Sheryl Swoopes

Sheryl Denise Swoopes is a retired American basketball player and Hall of Famer. She is a four-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time World Cup Gold medalist. Swoopes is the first athlete to be signed by the Women’s National Basketball Association.

Swoopes was born on March 25, 1971 in Brownfield, Texas, to Louise Swoopes. She has three older brothers. Swoopes is the first women’s basketball player to have a Nike shoe named after her: the “Air Swoopes”.

She married her high school sweetheart in June 1995 and had a son, Jordan Eric Jackson, in 1997. They divorced in 1999 (with joint custody of their son) and Sheryl came out as gay. Her partner is Alisa Scott (former basketball player and former Houston Comets assistant coach).

She began competing in basketball at age seven, in a local children’s league called Little Dribblers, coached by Dickie Faught and Kathey Granger.Swoopes attended Texas Tech, and played basketball for the Lady Raiders.

As of 2006, she owns several NCAA records: single-game scoring record (53 points on March 13, 1993 vs. Texas, 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), and scoring record for championship series (177 points, four games).

She 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 (as of 2006). Swoopes’ 24.9 points-per-game average for her career is the best in school history; Swoopes also has three triple-doubles and twenty-three double-doubles, fourteen of which came during her senior year.

Swoopes was recruited for the Houston Comets during the 1997 inaugural season. She came back from giving birth to her son, to play the last third of the inaugural season and lead the Comets in the 1997 WNBA Championship.

As a member of the Comets, she accumulated over 2,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, 300 career assists and 200 career steals. 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.

On March 3, 2008, Sheryl signed with the Seattle Storm – ending her eleven year career with the Houston Comets. In 2011, she signed with the Tulsa Shock but became an unrestricted free agent after the season. She unofficially declared herself as retired in 2012.

She joined the Loyola University Chicago women’s basketball team as head coach in 2013. She became the Director of Player Development of Texas Tech Lady Raiders on July 2017. She became the regular assistant coach of the team on January 1, 2018.

Career Accomplishments:

• Gold medal, 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games
• Gold medal, 2000 Sydney Olympic Games
• Gold medal, 2004 Athens Olympic Games
• Gold medal, 1998 Germany World Cup
• Gold medal, 2002 China World Cup
• Bronze medal, 1994 Australia World Cup
• Bronze medal, 2006 Brazil World Cup
• Gold medal, 1994 St. Petersburg Goodwill Games
• Bronze medal, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games –representing Argentina
• Silver medal, 2002 Indianapolis FIBA World Cup
• 4-time WNBA champion (1997–2000)
• 6-time WNBA All-Star (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)
• WNBA All-Star Game MVP (2005)
• 5-time All-WNBA First Team (1998–2000, 2002, 2005)
• 2-time All-WNBA Second Team (2003, 2006)
• 3-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2000, 2002, 2003)
• 2-time WNBA All-Defensive First Team (2005, 2006)
• 3-time WNBA MVP (2000, 2002, 2005)
• 2-time WNBA scoring champion (2000, 2005)
• 2-time WNBA steals leader (2000, 2003)
• WNBA Peak Performer (2005)
• WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time (2011)
• WNBA Top 20@20 (2016)