during her career, won the G League's dunk contest. In October 2005, Swoopes announced she was gay, becoming one of the highest-profile athletes in a team sport to do so publicly. Swoopes stated

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 lisaor 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 2016, she was named an

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

History Month Icon by the Equality Forum. She and her partner, former basketball player and Houston Comets assistant coach Alisa Scott, together raised Swoopes' son. The couple separated in 2011. Later that year, Swoopes got engaged to Chris Unclesho, a longtime male friend. After a long engagement, the couple wed on July 21, 2017.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

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, 32 , , 32 , , 34.4 , , .462 , , .337 , , .820 , , 6.3 , , 4.0 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , 2.59 , , 18.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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, 31 , , 30 , , 35.0 , , .406 , , .304 , , .887 , , 4.6 , , 3.9 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.5° , , 0.8 , , 2.35 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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, 31 , , 31 , , 34.5 , , .422 , , .308 , , .856 , , 4.9 , , 2.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 1.90 , , 14.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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, 33 , , 33 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 37.1° , , .447 , , .360 , , .850 , , 3.6 , , 4.3 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 2.18 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 18.6° , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 35.8° , , .413 , , .278 , , .764 , , 5.9 , , 3.7 , , 2.1 , , 0.3 , , 2.39 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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, 3 , , 3 , , 35.3 , , .360 , , .143 , , 1.000 , , 5.7 , , 3.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 3.00 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

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Postseason

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Head coaching record

References

External links

*
Loyola bioWNBA listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swoopes, Sheryl 1971 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportswomen African-American LGBTQ people All-American college women's basketball players American bisexual sportspeople American bisexual women American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Texas Bisexual sportswomen Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in basketball High school basketball coaches in the United States Houston Comets players LGBTQ basketball players LGBTQ people from Texas Loyola Ramblers women's basketball coaches Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball People from Brownfield, Texas Seattle Storm players Small forwards South Plains Lady Texans basketball players Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball coaches Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball players Tulsa Shock players United States women's national basketball team players WNBA All-Stars American LGBTQ sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees

Early life

College career

Texas Tech statistics

USA Basketball

WNBA career

International career

Europe

Awards and honors

Post-playing career

Personal life

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

Head coaching record

See also

References

Further reading

External links